Welcome to Autism Home Learning!

Do you want to learn how to teach your non verbal or minimally verbal child with autism?

Do you need practical advice about the best methods and activities for teach early maths and language skills to your autistic child?

Whether you are having to home-educate your child because they’re not getting enough support at school, or you have always wanted to homeschool your children - you’ve come to the right place!

At Autism Home Learning you’ll find simplified worksheets created especially for non-verbal and minimally verbal children with autism. You can also access practical, helpful parent learning resources, which will give you the confidence to teach your autistic child at home.

Autism Home Learning worksheets and educational activities have been carefully designed by Kirsten, an experienced teacher and mum to an adult with severe autism. These autism-friendly worksheets have clear, simple, uncluttered layouts, reducing the amount of visual information your child has to take in, so that they don’t become overwhelmed by the tasks.

My Story

When my son was diagnosed with autism at 2 years old, he had no speech, hated to wear clothes, climbed on furniture, had no sense of danger, and slept very little. He was the middle one of my three children, all under 5 at the time. 

My son’s doctor and speech therapist both assumed he would never learn to speak or interact. They thought it was pointless of me to try to teach him. But I was an experienced teacher, so I decided to help my son learn to communicate with us. With the help of my family and a team of lovely volunteer ladies from our community, I also taught him early play skills and daily living skills. His progress was slow, but steady.

When he reached pre-school age my son attended the local nursery where his gran was the Head. He had an amazing lady with him 1-to-1 to help him join in, and to keep him safe. He then attended the same local school as his sisters, mornings only, while I did some part-time work as a supply teacher for kids with autism and other disabilities. I taught him at home in the afternoons.

Despite my son’s speech and language delays he coped academically at school. However, school couldn’t cope with him - his sensory needs and challenging behaviours were too much for mainstream. For a few months he then attended a school run by an autism charity, but that placement was a disaster. He was miserable and stressed. So I made the decision to teach him at home full-time.
He quickly settled into his new routine, became calmer, and gained more life skills. He was motivated and engaged in learning, enjoying crafts, simple board games and regular trips to a couple of small, local supermarkets. We danced and we sang, and he bounced on his gym ball and trampoline several times a day. 

Now in his mid-twenties, he still has many challenges. His sensory system craves deep pressure and balance activities so he bounces on a gym ball on top of a rebounder. He speaks in short sentences, makes his needs and opinions known, and reminds me what I should be doing when I forget to do things. He’s still working on how to have natural back and forth conversations. His sisters and I are continuing to help him work on changing some learned behaviours from the past. 

When I began teaching my son at home suitable learning resources were hard to find. Published resources had busy pages, small print, and confusing instructions, so I adapted my own hand-made teaching resources, and created new activities for specific goals he was working on. 

Back in 2016 I began selling my educational autism resources for teachers on a couple of international marketplaces, with the help of my tech-savvy and artistic daughters (all my images are drawn by them).  A few years later I launched my own website with autism worksheets, task cards and activities for special education teachers - Curriculum For Autism

I’m delighted to welcome you to Autism Home Learning, where you’ll learn how to teach your child with autism at home.

Kirsten McKay, B.Ed (Hons)

Associate Member GTCS