Home education for autistic, nonverbal and high-support learners
A complete home learning curriculum from age 3 to adulthood, built around how kids like ours actually learn: through favourite shows, songs and real life. Every goal maps to the WA Curriculum, so you walk into your moderator meeting ready.
How it works
Most curricula assume a child who speaks, sits and follows instructions. This one starts from where your child is.
Every lesson starts from what your child already loves: a jingle, a game show, cars, water. Their interest is the way in, not a reward to earn.
Swings, pool, quiet time and movement sit around every learning block. A calm child learns; an overloaded one can't.
Gestures, signs, AAC, scripts, speech: every lesson includes a chance to request, choose, comment or say no.
5–10 minute blocks for young or high-support learners. Shop trips, cooking and the car count as lessons and as evidence.
Age stages
Six stages, each with focus areas, goals for all eight learning areas, a weekly timetable, lesson plans and an activity bank. Ages are a guide: pick the stage that fits your child's skills.
Kindy and Pre-primary
Years 1–3
Years 4–6
Years 7–9
Years 10–12
After school
Curriculum coverage
WA moderators check that your program and your child's progress are consistent with the WA Curriculum. Here's what each learning area looks like for a high-support learner.
Sample lesson plan · Ages 9–11
The same seven-part format across the whole curriculum, so you can run it in minutes and write your own.
Free with the curriculum
Many autistic kids are gestalt language processors: they learn language in whole phrases, often from shows, ads and songs. Single-picture systems can feel wrong to them. Our phrase board speaks whole, sing-song phrases instead.
Moderator meeting
Keep these six things in one folder or phone album, and the yearly evaluation becomes a conversation about how your child is going.
Why we made this
Spectrum Home Ed started with a West Australian dad home-educating his nonverbal autistic son, who loves jingles, game shows and swings. The existing options were built for kids who talk and sit at a desk. This is the curriculum we wished we'd been handed on day one.
Yes. In WA, any parent can register as a home educator with the Department of Education. Your child's program can be adjusted to their needs; the Department says programs should be flexible to individual needs and abilities.
Every age stage maps its goals to the eight WA Curriculum learning areas, which is what moderators check against. The final decision is always your moderator's, so use the evidence folder checklist and talk to them early about your adjustments.
From the start of the year your child turns 5½ (Pre-primary) until the end of the year they turn 17½ or 18, whichever comes first. You book your first moderator meeting within 3 months of registering, then yearly.
SCSA offers Preliminary courses for students with an intellectual disability or learning difficulty. Units are chosen to fit an individual plan. Preliminary units alone don't count toward WACE, but VET, workplace learning and endorsed programs such as ASDAN can.
The teaching approach works anywhere. Each state registers home educators differently (NESA in NSW, VRQA in Victoria, the Home Education Unit in Queensland, and so on), but most expect the main learning areas to be covered. Check your state's rules before registering.
Yes. This curriculum was written for nonverbal and minimally speaking children first. Pointing, signs, a phrase board, AAC and scripts all count as communication, and as progress.