Home schooling is a good option. Do you have any schools for children with autism in your area? They just opened one in Salt Lake - I don't know how good it is, or anything like that. But it seems like it could be another option.
Locally, we have two that I know of, but one is actually a segment of a much larger hospital for children. They are both intended for severely low functioning kids or those with compounding problems related to health or retardation. My kids are quite high functioning little geniuses, on most days, so I am mainly looking at this option in an effort to take away some of the burden of daily structured lessons in an environment that is detrimental to learning (public schools).
I have tried to concentrate my teaching during times when they are most receptive and we've had some tremendous successes. When they are curious, they absorb complex things so fast, it's almost scary. An instructor with twenty five other kids, all learning at different rates, can not possibly be sensitive to when they can march past six chapters with one special kid, making for an incredibly productive day of learning and then, the next day, take an afternoon off, because a student is about to go nuts from trying to stay still and quiet while being overstimulated. It is those afternoons when my kids can not focus that have caused every single problem we have had in school. A public school teacher can not just say "Close the books, we'll try again, tomorrow." They are required to continue to forcefeed lessons at some prescribed pace, regardless of whether a child is actually learning, it seems.
I have been close to standing on top of the conference table and screaming at a few of the meetings, because they give me these little checklists of behavioral issues "we should work on". I can't make my kids fit their mold, no matter how many daily checklists of asinine suggestions they send home.
Sorry,
I don't mean to rant at you, but this is still a hotbutton topic for us, here. Thanks for the suggestion. I am sure there are some really good ASD schools out there for people who need them, most. We mainly just need a little flexibility in our lesson routines for our kids and I am not getting much help with that in the public school. Frustrating!