Homeschooling a Child With Autism or ADHD in New York

What New York asks of a homeschool family

These are the homeschool rules we have on file for New York, last verified 2026-08. Our New York page has the full list, with sources.

Getting started (notice)

letter of intent to the school district superintendent by July 1, or within 14 days of starting mid-year. The district then sends you the regulations and the forms you file next.

Records you must keep

an Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) filed by August 15, naming the child's grade, the syllabi, curriculum, materials or plan of instruction for each subject, the instructor, and the dates your quarterly reports are due. Then four quarterly reports giving hours of instruction, the material covered in each subject, and a grade or written evaluation. Any quarter covering less than 80 percent of the planned material needs a written explanation.

Testing / evaluation

every year, filed with the fourth quarterly report. Grades 1 to 3 may use a written narrative. Grades 4 to 8 may use a narrative no more often than every other school year, so a norm-referenced test is required in the alternating years. Grades 9 to 12 require the test. Satisfactory means a composite score above the 33rd percentile on national norms, or a score showing one academic year of growth against a test given during or after the prior year.

Special education and your homeschooled child in New York

We researched this from New York's statutes and administrative code, the state education department and the US Department of Education, last checked October 2026. Where a source was missing, old or in conflict, the line says so instead of guessing. Federal law (IDEA) gives a child placed in private school by a parent no individual right to services, only a share of the district's equitable-services funds, and each state decides how a home school is counted.

How the state counts a home school

Treated like a private school

New York home instruction is its own category under 8 NYCRR 100.10, but Education Law 3602-c(2-c) (Chapter 217 of the Laws of 2008) deems home-instructed students with disabilities, and students suspected of having a disability, to be nonpublic school students solely for receiving special education services.

Asking for an evaluation

Because 3602-c(2-c) covers students suspected of having a disability, the school district where the home school is located (the same as the district of residence for a home-instructed child) handles referral through its Committee on Special Education (CSE). The state memo and Q&A opened do not lay out a separate evaluation-request procedure, and the Q&A says parents have the right to ask the public school to evaluate a child under IDEA (written in the homebound-instruction section).

Services and IEPs

Not an IEP entitlement: the CSE writes an Individualized Education Services Program (IESP), and services must be provided on an equitable basis compared with other nonpublic and public students with disabilities. The child must be entitled to attend public school tuition-free and have an Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) the superintendent found compliant, and the parent must ask in writing by June 1 before the school year (or within 30 days of identification); parents can use due process under Education Law 4404. Whether an existing IEP carries over on withdrawal was not found in primary sources.

Part-time classes, therapies and activities at the public school

NYSED's home instruction Q&A says the legislature has not authorized part-time attendance, so a home-instructed student may not take district classes, and dual enrollment under 3602-c is generally not available except for special education services. Under Commissioner's Regulations 135.4(c)(7) and 135.1 interscholastic sports and intramurals require enrollment, while school-sponsored clubs are open to children educated elsewhere (district board policy recommended). The page notes it has not been updated for 2019 amendments to Public Health Law 2164.

Scholarships and funding for a child with a disability

None found in the primary sources reviewed. No New York scholarship, voucher or ESA for children with disabilities was found.

Less certain: the sources on this were thin or in conflict. Confirm with the state office before relying on it.

Also worth knowing

8 NYCRR 100.10 requires an annual notice of intent by July 1, an IHIP, quarterly reports and an annual assessment. The regulation text opened has no special rules for children with disabilities, so accommodations for the assessment are not found in primary sources. No change to these rules since 2023 was found.

State office to ask: New York State Education Department, Office of Special Education ([email protected]).

Sources we read

A plain-language summary of public sources, not legal advice. Scholarship and school-choice programs change often, and we have left dollar amounts out on purpose. Confirm current rules with the state office before you act.

Pace, testing and the plan

Check the testing and evaluation line above for New York, since it can depend on how you homeschool. Where a test or an evaluation applies, remember that Learning Supports change how lessons look and feel while your child learns. They are not part of a test or an evaluation. Whether a child can be given accommodations on the test, or with the evaluator, is something to ask the test provider or evaluator before the day, and we cannot tell you what New York allows.

Records in New York

Check the records line above for New York. Letters & Devotion logs instructional hours automatically while your child works, tracks mastery per skill as a ready-made portfolio record, and prints a transcript in one click. Turning supports on or off does not change that record, and nothing in it names a condition, because Letters & Devotion never stores a diagnosis.

Six Learning Supports you can switch on

A parent ticks what helps, never a condition. Each support is a bundle of single switches, and any switch can be changed on its own. After about three weeks the parent side asks whether a support is helping.

Reading support
Often chosen for dyslexia
Read-aloud with each word highlighted, a clearer font, extra spacing and answer buttons.
Focus support
Often chosen for ADHD
Short pieces, one question on screen and movement breaks.
Predictable routine
Often chosen for autism
The same layout, a heads-up before changes, a calm look and plain wording.
Math support
Often chosen for dyscalculia
Pictures and a calculator, with nothing timed.
Writing support
Often chosen for dysgraphia
Answer out loud, with ideas counted over spelling.
Low-pressure mode
Often chosen for anxiety or perfectionism
No scores, calm feedback and a free second try.

What this is not

It does not diagnose anything or store a diagnosis. Your child never sees a condition name.
It is not special education, therapy or an evaluation, and it is not a substitute for an IEP.
Read-aloud is a computer voice, not a person, and answering out loud needs the microphone switch.
Some lesson rewrites, such as plainer literal wording, are pre-written, so not every lesson has one.

Try it with your child in New York

All 84 courses are readable in full with no account and no card, and the first 30 days are free.

Start 30 days free See all 84 courses →

$29 a month or $290 a year for every child. Cancel anytime, in one click.

Questions

Can I homeschool a child with autism or ADHD in New York?

New York's homeschool rules are summarized on this page. On special education: New York home instruction is its own category under 8 NYCRR 100.10, but Education Law 3602-c(2-c) (Chapter 217 of the Laws of 2008) deems home-instructed students with disabilities, and students suspected of having a disability, to be nonpublic school students solely for receiving special education services. Because 3602-c(2-c) covers students suspected of having a disability, the school district where the home school is located (the same as the district of residence for a home-instructed child) handles referral through its Committee on Special Education (CSE). The state memo and Q&A opened do not lay out a separate evaluation-request procedure, and the Q&A says parents have the right to ask the public school to evaluate a child under IDEA (written in the homebound-instruction section).

Does Letters & Devotion store my child’s diagnosis?

No. You pick supports, never a condition, nothing stores a diagnosis, and your child never sees a condition name. Support settings are never sent to analytics.

Does this replace an evaluation or an IEP?

No. The setup screen says it plainly: these change how lessons look and feel, and they are not a substitute for an evaluation or an IEP.

Do the supports work with New York's testing rules?