Homeschool Hints Podcast · Midwest Parent Educators - MPE

Terrie Hellard-Brown: Finding the 'special thing' in special-needs kids

·52 min·3 clips

Terrie says each of her three autistic children shows a different pattern, from sensory socks to loud worship music to tics.

Shansi Amaniyi opens the conversation by introducing Terry Helen Brown and asking her to tell the story behind her homeschool path. Terry explains that she and her family served as missionaries in Taiwan for 15 years. She says homeschooling was not optional there. Schooling was expensive, and the local schools were not meeting her children’s needs. Three of her children are on the autism spectrum. She also says her children were misdiagnosed at first, which made the early years more complicated. As a former classroom teacher, she thought she could bring classroom structure into homeschooling. That approach did not work. Homeschooling needed a different rhythm. It also required her to learn what not to do. The conversation then turns to how one of her children grew through drama. Terry says drama helped him make friends, have fun, and learn humor. She notes that it even sharpened his sarcasm, which now sometimes needs to be toned down. She also mentions a friend who is an accountant and whose autism is not obvious from the outside, but whose own growth followed a similar path through drama. From there, the discussion shifts to Terry's podcast, Sparking Everyday Discipleship. She explains that she wants books and conversations to help families practice everyday discipleship in ordinary life. She says it matters to have any and every conversation with children. She also says parents need to be the first ones to bring up the hard subjects. Those subjects include gender, sex, religion, and what is happening in the world. She stresses that parents cannot shy away from those topics. For autistic children, she says, the need is even greater because they can get overwhelmed, sad, fearful, or bogged down by dread. In her view, if parents are the first ones to speak, they become the authority in the child's mind. That authority matters because it gives children a place to return to. She keeps the focus on openness, trust, and steady guidance. The show stays in a warm interview shape throughout, with the host asking and Terry answering from lived experience. Near the end, the conversation points toward the support her ministry offers families through coaching groups and other resources. The emphasis stays on blessing families and helping them disciple the next generation to follow Christ. The episode closes with the show's usual thanks and contact information.

As heard by us

Hard-won homeschool counsel for parents raising special-needs kids with patience and purpose.

Homeschooling is treated here as daily family work, not a theory lesson. A former classroom teacher talks through missionary life in Taiwan, three children on the autism spectrum, early misdiagnoses, and the simple fact that homeschool rhythm does not match classroom rhythm.

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Why you'd press play

You want straight talk from a parent who learned homeschool the hard way, after classroom teaching, misdiagnoses, and special-needs needs in the mix.

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