Nine-year-old Noel Schaefer is already focused on his career goal: He wants to design medical applications using robotics. His mom, Bonnie, calls him a walking encyclopedia on astrophysics, biology, and medicine. But with a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, Noel qualifies for special-needs education. Like many with Asperger's, Noel is very bright but struggled mightily in a public-school classroom. One symptom of Asperger's is an inability to pick up on social cues the way most of us do intuitively, making it hard to get along with others. "He'd have meltdowns," Schaefer says. "It was one behavior problem after another. I could see I was losing my son." After looking into other options, Schaefer, a software consultant, and her husband, Paul, enrolled Noel in an online charter school, a new model of education in which K-12 classes are offered online. It's different than homeschooling, in which the parents provide the materials and the curriculum. In addition to its curriculum, the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School provides the Schaefers with several boxes of books and supplies, a computer and printer, and support from Noel's special-education and homeroom teachers.
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