Child care options

[anlo]

Ds has autism. I've been a SAHM since shortly after he was diagnosed. I'm considering going back to work part time now that he is on school. Most of the other moms I know stay home. I know one who uses a daycare but has had problems with them understanding autism and how it affects her son. (not sure of specifics).

What do you do about child care? If a nanny, do you have tips about finding someone trustworthy? I am so scared of leaving him with someone since he can't communicate with me about his day.

[auntie]

We were talking about this at that "other place" a few days ago.

In some communities there are day care centers that specialize in kids with special needs. Some schools offere extended care which you could access. A lot of parents find a PT nanny the best option. Care.com allows you to post for care givers who are willing and able to care for kids on spectrum. A few of the moms on the bump had success finding grad students who were studying special ed, speech, etc as babysitters.

[litebright]

We use a sitter service called Mothers Helpers that has franchises in a few cities. You pay a yearly fee and can request a sitter whenever, and they set the rates, do background checks, etc. and match you with a sitter who can meet your needs in terms of hours, etc. It can be anything from a date night to regular 40-hours, to overnights.

We were able to do interviews, but the first girl they recommended to us, we loved and set her up as our regular PT nanny while I was WAH before the girls were in FT school. She had some experience caring for kids with SN but not ASD specifically, but was open to learning and we also did a few sessions with one of our Floortime therapists early on. I highly recommend that if at all possible -- I think it not only gave her some tools, but it put her interactions with DD1 on a different level and I think it has actually been something beneficial to DD1 over time in terms of engagement. Our nanny is back with us again this summer, although not 5 days a week so we have had several other sitters filling those other days.

She is a college grad who couldn't find a job in her preferred field and makes good money doing childcare. Super responsible, always punctual, and she adores my girls. The feeling is mutual.

Part of my comfort with our sitter service is that about 90% of the time (unless it's for a date night), I'm home while the sitter is there so if they have any issues I'm there, and I would hear if anything was going terribly wrong. Not that anything has.

But we absolutely had to have a reliable way to get childcare we could access any time, because we have no family in-state. I didn't think I would ever be okay with someone driving my kids around or taking them swimming without me, but I trust our primary sitter so much -- she drove our car every day to pick up DD1 at preschool and even took the girls swimming this summer.

[KB]

DS is in a center but it is not without problems. He has an ABA therapist there working with him in the afternoons (he is in ECSE in the am) but if they aren't there, he prefers to do his own thing and often doesn't want to engage in group activities. The providers are willing to work with him but definitely don't understand the ins and outs of ASD.

[craftyone]

I've used care.com and sittercity.com. In my city there are quite a few college students who want to work part time while going to school. I usually got a 3 month subscription and did postings for jobs. I generally will do background checks, call references, meet with them before hiring. For me, I'm usually am home while the sitter is here, but when I worked part time, I usually had them do sitting for at least a week before I would leave them alone with the kids.

[laurenpetro]

ben is nearly 4 and he's in daycare full-time. he gets 20 hours of ABA a week there, plus OT, ST and PT.

the staff is amazing. they're not trained in special ed but i like that. we're aiming to mainstream him next year and i feel like having both experiences is good for him.

[ktzmoh]

We've done both with our son - we had a great experience with a nanny we found on care.com. We advertised for someone with ADHD/ASD experience and we just had a very open line of communication with her.

Now he does after school care, and again we were super open with them and have lots of feedback back and forth.

If you are worried about him not being able to tell you about his day, get a nanny cam and don't feel at all bad about it.

[KB]

Sept 11, 2014 15:48:57 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

ben is nearly 4 and he's in daycare full-time. he gets 20 hours of ABA a week there, plus OT, ST and PT.

the staff is amazing. they're not trained in special ed but i like that. we're aiming to mainstream him next year and i feel like having both experiences is good for him.

Does he engage with the kids on his own without his BCBA? DS is just starting to do this but I feel like he relies a lot on the comfort of the shadow. 

[laurenpetro]

Sept 15, 2014 16:14:34 GMT -5 KB said:

Sept 11, 2014 15:48:57 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

ben is nearly 4 and he's in daycare full-time. he gets 20 hours of ABA a week there, plus OT, ST and PT.

the staff is amazing. they're not trained in special ed but i like that. we're aiming to mainstream him next year and i feel like having both experiences is good for him.

Does he engage with the kids on his own without his BCBA? DS is just starting to do this but I feel like he relies a lot on the comfort of the shadow. 

i can't say for sure since i'm not there but i'd guess he does it a bit but not nearly enough for where we want him to be.  he engages with jack at home a good amount and i'm hoping having jack with him all day makes it more comfortable for him to engage with other kids.    

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

Our local YMCA has an autism-inclusive program. My son is too old for it now but I thought that was awesome, so check there. He goes to day care after school and we haven't really run into problems. Check around and see what kinds of experience places have. The one he's in now currently has his IEP on file so they know the areas he's working on.