Special needs childminding

[amoire26]

Hi, I was wondering if you could give me your opinions. I have worked with children for over ten years and now I am pregnant I am setting up as a childminder. I would be interested in offering childcare for children with special needs and was wondering if parent s would be interested in this? And if having my own child would put any parents off?
Thank you for any help.

 

[capel]

I work, DD goes to school but we needed a childminder for before and after school. It was a struggle, not only because most people are not properly trained to care for a special needs childs, but when we did find one she charged so much that it would not be worth to actually work. But my DD has no special medical needs, she is only very delayed in her develpment.

 

[Tegans Mama]

I would say that I probably wouldn't put my child in a childminders care who has more than one child with complex physical needs, or who has children who are prone to violence. My daughter is a "vulnerable" child as she uses a wheelchair and is seen as an easy target for kids when they get violent, and I wouldn't willingly put her in a position where there was a child with violence issues (although I know some children are violent as a part of their special needs, it's not something I would do).

As far as complex physical or health needs go - my LO takes a lot of looking after. She is severely physically disabled and I sort of doubt one person could manage looking after her along with even ONE child with a similar level of needs. I struggle quite a lot when by myself with her (and no other kids) and I've been doing it nearly three years!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I would like my child to be with my other daughter only or just him. Thats just me though because I know he needs a lot of attention x

 

[Tegans Mama]

I would like my child to be with my other daughter only or just him. Thats just me though because I know he needs a lot of attention x

I guess we know our kids best don't we. I have to say though, and I hope this doesn't sound bad, but quite a few kids with special needs together often spells a recipe for disaster. it's nice to be with parents who experience similar things, but the kids are sometimes too much for each other x

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I would like my child to be with my other daughter only or just him. Thats just me though because I know he needs a lot of attention x

I guess we know our kids best don't we. I have to say though, and I hope this doesn't sound bad, but quite a few kids with special needs together often spells a recipe for disaster. it's nice to be with parents who experience similar things, but the kids are sometimes too much for each other x

I wont even go to my friends in the half term lol not in a nasty way but its to much with M and her son too! xxx

 

[Tegans Mama]

I would like my child to be with my other daughter only or just him. Thats just me though because I know he needs a lot of attention x

I guess we know our kids best don't we. I have to say though, and I hope this doesn't sound bad, but quite a few kids with special needs together often spells a recipe for disaster. it's nice to be with parents who experience similar things, but the kids are sometimes too much for each other x

I wont even go to my friends in the half term lol not in a nasty way but its to much with M and her son too! xxx

Yea you def find that kids with "behavioural" needs (please please don't take that the wrong way hun, I really don't know how to word it and you know T has similar problems to your boy ) really bounce off each other, sometimes quite badly! Especially when they're young and don't understand WHY another child is the way they are - obsessions and phobias etc included. You get one kid who is OBSESSED with trains, another who is scared of them and what do you do then? Because those behaviours can't be changed. It's hard!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Aw I dont get offended by that dont worry. Yeah it can be hard. I should imagine with special needs it would be one-to-one childminding and if you have your own child they always come first no matter how hard you try! I think it would be hard to be honest x

 

[amoire26]

Thank you for all your replys! Can I ask what you do do for childcare if you have a child with special needs? If you do have a child with special needs would you not even want someone to care for their one child and yours? If you would how much would you pay?
There a lot of different types of special needs and I have heard of quite a few succesful special needs childminders- I just wonder how they make it work? Thanks x

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

well for me, I do not work because I could not find a flexible enough job. There are times when m needs me for whatever reason and I could not commit to a job! That and I cant afford it as I would end up paying and he wouldnt even go as I would be off etc.

I would want someone qualified with many years experience with children with asd. I would want someone who could take my son and my daughter only as I feel that is enough and would want them to be together. Someone who kept me informed and would become a friend.

Thats it really x

 

[JASMAK]

I usually only leave my daughter with family, or the government pays for qualified individuals...and no, I probably would not put her with someone who had other children in the home. My daughter went to a preschool and she had an aide just for her...she will have the same again for after-school care. She also gets a full-time aide in school and she needs that one on one, and it is something that I am not willing to sacrafice.

 

[Tegans Mama]

Thank you for all your replys! Can I ask what you do do for childcare if you have a child with special needs? If you do have a child with special needs would you not even want someone to care for their one child and yours? If you would how much would you pay?
There a lot of different types of special needs and I have heard of quite a few succesful special needs childminders- I just wonder how they make it work? Thanks x

There are two options for parents with a child with needs as severe as Tegan's - either they go to family who have no children or there is more than one adult present (i.e Tegan sometimes goes to my Mums when my sister is there, but I don't let her go to my sister when she's alone because she has a 10 month old daughter), or they stay at home with you.

When Tegan starts preschool in September she'll have a teaching assistant all to herself - she is never ever left unsupervised at home, she's checked on every 1-2 hours overnight. I'm sorry but my child is more important to me than yours is - put in a nice way - and I know you would put your own child before mine and unfortunately I would not be willing to pay anything for that.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Thank you for all your replys! Can I ask what you do do for childcare if you have a child with special needs? If you do have a child with special needs would you not even want someone to care for their one child and yours? If you would how much would you pay?
There a lot of different types of special needs and I have heard of quite a few succesful special needs childminders- I just wonder how they make it work? Thanks x

There are two options for parents with a child with needs as severe as Tegan's - either they go to family who have no children or there is more than one adult present (i.e Tegan sometimes goes to my Mums when my sister is there, but I don't let her go to my sister when she's alone because she has a 10 month old daughter), or they stay at home with you.

When Tegan starts preschool in September she'll have a teaching assistant all to herself - she is never ever left unsupervised at home, she's checked on every 1-2 hours overnight. I'm sorry but my child is more important to me than yours is - put in a nice way - and I know you would put your own child before mine and unfortunately I would not be willing to pay anything for that.

I would feel put out if child minder had own children too. sorry x

 

[Menelly]

I had my son in daycare when he was young, but he's fairly high functioning autistic. And, honestly, we put him in a general daycare center with lots of kids his age. One thing I truly appreciated was the fact that they were willing to put him with the children that matched his developmental age as a child, rather than just go by chronology.

If I'd looked into home care, would I mind you having your own child there? Not at all. I'd want to see a super low ratio, and I'd want to spend some time over there with you seeing how my kid reacts with yours and how you react to stress, and how you break up any bullying issues, etc. But I wouldn't write off an in home provider.

So, that's my perspective from the parent of a child who's on the mild side of special needs. I think that daycare (I'm assuming the UK version is child minder?) is part of what helped Tyler get out of his shell a lot and learn to interact well with others. But this is from the "mild/moderate autism and no other special needs" viewpoint.

Oh, and pay wise? I'd pay what I'd be charged at any center? I wouldn't really want to deal with the ups and downs of in home care (like needing to find emergency care if you got sick, for example) while also paying more for care.

 

[TwoMummies]

I have a 7 year old with Global Development Delay, Autism and ADHD.

I would LOVE to have a reliable babysitter / childminder available and to be honest would proberly pay quite a bit for the service providing I had the money as it's so hard to find childcare for my son, even his grandparents will not look after him

HOWEVER and it's a pretty big one. I would never leave him anywhere with other children. My son can be extremely violent and destructive and unless you know him very very well it's bloody hard to cope with. He would be a huge danger to other children around him and I wouldn't trust anyone else to control him properly really.

Like Tegan'sMama said her child is vunerable as she uses a wheelchair, my son is the type of child that would be tipping the chair over or trying to remove the other child so he can have a go.

He is just a 2 year old in a much bigger body and has no understanding of rules, or social behaviour. Some children just cannot be together!

I do think special needs childminding would be pretty much impossible unless you can take 1 child at a time which would mean you didn't make enough money to live or you had children with very similar, low level needs which to be honest is very unlikely.