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After school care

Mkherren12Mkherren12 member
in Special Needs
This may have been talked about before but I only pop in here from time to time. Sorry if it has.

For school age kids what are your arrangements for after school care?

Dd is 8 and has Down syndrome. And it seems every year about this time we are struggling to find after school care. We have tried day cares but the student to teacher ratio is just too much for dd. We've tried grandparents picking up but their health is failing and they just aren't able to anymore. I've even posted a job on care.com and got zero! Applicants. There were several that I thought might work when I read their bios but I messages them and got no response. Most recently I've emailed dd's new teacher to see if she knew of someone we could use. I'm waiting for a reply.

Sorry so long. I just keep thinking I can't be the only one that has to use non-family to care for a special needs child after school. Hoping someone has an idea I've missed.
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Re: After school care

  • Mkherren12Mkherren12 member
    I think she needs individual care or at most 2-3 kids per adult. She's an only
    Child. Not necessarily special
    Training but someone who understands that dealing with special needs can be challenging and required patience. After school care through the school is about 20 kids per adult like day care is. We just tried day care this last school year. She was asked to not come back from 2 places bc the teachers didn't want to deal with her. She is not a holy terror kid at all but she does need strong willed people with patience to establish their attority so she doesn't challenge them. She's smart and will dominate a situation if she knows she can.
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  • PipSqueak0313PipSqueak0313 member
    What you described is exactly why a few sped teachers/therapists in my area have started special needs daycares.

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  • MirandaHobbesMirandaHobbes member

    In my area both the school district and the city parks and rec department offer after-school programs. My son has attended both and both have made accomodations (he has ASD). In the case of parks and rec they even hired a part-time employee who only works with DS. They were able to do this under a city ADA policy.

    Another option would be the YMCA. I've found them to be accomodating as inclusion is a big part of their mantra. DS has attended school release days at our local Y.

    I've stressed out plenty about after-school care, because despite the aforementioned accomodations, these places are still only as good as their staff. We've had problems at each of them, but nothing enough to pull him yet, although I always am thinking of a contingency plan. The school district has been the best at accomodating. Via craigslist I learned that their is an in-home daycare just a couple blocks from me. I've seen school-aged kids leaving her house so I've been tempted to ask her if she would take DS. Sometimes I think him going to someone's home might be better for him- smaller setting, a "grandma" type figure who can help with homework, have him do some chores, interact with a few other kids, etc. But finding a great fit like that would take quite a bit of trial and error I imagine.

    Lastly, I'm sure there is a Down Syndrome organization that keeps a list of caregivers. Good luck!

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