Inclusion Question

[Unregistered]

I am a registered member but this is one of those times I need to stay anonymous. I understand the implications of the IDEA Act, Part C. I have no issues caring for kids with special needs.

The problem I am having is the burden of hosting 2-3 therapy sessions per week in my own home, in my family's private area. I am repeatedly called away from the group I am caring for ALONE to answer questions and be "trained" with no say in the scheduling. Lunch, Naps, Outside Playground Time and Circle Times have been interupted. I feel like a hostage.

I work alone with a group of kids to care for and the parents have one. Why is this my responsibility? What can I do?

[Zoe]

I don't know all of the regulations of the act, but I will say that if that is what the child MUST have to succeed, and it's not something you can do while properly caring for your other daycare kids, then maybe it's not a good fit for this kid. You aren't discriminating, you are helping the child out by telling the parents that he would be better suited with a daycare that can help with these therapy sessions.

[JenNJ]

I think that in this situation, I would explain to the parents the issue you are having. The way to solve this would be to hire an assistant who comes in only during therapy sessions. S/he can stay with the group while you work with the therapist and child. This would be a cost that the parents would need to cover. Or the parents would need to come in and participate in the sessions in your place.

This link may help answer some questions on what oyu can and cannot charge for: http://www.ada.gov/childq&a.htm

[nannyde]

I would just tell them that the therapy, conferencing, and hosting the therapy is something you aren't able to accomodate. They need to have the therapy at home with the parents and the parents need to be responsible for doing the therapy with the child before care, after care, bedtimes, and weekends. The parents need to be the point of service contact between the worker and the parents.

They are having you do this because for EVERYBODY but you... it's the easiest thing. It's also free which is a huge bonus for the parents. Have THEM take it on and do it at home and just give you updates on how they are doing with it.

It may mean the parents need to miss some work weekly to host but that's just part of having a special needs child. They may have to use a different service provider so they can do it on the weekends or evenings. They need to completely exhaust every possible avenue for them to do it all on their own time with their own resources before they even bring it up to you. The idea of the disability act isn't for the provider to take over things the parents can do on their own. They need to be the ones who are providing their own time, home, and conferencing.

I would just be honest and say that if you continue to be a part of the therapy that you will need to hire an assistant to do the hosting, coferencing, DOCUMENTATION, and the actual therapy for the child. If they are willing to finance that you can TRY to find a part time assistant to meet their child's needs. No guarantee tho... and they need to first exhaust every possible resource/providers of care themselves.

I've had a few experiences with this and it became too much of a burden for my small business. For me, the conferencing with the parents, the training from the worker, the conferencing with the worker... was taking up SO much daily time that it was pulling me away from the CARE of the child and the other kids. I just don't have the skill set or the money to host this. It's expensive in staff time and I'm just not good at it. It's specialty work and the child deserves to have specialist doing it.

The parents will condense the work you do into the actual hands on therapy that you are to do but ime that's really a small percentage of the staff time it takes to host this.

[cheerfuldom]

I had the EXACT same issue....therapy being given in my house for a special needs child who I accepted into care before this issues arose. I had to set some ground rules....

1. I provided the therapist with a list of dates and times that worked for me (parents did not have any say in what dates or times of therapy)

2. Therapist had to conduct services knowing that I have other children in care and would not be stopping to be a part of the session

3. Any specific exercises and such needed to be shown to the parent at separate appointments. I would not continue any specific therapy during daycare hours...parents would have to do this type of thing on their own time. Basically I was allowing the therapist to come in and do her job here but any information and instructions would be given to the parents, not me.

4. If the therapy became an issue, parents would have to pickup their child and do therapy outside my home. I would be the deciding factor about whether this was working or not

As long as everything was done within these boundaries, I hosted therapy sessions in my home at no extra charge. this was for about 6 months and I became quite good friends with the therapists. The parents quickly saw that i was going above and beyond and just hosting the therapy sessions was a big help to them. I did not hear any complaints about me not taking on more of the hands on help.

[MrsB]

I had the EXACT same issue....therapy being given in my house for a special needs child who I accepted into care before this issues arose. I had to set some ground rules....

1. I provided the therapist with a list of dates and times that worked for me (parents did not have any say in what dates or times of therapy)

2. Therapist had to conduct services knowing that I have other children in care and would not be stopping to be a part of the session

3. Any specific exercises and such needed to be shown to the parent at separate appointments. I would not continue any specific therapy during daycare hours...parents would have to do this type of thing on their own time. Basically I was allowing the therapist to come in and do her job here but any information and instructions would be given to the parents, not me.

4. If the therapy became an issue, parents would have to pickup their child and do therapy outside my home. I would be the deciding factor about whether this was working or not

As long as everything was done within these boundaries, I hosted therapy sessions in my home at no extra charge. this was for about 6 months and I became quite good friends with the therapists. The parents quickly saw that i was going above and beyond and just hosting the therapy sessions was a big help to them. I did not hear any complaints about me not taking on more of the hands on help.

I have had several kids over the years with special needs that had therapy appointments. Currently I have one DCB that has a weekly session. And my own DCD has sessions once every 2 weeks.

You are right GROUND RULES! GROUND RULES!

You have to tell the parent and therapist what works for you and what doesnt.

I had to say... if this is a therapy session for little Johnnie and has to be in a different room, I can't accompany him. If you need me to be included then it needs to be something that includes all the daycare children. I also said that any suggestions for helping Johnnie needed to be in writing to go to the parents and I can read them and I will try and incorporate those into my program. Sessions are allowed here but if Johnnie needs someone with him then the parents need to provide that.

My understanding of the disabilities act is that you can't exclude solely based on a disability, but any adjustments you do have to be reasonable.
I would say that putting your other DCK at risk of injury or not providing proper supervision is an unreasonable request.

Best of luck! Making adjustments for special needs children takes a special balance but can be the most rewarding part of your job!!

[Unregistered]

Thank you for all of your replies.

I will request very specific ground rules but if they (sub-contracted home health) cannot comply with that I will require the parent find another avenue to get these resources for their child. I guess I will wait to see what the repercussions really are as I can't find any easily defined information.

This child is just under two and has no obvious or medically diagnosed disability that I have been given documentation of ("just a bit slow compared to ***'s son" per parent). This child performs and plays daily at the same level as her peers. She is an absolute joy to keep and cries when they (varies) come, she is afraid when I have to leave the room.This has simply reached a level of constant interference that is making all of us really frustrated.

Thanks again for the support and advice.

[bunnyslippers]

The point of EI therapy is for the parents to learn the skills needed to carry over the therapy strategies in the home. That being said, it would be helpful for you to know what strategies are being employed with this child so you can carry them over in your environment whenever possible.

I would ask that the parents take notes on the sessions and share them with you. Perhaps a monthly consult with the therapist in your environment would also be effective; however, you should not be the primary contact person for this therapy. It defeats the entire purpose of ensuring 24 hour carry over of learned skills.