Special Needs

[Unregistered]

I'm a regular user but logged out since this is kind of an unusual question and don't know if I should even be asking.

Anyways, I have a child that is special needs. He doesn't have an actual diagnoses yet (mom has kind of been in denial) but he is delayed cognitively, physically, socially, etc. They almost think he is autistic and he has been working with OT and speech therapist and now getting evaluated for possible special ed for school next year. He'll be 3 this summer.

When mom interviewed with me and started him here in the fall, she never mentioned any of his issues before he started. Now as I've gone along, he has been more work than other 2 year olds, including physically on my bad back. He doesn't do transitions well, I can't communicate with him, I don't think I could take him on field trips due to his lack of listening and his outbursts, etc. Luckily he is not full time or I would have replaced him a while ago, but I deal with him during his part time here. He might be leaving in the fall for half day special ed preschool with the school system.

Anyways, have any of you ever charged more for kids with special needs. Just because of the extra time/attention he needs and they're telling me these extra things he needs (like I would have to make up pictures for transitions, etc.), stuff that I just don't have the time or energy to do with working 10 hour days with 2 infants and 2 year olds. I don't want to term cuz he is making progress here and I don't want to add more stress to him or mom. I don't want to actually charge more for him as it would be awkward now to tell the parents I'm gonna charge more for him, but I am thinking for in the future if I ever get a case like this, is it even legal? We charge more for babies because they are more work? Is it allowed for kids with special needs that require more work? How would I word that in a policy? He's almost 3, but it's like dealing with a 1 year old.

I've had kids with minor issues before (asthma, etc.), but nothing that is so all consuming that it is like taking care of a child months younger than actual age, therefore requiring more work. Maybe I just feel a little burnt out and shouldn't even be asking.

[NoMoreJuice!]

I believe this is the info you are looking for:

http://www.childcarelaw.org/docs/caringforchildrenwithspecialneedsada.pdf

[MarinaVanessa]

I believe this is the info you are looking for:

http://www.childcarelaw.org/docs/car...alneedsada.pdf

It goes on to say that parents do not have to disclose when a child has a disability if they choose not to.

Pretty much what I got was that you can charge more if you incur more costs because of a special needs child or child with disability however the cost must be shared among all of your clients, not just the one with special needs

[NeedaVaca]

I will add, don't let the parents get out of work that should be their responsibility. For example, those picture cards for transitions. The parents should make those and give them to you, you should not have to do that extra work.

[safechner]

No, you cannot charge more on a special needs child. Please don't bother if you dont have time to do everything for that child. That child deserves better with someone else who have more experience. I am not trying to be mean but that is the way it is. I have a child who is on Autism Spectrum.

[coolconfidentme]

I believe this is the info you are looking for:

http://www.childcarelaw.org/docs/car...alneedsada.pdf

What if the child puts others at risk when they lash out? Biting, hitting, throwing things, etc?

[preschoolteacher]

What if the child puts others at risk when they lash out? Biting, hitting, throwing things, etc?

You can uphold every child to your behavior policy. If you would terminate daycare services for a child who is hitting, etc., but doesn't have special needs, you can treat a child with special needs the same way.

It's kind of like the signs on stores--"no shirt, no shoes, no service. " if you'd send someone without special needs away who wasn't wearing a shirt, you can do the same if the person had special needs. As long as the policy is there, parents are aware of it, and it's applied equally to all.

[Leigh]

We apparently can not charge more to the parents for special needs, HOWEVER, in my state, they will pay an extra $2.20 per hour for special needs kids for state pay kids. Odd that the state will voluntarily pay more, but we can not charge the parents more.

[Cradle2crayons]

We apparently can not charge more to the parents for special needs, HOWEVER, in my state, they will pay an extra $2.20 per hour for special needs kids for state pay kids. Odd that the state will voluntarily pay more, but we can not charge the parents more.

Our state pays like $1.50 a day re for special needs kids. I have one child who is on ssi/disability and she gets the special needs rate from the state. Which is like $50 a week instead of the regular $40 a week for the non special needs kids.

It IS wierd though why it's okay to charge more for babies but not for special needs. I guess nobody has decided to take that to the Supreme Court?

[daycarediva]

No, you cannot charge more on a special needs child. Please don't bother if you dont have time to do everything for that child. That child deserves better with someone else who have more experience. I am not trying to be mean but that is the way it is. I have a child who is on Autism Spectrum.

I agree. Mom needs to push to get him in special education prek NOW. Time is of the essence. They have 1:1's for difficult transitions, they have pecs boards already set up. I would probably either put a timeline on Mom for getting those items ready, or term IN the child's best interests.

You can uphold every child to your behavior policy. If you would terminate daycare services for a child who is hitting, etc., but doesn't have special needs, you can treat a child with special needs the same way.

It's kind of like the signs on stores--"no shirt, no shoes, no service. " if you'd send someone without special needs away who wasn't wearing a shirt, you can do the same if the person had special needs. As long as the policy is there, parents are aware of it, and it's applied equally to all.

Very true. My son with ASD is non violent, but I know that had he become a threat, he would have been termed from his daycare.

We apparently can not charge more to the parents for special needs, HOWEVER, in my state, they will pay an extra $2.20 per hour for special needs kids for state pay kids. Odd that the state will voluntarily pay more, but we can not charge the parents more.

I will have to look up the market rates in my area... they just went up, too.

[daycarediva]

Children with Special Needs
When child care services are provided for a child with special needs, social services districts will receive reimbursement for payments in excess of the applicable market rate up to the statewide limit. Any payments in excess of the market rates must be related to the increased costs associated with meeting the special care needs of the particular child. Detailed requirements relative to the provision of child care services to children with special needs are set forth in 91 ADM-34.
The rate of reimbursement to a provider caring for a child determined to have special needs is the actual cost of care up to the statewide limit of the highest weekly, daily, part-day or hourly market rate for child care services in the State, as applicable, based on the amount of time the child care services are provided per week, irrespective of the type of child care provider used or the age of the child.
The highest applicable market rates in the State are as follows. These rates are also the maximum reimbursable rates for special needs children:

Weekly $340.00
Daily $ 68.00
Part-Day $ 45.00
Hourly $ 18.75

For comparison's sake, regular family childcare market rates are between $160-175/week for full time care. The table won't copy and paste right.

[NightOwl]

Ummm.... Hmm. Lol. At my center (I was the owner) we had a sa boy, 11yrs, who we were terming for awful behavior that was not improving after many months. Mom pleaded for us to keep him saying she was willing to pay more. So we came up with a plan for him to have his own staff member and mom paid the regular weekly rate plus the cost of additional staff. We did this for about 3 months before we slowly started reintroducing him into the regular sa classroom. It was a loooooooong 3 months. And this was perfectly legal. We were incurring extra costs to have him enrolled, therefore we could raise or rates to cover that cost. And I know everyone is saying it would be illegal to charge more just because he has special needs, but don't you set your own rates? This isn't a matter of being discriminatory. It's a matter of this child essentially being as much work as two children his age. If you leave one of your dc spots open, for example, so that you can better handle him, it wouldn't be fair for you to take a financial hit in order to avoid discriminatory accusations. The child above, btw, turn out to be on the spectrum, but we didn't find that out until 3 or 4 years later.

[Crazy8]

I am just wondering here… Suppose I have 2 f/t children - neither special needs - one pays me $150/week, the other pays me $175/week. There could be a number of reasons why I charge this way - maybe I never raised ones rates when they added more hours or maybe the other started a year later and I decided to charge more for new clients but not old, etc. etc. Is that illegal?? Am I legally obligated to charge the same rate?? Is it only illegal when you put the special needs label on it??

[Blackcat31]

Ummm.... Hmm. Lol. At my center (I was the owner) we had a sa boy, 11yrs, who we were terming for awful behavior that was not improving after many months. Mom pleaded for us to keep him saying she was willing to pay more. So we came up with a plan for him to have his own staff member and mom paid the regular weekly rate plus the cost of additional staff. We did this for about 3 months before we slowly started reintroducing him into the regular sa classroom. It was a loooooooong 3 months. And this was perfectly legal. We were incurring extra costs to have him enrolled, therefore we could raise or rates to cover that cost. And I know everyone is saying it would be illegal to charge more just because he has special needs, but don't you set your own rates? This isn't a matter of being discriminatory. It's a matter of this child essentially being as much work as two children his age. If you leave one of your dc spots open, for example, so that you can better handle him, it wouldn't be fair for you to take a financial hit in order to avoid discriminatory accusations. The child above, btw, turn out to be on the spectrum, but we didn't find that out until 3 or 4 years later.

The difference is the actual diagnosis though.

You can charge a family more if their child has tough behaviors IF the child isn't diagnosed with a special need.

IF the child has an IEP or a 504 plan, then you CANNOT charge more for his care.

It sounds like in your case, you simply hired an additional staff person to deal with a child who behaved badly but that isn't the same as a child classified and diagnosed with a special need.

His situation changed.....usually the issue that warrants an IEP/504 is a situation that does stays with the child for all of their school years/life.

[Blackcat31]

I am just wondering here… Suppose I have 2 f/t children - neither special needs - one pays me $150/week, the other pays me $175/week. There could be a number of reasons why I charge this way - maybe I never raised ones rates when they added more hours or maybe the other started a year later and I decided to charge more for new clients but not old, etc. etc. Is that illegal?? Am I legally obligated to charge the same rate?? Is it only illegal when you put the special needs label on it??

That is fine to do. I charge ALL my families different rates because each family has different care needs but I don't charge any of them more or less because their child(ren) have been diagnosed with a special need.

The rate differences are based on something completely different.