Outside Therapists And Educational Services

[hwichlaz]

According to classes that I have taken for our training hours that are required by DHR, you CANNOT separate a child and therapist by putting them in a separate room away from the other children because it's considered as a way for the child to not interact with their peers while the therapist is present.

Wouldn’t that depend on the therapy? Some therapies don’t have a social component. like physical therapy.

[lovemykidstoo]

You can always ask about their organization and specialty but I would not worry that the therapists do not have appropriate background checks.

I have hosted many providers from Early Intervention and I have never once suspected that they were not able to be around the children, these therapists often visit children in a childcare setting.

If you don't have the space to accommodate it, just tell the parents. Perhaps they can find a daycare center that would be willing to work with them.

I understand how it can feel like you are losing your privacy but if you don't want to deal with it just tell the parents and let them move on to a daycare that will allow the services. It is too important for a child to receive therapy as early and as much as possible, for the child to miss out on the opportunity would be a horrible.

I guess I wasn't asking about what qualifications the therapist has to have to come to my home for my own concerns, but rather licensing. I've read several times how providers don't care for parents coming in and spending time around other peoples children, so that's why I was asking if there was a licensing rule.

The child I was referring to that is in speech therapy comes here 2 days a week for 4 hours each time, so it's not as if this child is here 50 hours a week and they can't fit their therapy in at home. If a therapist wants to see how he interacts with other children, I completely understand that. My concern is that the kids act up when someone else is here, so their play during that time is not characteristic of how they normally behave. I have offered to video tape a natural day without distractions so they can truly get an idea of how he interacts.

[hwichlaz]

I guess I wasn't asking about what qualifications the therapist has to have to come to my home for my own concerns, but rather licensing. I've read several times how providers don't care for parents coming in and spending time around other peoples children, so that's why I was asking if there was a licensing rule.

The child I was referring to that is in speech therapy comes here 2 days a week for 4 hours each time, so it's not as if this child is here 50 hours a week and they can't fit their therapy in at home. If a therapist wants to see how he interacts with other children, I completely understand that. My concern is that the kids act up when someone else is here, so their play during that time is not characteristic of how they normally behave. I have offered to video tape a natural day without distractions so they can truly get an idea of how he interacts.

Some therapies have a social component where they work with the child to communicate with peers. The therapists that come into my home all have livescan/immuniztion/TB test on file with their agency, who also files those with licesensing.

[Unregistered]

No because its in compliance with the ada. Not necessarily license requirements

[Sunchimes]

I was a special needs center for several years. My house had a revolving door for the ECI therapists. I loved them and never hesitated to let them in. That said, I never had more than 3 kids in care at one time, so it was easier than if I had had 5 or 6.

I didn't mean to do special needs, but one of my dc kids developed problems, so it started. I readily agreed for 2 reasons. None of my parents have had the type of jobs that they could take off for an hour in the middle of the day. Also, these kids spend 50+ hours a week with me. I was in charge of their therapy. I sat with the therapists while they worked with the kids and taught me how to do it. Then, I taught the parents what they needed to know. When a child needs therabrushing every 2 hours or certain physical therapies, it was up to me to meet their needs. I would have felt like I was not doing my best for them if I had declined. All therapies were scheduled through me, and the parents rarely even talked to them unless there was a question.

I don't have any S/N kids at the moment. Some aged out, one moved away, and my last one overcame her difficulties and is no longer considered special needs. happyface

I think that the best part is how much I learned. Our ECI has a policy of blending into the daycare. Other than play therapy, they keep the child in the main room and everyone takes part, especially OT. Once they found out I was involved, they sent me videos, books, webinars, etc. I have learned so, so much, and I really like it. At one point, I considered going back to school for OT, but at my age, it just wasn't sensible. I found that I am really good at managing and doing the therapy.

Even though I am not doing it officially, I still use it. I have one child that is very sensory, as many kids are. I use the things I learned for him, and it helps.

I have 2 openings coming up this fall, and I hope, hope, hope that I can fill them with another s/n child and welcome the therapists back.

[Second Home]

I am sure all states differ but here in MD we must allow ( we can not deny any therapy visits) a therapist to visit a child and have therapy in a child care home .

[Blackcat31]

I am sure all states differ but here in MD we must allow ( we can not deny any therapy visits) a therapist to visit a child and have therapy in a child care home .

Can I ask how is that worded in your regulations?

[hwichlaz]

Can I ask how is that worded in your regulations?

I know that if I deny it I have to be very careful of my wording to be ADA compliant. I generally allow it, but if I can't my go-to reason is "schedule conflict".

[Blackcat31]

I know that if I deny it I have to be very careful of my wording to be ADA compliant. I generally allow it, but if I can't my go-to reason is "schedule conflict".

Does your state require you to allow outside therapists to come into your program?

I don't know.....I understand ADA compliancy but I don't see anywhere in those laws that state we HAVE to accommodate these visits during program hours...kwim?

I like the "scheduling conflict" response as a viable and legal "out".


If a child has therapy due to an ADA protected disability and I decline to host a therapist here within daily routine I don't see that as non-compliant.

fwiw~ I have no idea.. I'm just trying to figure it out.

I see the connection but I'm so B&W about most rules that I usually make my decisions based on specific wording etc.. so I am wondering if it's the ADA that would say you HAVE to accommodate or the state's child care laws.

[hwichlaz]

It's considered a reasonable accommodation, which the ADA requires us to make when possible. My old house was too small so they had to be right in the middle of my play area, thus I could only accommodate play-based therapy that included the whole group. This isn't a state regulation but has been won in case-law in our state.

I came across the case law when fighting for an IEP for my own child years ago...I can't easily dig it up at this point. It caught my eye in my reading because it applied to small private facilities.

[nannyde]

It's considered a reasonable accommodation, which the ADA requires us to make when possible. My old house was too small so they had to be right in the middle of my play area, thus I could only accommodate play-based therapy that included the whole group. This isn't a state regulation but has been won in case-law in our state.

I came across the case law when fighting for an IEP for my own child years ago...I can't easily dig it up at this point. It caught my eye in my reading because it applied to small private facilities.

Can you cite the case law for in home facilities if you know of any. By small facilities are you referring to a center?

[hwichlaz]

Can you cite the case law for in home facilities if you know of any. By small facilities are you referring to a center?

I can't cite it, I read it years ago in a law book so I don't have online references. It was for small private facilities including family child care homes. It said that the only requirement is space, that it doesn't require more staff, or supplies or any increase of cost on the part of the business so it's not reasonable to decline it unless you don't physically have space for another adult to be in your licensed areas. There were caveats for therapies that required privacy (which none that I can think of under ADA would) or that take a lot of physical space.

[hwichlaz]

Also this was case law at the state level. I didn't read anything that took it to the federal level because it wasn't my focus. My focus at the time was getting accommodations for my own child in school and after-school care. The child I was fighting for is now 22 years old so I don't even have her IEP handy to see my reference list.

[nannyde]

My experience is that daycare is chosen as the place to do EL intervention because that is what is best for the parents and the service providers schedule.

I wonder why the service providers don't accommodate the child's and family's schedule or the parents don't accommodate the service providers schedule? To me that seems more in line with the ADA then having services during child care with other children and adults present.

The service providers need to change their business model to early mornings, evenings, and weekends to accommodate the special needs child home schedule.

I have hosted a couple workers and it didn't turn out well. It was a big time **** and the expectation to relay information to parents and to be the go between from therapist to parents resulted in way too much patent conferencing and documentation.

The therapies the child received weren't affecting the child's success in my setting. I didn't need to be involved in any way.

I don't worry about being ADA compliant if the child's reason for therapy doesn't affect their daycare setting.

I would have to require the parents to exhaust every avenue to get their child help without involving the daycare before i would consider it. This would mean working with their employers to schedule before or after work therapy times, accessing other companies to provide services within hours they aren't working, and enlisting friends and relatives to host when their or the service providers schedule doesn't jive with the parents work hours and off work hours.

[hwichlaz]

My experience is that daycare is chosen as the place to do EL intervention because that is what is best for the parents and the service providers schedule.

I wonder why the service providers don't accommodate the child's and family's schedule or the parents don't accommodate the service providers schedule? To me that seems more in line with the ADA then having services during child care with other children and adults present.

The service providers need to change their business model to early mornings, evenings, and weekends to accommodate the special needs child home schedule.

I have hosted a couple workers and it didn't turn out well. It was a big time **** and the expectation to relay information to parents and to be the go between from therapist to parents resulted in way too much patent conferencing and documentation.

The therapies the child received weren't affecting the child's success in my setting. I didn't need to be involved in any way.

I don't worry about being ADA compliant if the child's reason for therapy doesn't affect their daycare setting.

I would have to require the parents to exhaust every avenue to get their child help without involving the daycare before i would consider it. This would mean working with their employers to schedule before or after work therapy times, accessing other companies to provide services within hours they aren't working, and enlisting friends and relatives to host when their or the service providers schedule doesn't jive with the parents work hours and off work hours.

A child's ability to walk, hold her head up, sit up, eat etc all definitely affect her at daycare. The therapists that come here are helping with those things...and helping the children interact and play with their friends. I just go on about my day...but it's written in their goals and special ed plans that they need to get their help at daycare to be most effective. It's about what helps the child, not what helps the parents. I have one that is 2 years old and can't hold her head up for more than 30 secs at a time, or sit up, let alone roll over or crawl or walk etc. And another with CP who is learning how to physically navigate around playing children without being knocked over etc.