What is your take on having an an autistic child in a mainstream daycare?

Question

hi can people share with me how they feel about having a child with autism in a mainstream daycare? are there pros and cons to it? what outweighs the cons? thanks.

Answer 1

I don't think it would be a good idea. It doesn't matter what end of the spectrum they fall either. Children with Autism need the structure that *most* typical daycares do not provide. I don't know of any typical daycare 5 towns either direction of me that would have anyone near qualified to care for a child with autism. The typical children in a daycare would not be good peer models, because they don't have that special ed teacher behind them teaching them to be peer models. A child with Autism may react to something that no one in the daycare can figure out. As simple as a tag on their clothing, or a sock messed up; The daycare doesn't have the training, or the common knowledge to figure out what's going on. Children with autism, even with minimal issues, still don't respond well to verbal requests, so the daycare provider may get louder with the child, making the situation worse. Eye contact lacks, and most people assume a child is not listening, when in fact, they may not be able to Look And Listen. Then there's the risk the parent runs of their child being kicked out for behaviors like biting or hitting, or unconsolable temper tantrums/meltdowns.

My son had a record by the time he was 18 months; He had been booted from 2 daycares, and I had lost my third decent job. He was out of control, had horrible meltdowns at home, banged his head and one day cracked his head requiring staples. He's very verbal, can handle noise, can follow directions when he's in a good mood, and is basically a good kid. He started special ed preschool this past summer, and has been doing amazing. His speech has improved, all of his aggressive behaviors have reduced, and his stims have reduced, which means he's getting the right amount of the right sensory input, and isn't being overloaded.

My daughter is in a mainstream 1st grade classroom, with no services. She's starting to have some problems, and will soon require an aide for parts of the day. She also had serious problems with daycares when she was younger.

I see almost no pros to putting a child with non-typical needs into a typical daycare.

Answer 2

Part of education is appropriate social skills. If we dont give people good role models, how will they learn.  I am all for it.

Answer 3

Oh I can answer this one. If daycare providers are willing to take in a child with Autism, well I should say on the Spectrum because there is a wide Spectrum for Autism they should have some training with a Organization that deals with children with Autism. My son was in a regular daycare and I will fill you in on my experience.

It was just 2 months after Caleb's diagnoses and he was 2,   I put him in daycare for 2 reasons. 1. I was working and so was my husband.2. He needed social interactions. Well I interviewed like most parents should and explained everything and all Caleb's issues. She told me she had alot of training which was visible by awards and certificates ( also parent feedback) So both my children started going to this daycare that was State Licensed. It was the most horrible experience of our lives. Caleb came home with bite marks all over his back, he was seperated from other children and she plain out could not handle him. If he was having sensory issues, issues with other kids or anything she put him in the toy room alone and put the baby gate up. If another kid got hurt she blamed it always on Caleb (he is non verbal and can not tell me otherwise). My 9 month old came home with bruises and bite marks and blamed it on Caleb. Finally I had enough and pulled my boys with no noticed and told her where to go. Its funny now because I know who was doing all the hitting and biting. The women had a group photo done and I have it on the fridge because my boys are in it and Caleb pointed to her son and said bite. She swore she saw Caleb doing it and he was put in the time out spot for it.

So there are alot of cons unless that person has had training. Autistic children have a variety of issues and it is hard for people to understand and handle it when they are used to "Normal children". Caleb likes to hug and jump all over people, he does not understand alot of spoken language, he has sensory issues and alot more. Not every child is the same on the Spectrum. Like they say... If you have met one child with Autism, You met only one child with Autism.

Go with gut instinct when placing any child in daycare because you never know who is watching your child unless you do proper interviews and even then it is hard to tell. If I would have known some of this womens issues then like I do now my boys would have never went there. I have talked to many parents who pulled their children from this womens care because of her inability to do the job she says she can.

Jessica

Answer 4

Pros: helps the autistic child by modeling language & good behavior; helps the other kids learn to be compassionate to the disabled & learn about human differences; helps the parent so the parent knows the child will get good day care environment; does good for society by helping one more person get needed attention & help to grow up more able to succeed with people.

Cons: the child may take up extra time from the day care worker(s); the child may hit or bite & hurt the others; the child may need extra care that is unusual for age or is dangerous to self or liability insurance (wetting, running off the property).

Answer 5

I think at it is OK. All children are Autistic in some ways or another. I worked with Autism children before I had my now and they just need some one-on-one help if the center came get someone with the training and skills to work with the child.

Yes it will help the other children learn that they are OK (children with special needs).

Answer 6

Its depends how severe the child with autism is if the child is like my son Thomas he is non verbal autistic then No it wouldn't do him no good he wouldn't learn very much neither would the other children, what the schools are doing in the UK within the next 5 years is locating special schools onto mainstream school sites this will mean the children no matter what their disability will interact during play and lunch breaks, i think if this happens then children will be al lot more accepting to special needs kids and they will all learn from each other, but i have to say if the child has very mild autism why shouldn't they be taught in classes with other children surely this will help them

Answer 7

Well, I might get a lot of thumbs down for this one but, I don't think moderately to severely disabled children should be admitted to normal daycares and schools.

It is damaging to both the child with the disability and the other children who are thrown into a situation that they aren't prepared for.

Example: We had two disabled children in my high school. One of them did have autism. He constantly rocked and flapped his hands about while sitting at his desk (as normal for him) but, it greatly distracted all the students in the class. He also got very upset when told he couldn't do something and sometimes went into rages. This made a lot of the other kids scared because they didn't know what was going on or how to react. There was even a few times where he physically attacked some of us and of course we couldn't retaliate.

It wasn't fair on us to be put in a situation where we were uncomfortable, scared, distracted from learning, etc.

And it wasn't fair on him to be there with people who had no clue how to handle situations like that. He wasn't there for the socialization because none of us socialized with him because we were all scared. So, basically being in the mainstream didn't have any benefits for him. I always felt that he would have been better off being in a specialized school that had other children like him.

So, my answer would be: it depends on the severity of the disability. I can't answer a clear cut yes or no. I guess the person closest to the child could answer that.

Good luck!

Answer 8

I have a son who is now 6.  He is in a 1st grade self contained class in our local school district with a one on one aide.  His diagnosis is PDD nos.  He attended not only the district preschool in a self contained class with 5 to 8 students, but also the Head Start Program with 20 children in each class.  I really have to say that a lot depends on the teacher and support staff and their willingness and ability to put in the time and attention required.  My son, who upon entering the program was non verbal and had many behaviors, benefited greatly from being in Head Start.  We were lucky, though to have such a compassionate, kind, understanding and flexible teacher and support staff.   So, although I do understand the potential for a distraction, or tantrum, and that the severity may play a factor, if the staff is willing and able to support the child it is a great learning experience not only for the child, but the typical children as well.  My son has somehow, even though he had a tough time communicating and virtually no social skills, made so many friends that are now also in the school district.  Even though he will not go out of his way to acknowledge them, many of these children will go out of their way to say hello to him.  And, I have never seen, nor heard of one of them make fun or respond to him in a negative way when he is having difficulties.  They would sometimes actually try to console him.  I really think it was a great learning experience for all of the children.

Answer 9

First this depends on the degree of autism. For a very high functioning child with some language, it could be a benefit because they may learn something from interacting with other children.

That being said, most autistic children do not learn social skills by observing and then imitating them. Part of the disability is the inability to read social cues. In an autistic Pre-K, these skills should be specifically taught.

The other problem with a regular daycare is that there will not be any direct speech and language services that will be an ongoing need. These children can't communicate very well, which can lead to behavior problems.

Also, many autistic children have sensory issues. If the daycare is too noisy or if the kids tend to be rough and tumble, this may frighten children with autism and they may start to withdraw socially.

Finally, it is important that the daycare provider has the skills and the knowledge to respond appropriately to a child with autism. There are many teachers who don't have these skills, so I would think finding an appropriate provider would be difficult.

If your child is over two years old, you should contact your school district to request an assessment. Child find is a big part of the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004. School districts are required to seek out children with disabilities. Your child can enter a special education Pre-K at three years old.

For more information on your rights as the parent of a child with special needs, you might want to check out the Wrights Law website.

Answer 10

Hello, I guess first I will say my wife and I tried to put our son in a christian based daycare whom we had been using for about 5 yrs, they told us they would not accept him because of autism, we assured them we would have an aid for him and the class to help with his needs. So that didnt work out, however we have a place at our local college called Home and Family Life or HOFL, they have been more then willing to work with and learn as much as they can to help our son, they hired an aid for him specifically at no extra cost to us, although I do not consider this place a daycare because it teaches life skills to the kids and they are very structured in there classrooms. A little about my son, he is nonverbal, sensory issues, food aversions, adn the list carries on, the first four days in this program he had progressed more then the entire yr at school, pre k i should say, he is learning by imitation of typically developing peers, so my answer would be that if you feel the program may work, better yet if the center is willing to learn about the child and his/her disability then yes I would try it, but on the other hand some children do better in self contained classrooms, remember our children are people, I think sometimes people forget that when they see a child who is special needs, I apologize if this seems like a rant, just got off graveyard, anyway I hope you find what it is that works for you and yours,good luck, Aaron