Special Needs Daycare Center (!)
A pilot daycare program for special needs children is being launched at the Kalamazoo Autism Center, under Professor Richard Malott, a psychology professor at Western Michigan University, the August 15th MLive reports. It will offer daycare services from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, as well as supplemental behavioral-based instruction will be offered to children from age 18 months to 12 years; tutors and tutor supervisors will be Malott’s WMU students. Standard full-day tuition for day care will be $189 per week for infants and $157 per week for older students, and half-day care is also available.
All I can say is: I think I’ve been needing such a center for the past, oh, 8 or (to tell the truth) 11 years. Charlie was in a daycare when he was 16 months old and this was actually helpful in determining that he “had something” when he was very young, as he was so clearly very different from the other children. Subsequent efforts to place Charlie in daycare and afternoon programs (the latter for special needs kids specifically) have not been successful, mostly because the staff could not provide the level of care that he needed. Hope Malott’s pilot program works out and the idea catches on—-it’s needed, at least by this working mother.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, childcare, daycare, disabilities blog, disability, Family, family blog, michigan, Parenting, pdd-nos, working mother
5 opinions for Special Needs Daycare Center (!)
Linda
Aug 16, 2008 at 6:30 pm
It certainly is needed for the working parent and your son will probably LOVE it in the same way he loves school. It could become an extension of his school day routine and be as positive. Here’s hoping…
Kristina Chew, PhD
Aug 16, 2008 at 6:49 pm
New Jersey needs to pick up on this!
JoyMama
Aug 16, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Wow. That’s… impressive. And funded through the university, I assume, to be able to keep the fees so low?
We’ve got a home daycare where the provider looks after a mix of special-needs and NT kids, and it’s a wonderful setup, but it’s not a one-on-one intensive thing.
Daisy
Aug 17, 2008 at 9:24 pm
When Amigo was young, we were lucky to find an integrated day care that served disabled and non-disabled children. It was called Common Paths; a very good name for this place!
navi
Aug 26, 2008 at 10:07 pm
There was an after school program I tried Tristan in. unfortunately, even though it was designed for kids with severe needs, tristan’s curious, climbing, hugging adults (regardless of ability - some of the kids were teenagers, so he climbed on them and hugged them…) and item mouthing ways were a bit too much for them to handle… They enjoyed having him, but they just couldn’t safely handle him.
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