[OT]Autistic boy in my daycare - need some advice

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I know this is really off topic but I don't personally know anybody who has

autistic children so this is the only place I could think of to ask so I think

it would be best if you reply, that you do it privately (I don't want to cause

havoc in here).

So I run a home daycare, and somebody came to see me yesterday with an autistic

boy. They haven't diagnosed him I don't think. The mother said it might have

had something to do with vaccines but she seems to think that it's more

connected to the boy's father's abuse. I've seen many children that are abused

and were abused and this doesn't look like symptoms of abuse. This is classic

autism. He was talking at 5 months, standing at 7 and tried taking his first

steps. All of a sudden, his speech stopped, he lost any sort of emotion/empathy

that he had, everything just regressed. He walks on his toes all the time.

He's always in his own world, and out of nowhere, he just becomes extremely

aggressive and doesn't know how to interact with people at all. He's not

speaking at all yet, and he's 3.5 years old. He knows a few works like mama,

papa. From what I'm told by the mom, you have to keep an eye on him.

My concern is that I won't be able to handle him as my own son is very spirited

and requires lots of attention. It's not any sort of damage, he's never been

vaccinated, he just is very high energy, high sensitivity, high everything. But

even if my own son weren't here, I'd be concerned because I'm afraid that I'd

turn away for a few minutes to prepare lunch/snacks and the boy will get into

some sort of trouble. He apparently runs around and likes to get into

everything so I'm afraid he might hurt himself, or someone else.

I'm also concerned about other parents being hesitant about enrolling their

children because of his aggression. So my question is, what is it like in a day

in the life of an autistic child?

I'd like to get some perspective, because I'm not sure if I'm thinking it's more

difficult than it really is. How do other parents react when their children are

playing with a child who has autism - do they seem nervous or comfortable?

I feel really bad because I may deny this child great care in an organic, loving

and natural home because of his autism but at the same time, this is a business

and I am doing it alone. I don't have help from another adult who can watch him

while I prepare food or tend to another child. I think this is something I

would need, am I correct? It's also getting very difficult to find clients

because everyday, somebody decides to offer home childcare in their home, just

to make some money. They're not dedicated, the play area is non-existent, it's

just a regular living room. Then these people charge some ridiculously low

prices and I assume because of the economy, many parents don't care about the

quality of care the child gets and are more concerned with money. I've seen

some awesome, well-designed and well-established home daycares go out of

business because of this.

Anyway, can somebody shed some light as to how it would be like to babysit a

child with, what it looks like to me, as pretty severe autism. I should also

add that this boy seems really intelligent. He can figure out how things work

very easily, he's very explorative, curious and energetic. He also gets bored

very easily.

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I know this is really off topic but I don't personally know anybody who has

autistic children so this is the only place I could think of to ask so I think

it would be best if you reply, that you do it privately (I don't want to cause

havoc in here).

So I run a home daycare, and somebody came to see me yesterday with an autistic

boy. They haven't diagnosed him I don't think. The mother said it might have

had something to do with vaccines but she seems to think that it's more

connected to the boy's father's abuse. I've seen many children that are abused

and were abused and this doesn't look like symptoms of abuse. This is classic

autism. He was talking at 5 months, standing at 7 and tried taking his first

steps. All of a sudden, his speech stopped, he lost any sort of emotion/empathy

that he had, everything just regressed. He walks on his toes all the time.

He's always in his own world, and out of nowhere, he just becomes extremely

aggressive and doesn't know how to interact with people at all. He's not

speaking at all yet, and he's 3.5 years old. He knows a few works like mama,

papa. From what I'm told by the mom, you have to keep an eye on him.

My concern is that I won't be able to handle him as my own son is very spirited

and requires lots of attention. It's not any sort of damage, he's never been

vaccinated, he just is very high energy, high sensitivity, high everything. But

even if my own son weren't here, I'd be concerned because I'm afraid that I'd

turn away for a few minutes to prepare lunch/snacks and the boy will get into

some sort of trouble. He apparently runs around and likes to get into

everything so I'm afraid he might hurt himself, or someone else.

I'm also concerned about other parents being hesitant about enrolling their

children because of his aggression. So my question is, what is it like in a day

in the life of an autistic child?

I'd like to get some perspective, because I'm not sure if I'm thinking it's more

difficult than it really is. How do other parents react when their children are

playing with a child who has autism - do they seem nervous or comfortable?

I feel really bad because I may deny this child great care in an organic, loving

and natural home because of his autism but at the same time, this is a business

and I am doing it alone. I don't have help from another adult who can watch him

while I prepare food or tend to another child. I think this is something I

would need, am I correct? It's also getting very difficult to find clients

because everyday, somebody decides to offer home childcare in their home, just

to make some money. They're not dedicated, the play area is non-existent, it's

just a regular living room. Then these people charge some ridiculously low

prices and I assume because of the economy, many parents don't care about the

quality of care the child gets and are more concerned with money. I've seen

some awesome, well-designed and well-established home daycares go out of

business because of this.

Anyway, can somebody shed some light as to how it would be like to babysit a

child with, what it looks like to me, as pretty severe autism. I should also

add that this boy seems really intelligent. He can figure out how things work

very easily, he's very explorative, curious and energetic. He also gets bored

very easily.