[crl]

Okay, so DS is almost 4 and I think it's past time we find a sitter. Now, it's not like we've never left him. When we lived on the East Coast, the in-laws would take him (even overnight!) occasionally. We moved to the West Coast but we're about to go back. And I know the in-laws will take him again sometimes, but they are an hour away and I always feel like it's asking a lot.<br><br>
But, you know, he's special needs and really clingy to mama so I just can't leave him with the average 16 year old neighbor sitter. So, if you've got a sitter, how'd you find her/him?<br><br>
Thanks.

 

[logan&jordansmommy]

I haven't done this yet my friend has a ds with sn and lots of friends with kiddos with sn's. What they do is put a flyer up at the schools in the OT dept or ST dept (whatever needs their kiddos have). They have found lots of sitters that way. They probably get references and check those I guess (I haven't asked that). But I thought that was a great idea and I was thinking about doing that.<br>
What she does first is have the sitter come while she is there. That way she can fill her in on her ds's needs etc. Then she will go to another part of the room say her office and pay bills, whatever she needs to do. That way the sitter can get to know her ds but she is in the house in case one of them needs her. After they all feel comfortable then she will leave the sitter there alone. It has worked out well for her.<br>
Do you get any respite care? I know that is always a big incentive for college students because they can get paid a little more.<br>
HTH!

 

[crl]

Thanks! That's a great idea. No respite care here. I haven't even looked into it, honestly I can't imagine we'd qualify. DS has got some issues, but his special needs just aren't that severe. Plus he does go to preschool 5 days a week so I get a large break that way. But DH is at work then of course so that's not generally time for the two of us to spend together.

 

[williamsmommy2002]

Catherine, my ds is "high functioning" and we qualify for respite care just due to his diagnosis. He also goes to school 5 days a week. We currently don't use it though. We have found a girl who can watch him for short time frames with no problems. She has known him all of his life and came over as a mother's helper when my little one was born. My ds loves her and she is good with him. It helps that her younger sister has quite a few special needs herself.

 

[logan&jordansmommy]

My son also gets respite but he doesn't even have a dx. We get it through the state. Basically I can hire who I want but the just have to get CPR certified and signed up with an agency. That way they can earn $10/hr and I don't have to pay anything!

 

[jaye]

Have you tried Craigslist? I've advertised for respite help through them.

 

[crl]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Finch]

We use his play therapist, and we got recommendations for people to call through TEACCH, all students at one of the local universities who were taking a special class on autism. You had to apply to take the class, be granted permission, and have a vested interest in autism to take it, and to get recs from the prof was like getting a bill through congress. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"> The first person I called on that list turned out to be great.<br><br>
I will tell you, when I hired the other sitter (the TEACCH one), because I didn't personally know her like we know the play therapist, I wrote down the interview questions that DeBecker recommends in <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Protecting the Gift</span> and used them during my interview.

 

[**guest**]

Subbing. I don't have a sitter for ds yet, either. I'm extremely picky, though, and have set criteria (like age). <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/shy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="innocent">

 

[PikkuMyy]

I have worked privately for a family with a son with AS and they found me by calling the local university that had a special education degree program and asking the chair if she knew any students would would be interested/that she could recommend.<br><br>
My school also had a job bilboard for each department so the education billboard routinely had job postings that parents would mail or fax in.

 

[Khourtniey]

I just wanted to see if there were any more replies to this.. Right now my son has nursing care 16 hours a day.. so they are his "sitters" when I need to do something, but we will eventually be free of the nurses and I am curious how sitters deal with special needs.<br><br>
Does anybody hire nurses, or nursing students as sitters?

 

[logan&jordansmommy]

Our one and only babysitter was a nursing student. She changed majors now. I didn't get her through the school though. My boys had some life threatening food allergies so I felt like she had a little more understanding (maybe not but hey it made me feel good).<br><br>
I have an ad up at one of our universities where they provide EI services. THey said the bulletin board is where ST grad students come to look for positions but I haven't heard anything. I also have an ad that is going to be announced in a class for soon to be special ed teachers at another college. Unfortunatley though I was a little late and a lot of schools are over for the year.