Charges For Down Syndrome kid on weekends Please Help me

[Mrs Ahmed]

Helooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooo daycare providers I need help
I need help because I have to decide to care or not to care because I don,t know how to say no to people who need me.
I want to tell you guys a mother came with his 6yrs old kid with down syndrome and some behavior issues, I spent whole 7 hours with him on weekend and i just charged 4$/h. But know I am very confuse because she needs care only on sundays. Sundays as you know are very important, the time she told she came late arround more than hour late and she only paid me extra 6$.Whatever your suggestions are welcome.
Please guide me with expected charges for care. What do you think what should I do or do you know someone or some source who can help me out in this situation because its my first time with special kid.
thanks in advance

[playfelt]

At 6 years old the family will have support people in place that can offer information. As well there is a down syndrome society that has excellent info. The parents may also qualify for additional money for services such as childcare and that could top up your fees.

Make sure you have a written contract that spells out what time child will come, go home, what is to be provided during the day. For a fee I charge a daily rate of $50 day on the weekend when I do it which is $5 an hour for a 10 hour day so not far off what you are charging and rates here for the week are $35-40 day.

If behaviour is an issue then be sure you talk with the family about what kind of issues there are, how they handle them and what the consequenses are at home. Generally children with Down Syndrome can be the sweetest, loving want to please type of children BUT if they get upset or something in the environment bothers them they do not know how to handle it and will go to extremes of behaviour. Once you know the child's quirks - what he likes, doesn't like, what not to do etc. then it can be very rewarding. Expect his understanding and abilities to be at least slightly below that of what you would expect for his age so you need to watch how you word things or how complicated your instructions are, also that you give him enough time to comply as the processing of the request can take longer.

[Momof4]

Playfelt gave very good advice. Personally, I would not work on the weekend because I need some time without the daycare for a personal life and peace and quiet. Don't get burned out by working too much.

[carla]

saying children with down syndrome are sweet pleasing children is like saying all red headed children have a temper. All children with down syndrome or different and have different abilities just like all other children. We have a child with down syndrome at our center and she can be a hellion just like any other 2 year old. we also have a volunteer at our center who has down syndrome who is capable to do everything a regular staff can do.

now for the answer to your question i would never look after a child on the weekend for $4.00 an hour that is less then min wage. as childcare providers we all work way to hard and the weekends are precious

[playfelt]

Please read the literature on a syndrome before you comment please. You can not talk about a condition based on two people. Children with down syndrome in "most" cases do not understand the concept of personal space, appropriate times to show affection and to what degree, among other issues which often includes speech and therefore feeding. But yes they can be taught the limits but my point is they don't come naturally to the children. They will learn functional skills with help and depending on if their condition is pure or mosaic from a genetic standpoint will determine to what extent their mental processing of the learning tasks will be affected.

[carla]

I have a degree in rehabilitation which focuses on children with disabilities I was making a point by saying every person with down syndrome is different. The 2 people I spoke about shows how different people can be. I also have my diploma in
Early childhood so I do know something about disabilities. a child with a disability needs to have the same expectation as every other child it will just take them longer to learn boundaries and expectations. They also reach developmental milestones in the same pattern ( may take longer ). I have worked with adults and children with different abilities for over 18 years now as an aide in a daycare all the way up to a employee for the government reassessing clients to get them into the community. So once again I do know a lite bit about a "syndrome"

[mom-in-alberta]

I would certainly charge more than my usual fee on the weekend. Hey, I need a break, too!!
I would at least do 1.5 times, maybe even double. Especially considering this child is special needs.
On that note, do you feel like you are qualified/capable of caring for special needs kids? I am not saying you are not, but keep in mind that (as the ladies above mentioned) these children often require a different set of coping skills or techniques.

[dodge__driver11]

I know that this is Down's but I MUST TELL YOU --as a person who has worked in the school system with children who have different needs that most thrive on routine, and having worked with a child who is autistic....I would NEVER DO IT AGAIN. Even though this is my area of training.

Here's why the parents ran the show...I had to change so much about my program, and they were not willing to face the fact that he had differing needs or for that matter pay for it.

Be prepared to toliet this child if needed, perhaps guiding them in every task....Moodiness and uncooperation. I don't mean to take the wind outta you sails, but children with Down's are sometimes hard, and I am trying to let you know the posibilities.

SPELL OUT your policies, ensure that your contract is air tight and make it clear that this is your dayhome.

I would charge at least time and a half for this so for example if you are charging 45, I would charge 60/day

[playfelt]

ALL children have the capacity to be sweet loving little things BUT there are times when they are the exact opposite. With special needs children there is more likely to be extremes of behaviour. A 10 year old that runs up and grabs you and kisses you - inappropriate in most daycare situations and at other times that same child will try to hit you because they didn't like being asked to do a particular task. My special needs daughter (trisomy 12p) just turned 19 this month. I live it 24 hours a day and often have a child with special needs in my home. In a home sitiuation you can expect to see more of the extremes of behaviour than in school because the child will come to feel comfortable and like they are at home and will need reminding of your rules. Ask the parents exactly what they allow at home especially in the area of "personal space" and how they let him know that he is overstepping the boundaries without upsetting him.

[sunnydays]

My experience with special needs children is fairly limited, so I won't comment on that, but i have to agree with Gingerbread in saying that it is really important to be sure you are capable of taking on this challenge. If you are able and experienced in some way, go for it! I know I could not take on a child with special needs because I don't have the experience or training to do it properly. I wouldn't enter into it lightly because if things don't work out, it's the child who ends up getting hurt when he is shuffled to another caregiver later on.