When you are a new parent, it might be hard for you to let anyone other than your spouse handle that brand new baby. You might wince in terror as your mother struggles to comfort your new daughter, or starkly refuse when your grimy little brother asks to hold the baby. However, after awhile, most parents loosen up. Unfortunately, if you get too laid-back about childcare, you might make decisions that could impact your kid's education. My blog discusses several aspects of child care, so that you can decide what will work best for your family. After all, a few difficult decisions now could impact your kid for many years to come.
Finding Better Child Care
Help An Autistic Child Adapt To A New Child Care Program
Encarnacion Alonso
If you need to move or if your current child care provider goes out of business, or even if you are choosing child care for the first time, your child with autism may have a harder time adapting to the change. Here are some things you can do to make it easier.
1. Visit the child care center several times before making the change.
New places with new experiences can be overwhelming to children with autism. Help to make the switch a new child care provider easier by taking your child to visit the new area beforehand. If they are verbal, address concerns with your child to help them feel more comfortable about the space. Try to find a place that is not too busy or that is too stimulating to their senses. Some things about the new area might bother your child, and you can work on coping mechanisms for those things before starting a full-time care schedule.
2. Set out a schedule with pictures and colors.
Schedules can be comforting for children who have autism. If they depend on things being done a certain way, they can feel more confident in a new area. Talk to the child care provider about the structure of the day, and then write down the schedule for your child in a way they understand it. Maybe the schedule has colors for snack time, rest time, play time, and story time. Maybe the schedule has pictures of these actions for your child to follow along with. Make sure you find a child care provider that can give a relatively dependable schedule each time so that you can show your child the schedule even before the first day. This way, your child can keep a printout of the day plan with them to look at.
3. Make the change as painless as possible by keeping other important routines the same.
Try not to make all the changes at once. If you are moving, you might give your child some time at home before going to a new child care center. If you are going back to work, try to keep other routines the same. Maybe your child eats the same thing for breakfast or gets up at the same time each day. Keeping things normal at home can help your child to feel better about a change they cannot control.
For more idea, contact a child care provider.
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