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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Skill Trainers
moshimoshi 06:03 PM 07-01-2013
I have searched the forum about this topic and have not found anything. I had a call today from a prospective client asking if her daughter's skill trainers could work with her while she was in my care. Has anyone had such an arrangement? I have never heard of this before.
JoseyJo 06:17 PM 07-01-2013
Is this like a speech or occupational therapist?? We have a little one who had a speech therapist come once a week for a year when he was 3. When she first came she took DCB into a separate space in our dc to work w/ him one on one. I didn't like that a stranger (to me) was w/ DCB alone on my watch, DCB did NOT like to "perform" for her, and wanted to join group, group felt left out and jealous of "fun" activities dcb was doing w/ therapist! I let her know that if she was going to come here she would have to make the lessons be a group lesson and teach it that way. She did and everyone LOVED her Tuesday morning visits 
The next year he had a different teacher who absolutely refused to include the group. She said she wasn't able to evaluate his speech with everyone else around and wanted him alone. So I let dcm and her know that it wasn't going to work and he started going to her office 1x per week for individual therapy.
-On a side note- his speech gained leaps and bounds during the group sessions, but mom said that he worked on one sound only (final s sound) ALL YEAR and still couldn't make the sound. We started working on final s's as a group during daycare after she told me and he could make the sound in 2 weeks.
Some kids just hate to be singled out and perform on demand!
The next year he had a different teacher who absolutely refused to include the group. She said she wasn't able to evaluate his speech with everyone else around and wanted him alone. So I let dcm and her know that it wasn't going to work and he started going to her office 1x per week for individual therapy.
-On a side note- his speech gained leaps and bounds during the group sessions, but mom said that he worked on one sound only (final s sound) ALL YEAR and still couldn't make the sound. We started working on final s's as a group during daycare after she told me and he could make the sound in 2 weeks.
Some kids just hate to be singled out and perform on demand!
butterfly 06:28 PM 07-01-2013
If they are referring to a therapist such as speech/physical/etc. I have done this several times in my home daycare. It's a nice break in the day to have this individual come in and work with the child. I usually allowed the therapist and the child to go to a separate area in our home, so there are less distractions coming from the daycare children. It allowed me to share my concerns about the child's development as well as hear first hand how these things are to be addressed.
Sunchimes 06:28 PM 07-01-2013
If you mean people like early intervention therapists for kids with sensory disorders or speech problems, etc, then yes, I do it. One of my kids is visited by a speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and a caseworker. At them moment 2 of them come twice a month for an hour, and two come once a week for an hour.
They don't take him into another room at this time (he's only 17 months old). Instead, since I carry through with the therapies the rest of the time, they include me in the therapy sessions. I like it-our therapists are wonderful people and the whole subject is fascinating. I am devouring books on the subject like they were romance novels!
That said, I only have 3 day care kids, so it is easy to manage. If I had 6 kids and no assistant, it would be different.
I don't worry about the therapists being with the kids. All come to us through a federal program and have been background checked.
They don't take him into another room at this time (he's only 17 months old). Instead, since I carry through with the therapies the rest of the time, they include me in the therapy sessions. I like it-our therapists are wonderful people and the whole subject is fascinating. I am devouring books on the subject like they were romance novels!
That said, I only have 3 day care kids, so it is easy to manage. If I had 6 kids and no assistant, it would be different.
I don't worry about the therapists being with the kids. All come to us through a federal program and have been background checked.