Hi everyone. I have a child coming for temporary care tomorrow, just for the week. He is transitioning between a daycare center and a special school. He is 3.5 and was recently diagnosed with autism. He is undersensitized, which is the opposite of children I've worked with. He almost appears deaf rather than highly aware of his surroundings. He has limited speech and the brain development of a 22 month old. I have his IEP and have talked to mom...but I was just wondering if anyone else has any advice to offer (in general, for caring for autistic children). I want to give this kid the best week of care I can Thanks!

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I have a nephew that is autistic but it all depends on the child and how severe his autism is. My nephew has very low autism (slight) but enought to be noticed. He tends to want to keep to himself and is overstimulated very easily if there is a lot of noise. He likes to flip cars and trucks over (his stroller too and trike) and spin the wheels which keeps him occupied. He also sometimes like to make noise (he's ok with noise if he's the one causing it) and tends to want to slam doors over and over again because he knows that he is the reason for the noise so he does it over and over again. He finds it difficult to keep eye contact so we ask him not to do something (if he's doing something he shouldn't be doing) and don't require him to look us in the eye as we speak to him. We do this also when we ask him if he needs something. He is also sensitive to touch and doesn't like to be hugged, ushered, guided by touch etc. Overall he just needs patience and remember that he may do something that is a little odd and not "normal" but more than likely he is not aware that he shouldn't be doing it. Just keep reminding him and if he has a melt-down offer him an interesting toy or activity to do which will divert his attention.

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It is wonderful for you accept him into your daycare. Most daycare don't want to take autistic kids or anything else. I have a 9 year old daughter who is profoundly deaf and diagnosed with PDD on the Autism Spectrum. She is not that bad but she is very smart girl. She is very talent with ASL (American Sign Language). I am also deaf myself and I am using ESL and some ASL. I need to know a little more about him so I will be able to help you to meet his needs. My daughter do have IEP and goals from school but I don't agree with them. I withdrawal her from school last year. I started home-school with her and I noticed she had a wonderful progress with me since I am using sign language to communicate with her. She picks up real quick. We had a due process hearing last March because their FIE (Full Individual Evaluation) is inappropriate for my daughter and we requested to have an IEE (Individual Education Evaluation). They refused so they decided to file a due process hearing against us for their FIE is appropriate. However, we won because they failed to follow IDEA and their FIE is inappropriate since my daughter is deaf. We have been fighting with them in four years. She was in STC (Structured classroom) with three hearing autistic boys and the teacher is NOT fluent in sign language. The hearing officer ordered her to be in Deaf Education and no more STC for her but they still refused to follow the hearing officer orders so they filed an appeal a few weeks ago. However, we filed a federal suit against them first for section 504 and legal fees. Also, we filed a due process hearing #2 in September 27,28, and 29. That is why I don't follow their IEP since they screw up a big time on my daughter. My daughter is going to private school starting Wednesday (private for the Deaf). If she show a great progress then we can proof it to the court. I hope the school will be very suffer soon.... Sorry it is a long story...

So far, I worked with her so I helped her to learn PECS and I think you can help him too. I sure hope you will be very patient with him since he needs one on one to work with. I am sure he will be fine. If you know sign language so you can help him. For example, I ticked Shelby very often and I showed her to use sign language "more tick" and she said it to me then I tick her. She asked me again. She got it since she understood what I said to her. If you need my help and I will be happy to help you out whatever you need to. Hope it helps.

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