Learning dissabilities, what to charge?

[Kessie]

Hello everyone.

Just wondering if you charge the same rate for children with learning disabilities or a bit more? I know to charge them more would be discrimination but at the same time shouldn't you be trained to deal with them or some thing?

Had an inquery from a family whos child has autism and thinking what to do.

[jellytots2912]

I have a child with downs and autism I charge him the same rate as everyone else, because as you say it's discrimination to charge more x

[Angela234]

I have had children with Downs and global learning disability I charged the same rate

[*daisychain*]

I would not dream of charging more !!
I mind a child with Aspergers and I would not have agreed to do it if I didn't think I was able

[Greengrass74]

We have several children with additional needs but we charge the same rate as any other child, with regards to training, as part of any childminders professional development you should be learning the skills needed for working with children with additional needs so this should not be an issue, also parents are experts in their childs care and I am sure they will be more than willing to support you in supporting their child should you go ahead and take the child on.

Have a look at the disability and discrimination act 1995 for schools, pre-schools and other early years settings for some useful information

[covgalxxx]

Meet the child if your worried about his autism, there is so many different spectrum, of it he could be mild, I had a fully disabled daughter she couldn't do anything so I meet a lot of special needs children, if he is very severe,then mum wouldn't go to a childminder she would get special Carer 's in cause he wouldn't be able to cope with the change, and special needs children are just the same as any child and should be charged the same, ....

[Supernanny86]

I'm agree you should charge the same. Wouldn't even cross my mind to charge more. Ive looked after loads of kids with extra needs but it's just their ways like any other child. If they couldn't cope in a setting their parents wouldn't be considering it!!

You just need to properly understand the child's needs and little quirks etc.

I wouldn't have any qualms taking on a child with extra needs and I certainly wouldn't be considering a higher rate! If the child needed that much care they'd have proper carers etc x x

[shortstuff]

So if one of the children you care for gets diagnosed with additional learning needs after starting with you are you saying you would increase the rate? I dont think so, so in my opinion discrimination is the only word for it.

[Paulab]

I charge the same for my little autistic morning boy and in fact he's my best behaved child & is adorable.

[littlemiss60561]

Absolutely charge the same. I'm hoping your wording was just unfortunate as I Read it with a hint of "ooh" and "eek" ness!

[linzi133]

My DS has ASD. Now I can manage him just fine (but I am his mum). I used to send him to another childminder and although she was great with him due to his unpredictability he needed 1-1 care. As a childminder I didn't expect her to give 1-1 care without being paid for such.... So i paid more to guarantee he got the care he needed. If I didn't pay more then I couldn't/wouldn't expect her to turn other business away.

However, I care for a child who needs 1-1 and I don't charge extra.

[mama2three]

If the child needs , or the parent requests , 1 to 1 care then I would have to charge approptiately - I couldnt afford not to. They child is effectively using 3 places . i think a childs needs would be fairly acute for this to be needed tbh.

Otherwise I would absolutely not charge extra - yes its discrimination. Where do you stop? One of my little ones needs far more attention than the others due to their personality and lack of boundaries at home. Should I charge her parents extra?

[dawn100]

You can't charge more per hour if you are providing the same type of care as you would with other children eg caring for multiple children at the same time. However you need to make parents aware it will not be 1 to 1 care and if they wanted 1 to 1 care then it would be an enhanced rate and therefore the reason for charging more would be for the 1 to 1 care which limits your earnings as opposed to the childs disability.
If you don't think you have the training to deal with them you need to be very honest with mum but you have to becareful your not discriminating. Eg my house is unsuitable for any child who's mobility is poor, my house is accessed by 10 steps and I don't have a downstairs toilet, so due to manual handling I can't be lifting children around, carrying children up and downstairs all the time. But I would happily take on a child with a dissability which wasn't mobility related.

[clareelizabeth1]

I would only charge more if they were wanting one on one care as then they would have to pay for the spare space too.

[kellyskidz!]

I wouldn't charge more personally but if you do decide to, make sure the parents KNOW they are paying a higher rate because can you imagine if they got talking to another of your parents and found out that way? If you do decide to charge a higher rate sit the parent/s down and explain why you feel you should be charging more and what they will get for the extra money I.e you going on relevant training courses, you giving their child 1-1 care, buying specific resources for their child's developmental needs.
If I was a parent of a child with learning difficulties I'd expect you to meet the child first and maybe spend a morning or something with him so you could decide what to do, he may be absolutely fine and therefore the extra payment would be unnecessary xx

[silvermist]

I think you only have one option here, and thats charging the same as any other child you mind. Like Dave says, any extra training you would need to do will be brilliant for your own professional developement.