Working Parents and Before/After Care

Just was curious how those of you who are working parents manage while sending your special needs child to school? My son is going into kindergarten next year and it is something I am worrying about. I know that my district has SCOPE for before/after care that you pay out of pocket for but I don't know that they would take my son because he is low functioning ASD, or if they do I don't know that my district would provide an aide (I've heard parents that were denied since it is considered an outside program). All I really need is before care so I can get to work on time. Unfortunately my boss is not flexible with my hours (I asked her once before in the past).

Working Parents and Before/After Care

DS is on the spectrum and our district has SCOPE. He goes after school. I had to fill out some extra forms to determine if a one-to-one was needed. Scope has nothing to do with the district so they make the decision. DS does not need a one-to-one but has one in scope because they thought he might feel better having one person to go to if there is an issue. DS is mild but there are four other children in the scope program that are on the spectrum. Two are non-verbal and 1 is moderate to severe and they all have one-to-one aides in the program.- It does not cost extra at Scope if they hire a one-to -one for your DS. They have to determine if they have the staff for it.

I called Scope in April or May before DS started K and they sent me all the forms, etc. He was enrolled on the first day of school and they were very accommodating.

Message edited 11/4/2016 10:33:44 AM.

Working Parents and Before/After Care

DS started K this year. I enrolled him in before/after care. We had no additional supports in place. It was disastorous but the entire start of school was. We have now gone back to committee and he has a 1:1 aide. I can re enroll him in before care and he is entitled to the aide for that purpose. It has to be approved by the school principal but his teacher and the school psychologist support my request. It was explained to me that if a child gets a 1:1 aide in school then they are entitled to that aide for all school activities. I did not know what my options were then and I should have asked more questions. Things would have been different if I had known.

Message edited 11/4/2016 11:17:51 AM.

Re: Working Parents and Before/After Care

Thanks for the info. Does this also apply for summer (if school offers ESY? I know in pre-school there is summer school but not sure if its the same at CSE level).

Working Parents and Before/After Care

At the school level the child would need to qualify for ESY. I am pretty sure in my district before/after care does not exist for ESY and I have heard you need to be in a certain class type to qualify for ESY. Not sure that we will though my son has significant regression over breaks so he may qualify.
Even with ESY there are still some big breaks during the summer, 3 weeks at the beginning and 3 at the end this year. It was rough. He was still in his other placement so we had school for the summer, but those breaks caused us a lot of problems and we had a sitter for the time.

Working Parents and Before/After Care

Our district does not provide before/after care for ESY.

Re: Working Parents and Before/After Care

Thank you all for the feedback.