Over the 14 years that I worked as a registered child minder a few of the children I cared for had special needs:
My first experience of caring for a special needs child( which was funded through social services, as respite for the parents) was a little girl, who was 2 years old as she had been born prematurely her stomach hadn’t formed correctly meaning she required tube feeding through a portal which came out through her tummy.
She didn’t have to be fed via the tube while she was with me; the idea was that my son would hopefully encourage her to eat, in the normal way and she was tube fed at home while with her parents.
Her mother explained to me that I shouldn’t worry about the tube, but if I noticed that it had come out of her stomach then I should let the parents know as soon as possible. In the event that I couldn’t get in touch with them, she instructed me to contact her daughter’s consultant at the hospital and gave me a letter of consent allowing me to do this.
The girl was a delight to care for, but she was high energy and loved doing somersaults around my living room floor. This alarmed me into thinking that this wold dislodge the tube and I kept lifting her clothes to check – the tube never did come out and over the weeks I stopped worrying about it.
She also learned to love vegetable soup from watching my son eat it ( unfortunately though she hadn’t learned to use a spoon and ate it with her fingers which was extremely messy!
A mother who I met while waiting to collect my child from school asked if I had a space for her child who had Down syndrome, again this child was wonderful to care for and the other children loved her; she enjoyed listening and dancing to music on the radio and the children would put on ‘shows’ for my husband and I to watch.
My first experience of working with a wheelchair ( I am a wheelchair user now, since stroke) was when I looked after a disabled child.
She wore callipers on her legs for a few hours each day which allowed her to walk short distances. The other children were very interested in the callipers and asked endless questions about why he needed them.
I found looking after special needs children very rewarding, yes, it can be a bit more challenging than caring for the average child, but able bodied children can learn so much from playing alongside those who are not so able.
Disability and multi cultural awareness here
As always questions and comments are welcome.
Until next time.
Karen
x
Linked with
I always think it takes a certain type of person to cope with anyone with special needs.You Karen are that type of person and I admire you for that. A very interesting blog and I enjoyed reading it.
AR, thank you, Pearl
Very encouraging. Two young families in my church have recently had children with special needs. We are trying to find practical ways to be supportive.
Wishing you good luck with this, Michele
You do amazing work for children, it goes along way X #kcacols
Thanks, I always did my best
Lovely post 🙂 #KCACOLS
Thanks, Hannah
I can’t imagine both how challenging and how rewarding this must be. My back up plan if I didn’t get into X Ray school or find a job was to work with mentally challenged patients. I was offered a third shift job but then fell into a day shift X Ray job that I took instead #KCACOLS
Yes,Jeremy, it can be challenging at times, but the rewards make up for it, thanks for stopping by
A heart warming post. Taking care of children with special needs is bound to be more challenging but I love that you included them along side children without special needs and that they learnt from each other. It goes a long way towards helping eradicate discrimination when children have early encounters with disabilities of any kind.
Katrina x
#KCACOLS
Oh,thanks ,Katrina, I did my best
Thanks, Katrina, I did my best
Gosh that sounds like quite a responsibility – especially with the somersaulting! #mischiefandmemories
It was exactly that, thanks for your input
It’s lovely to read about your positive experiences Karen. It really is heart warming to hear how much effort went into ensuring all the children’s needs were met (above and beyond). Thank you for joining us for #mischiefandmemories
I work as a teaching assistant in a school and find it very rewarding. It is also more intense but their achievements seem even more worthwhile. Thanks for linking up with #MischiefAndMemories
Absolutely, Laura, thanks for stopping by
A lovely post about positive experiences, and I did smile at eating soup without a spoon. Thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo
Thanks, Stephanie
A lovely and interesting post! Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS.
Thanks, Shelley and for having me as part of the linky party
I worked with special needs children as a nurse, it’s different but very rewarding, although it can have it’s challenges. My childminder also did some special needs care too. It’s an important job.
#pocolo
Absolutely, thanks for stopping by
You’ve been a great support for lots of children of the years. So commendable 😊#kcacols
Thanks for your kind words, Rachel, I really did enjoy every minute with the children