FINDING QUALITY DAYCARE FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Your locality has several resources where parents can get information about specific day care providers and preschool resources for their special needs child. The following web sites will direct them to those resources.
For additional personalized help, you may contact regional Child Care Health Consultants who are public health nurses trained in child care issues and are available in each county. They can help assess the quality of daycare, especially for special needs children and can be a significant resource both to families and to local care settings. Your Child Care Health Consultant is located at your county health department.
COMMUNICATING WITH DAYCARE PROVIDERS IN A COMPREHENSIVE BUT EFFICIENT MANNER
It is important for pediatricians to talk about childcare issues with families of special needs children. Such issues include quality of childcare, communication with the pediatric office during times of illness, and steps to be taken during crises. It is also important for pediatricians to make a plan for communication with the child care program and determine how to handle issues of confidentiality. HIPAA regulations can make easy communication more difficult. However with proper permission from parents, the ability to transfer information about a child is invaluable. The Chapter 1 Committee on Children with Disabilities has developed a form that may be helpful in the communication of concerns for special needs children in a variety of settings: in a daycare program, in an Emergency Department, a specialist office, Early Intervention program, preschool or school setting.
This form is available and downloadable as an Adobe PDF by clicking HERE.