ASD childcare in Dublin

TomasHerink

Hi fellas,

Our son has been diagnosed with ASD by HSE a while ago. Shortly after that we've moved across the whole Dublin and since then HSE has been rather a mess administration-wise. They are transferring our papers to the new location for over two months now and today I got a phonecall from them about why have we missed an appointment with them. Turns out they sent the invite to our old address.

I am sure HSE is usually very helpfull in these situations, but for us it doesn't really work. So now rather than waiting for another two months for HSe to sort our papers out and get the whole thing back in line enough so I can ask them for advice, I am looking around for a good daycare for my boy. He is bored at home and his mum takes care of his 2 months old brother at home so she has limited for the older ASD boy and he needs all the stimuli he can get. He needs to see his peers on daily basis and he needs to get social. He also needs a carer cognizant of his condition and able to give him a lot of stimuli and guidance.

Any good facilities around Santry / Beaumont? Obviously I don't mind spending my very last penny on this if necessary.

Please note that as I am not native Irish the way my sons are, I have very limited knowledge of structure of Irish healthcare / childcare / educational institutions.

Any pointes will be appreciated.

Neyite

How old is your son OP?

Would a mainstream crèche who have a good understanding of ASD (and that can cater for the needs of your son) be suitable for him, or are you looking for centres that cater specifically for ASD?

mohawk

Not sure how old your son is but I am assuming he is preschool age.

Some kids with asd can go to mainstream preschools. My son went to a mainstream crèche and then preschool. He did not need an sna, but I do know of kids that have gotten an sna for preschool.

There are preschools specifically for asd. They have very limited places so it can be hard to get a place.

The team that diagnosed your son should be able to help with deciding what type of environment will suit your son best.

TomasHerink

Neyite wrote: »

How old is your son OP?

mohawk wrote: »

Not sure how old your son is but I am assuming he is preschool age.

Sorry I can't believe I didn't state such a vital info.
He will be 3 in under 2 months.

Yes, mainstream crèche would probably suit him the best as he is quite social. Is any registered crèche in Ireland able to responsibly cater for special needs of a child with signs of ASD or do I need to look out for anything in particular?

Moonbeam

It will depend on how high functioning he is.
Have you spoken to ASD pre schools about his ECCE year? Have you looked in to primary schools?
If you have the pre school or primary school might be able to make a good suggestion.

CaraMay

TomasHerink wrote: »

Sorry I can't believe I didn't state such a vital info.
He will be 3 in under 2 months.

Yes, mainstream crèche would probably suit him the best as he is quite social. Is any registered crèche in Ireland able to responsibly cater for special needs of a child with signs of ASD or do I need to look out for anything in particular?

I had to move my son from two crèches. The first, when I chose not to have one of the employees complete his home tuition while in crèche, thry told me he couldn't participate in the concert, sports day etc unless I hired additional help to mind him and she suggested her sister! Next one told the inspector he wasn't diagnosed as they had no paperwork done for him, told her he wasn't in the day of the inspection (he was) and then told me they had to write to the parents of the other kids in his room to say he had asd - illegal and incorrect. He has no sensory issues, was described by hse as a calm child and just needs help with communication yet they treated him like he was a lunatic.

You need to watch them like hawks. At the end of the day, a crèche is a business and they are not minding their own kids.

I think Montessori is a better fit for kids on the spectrum.

mohawk

The preschool my son went to follows the Highscope approach which I can't recommend highly enough.

Look at as many places as you can. I thought the chains were too regimented. I just knew when we found the right fit. We were up front and told them about the asd and they worked with us and were more then willing to accept advice from the SLT and OT.

V1llianous

There is a service associated with Beaumont Hospital including a special school called St Pauls - more details are in here -> http://www.mater.ie/services/depts/p/st-pauls-services/St.,Paul%27s,Services,for,Children,with,Autism.pdf

If you ring them they might be able to suggest pre-schools which cater for special needs kids.

We took our son to St. Paul's a few years ago to see the psychiatrist / medical director there while our services psychiatrist wasn't available.