Babysitting Children With Disabilities

Parents of children with disabilities often have a hard time finding sitters for their children. Babysitters are afraid to take care of the children and sometimes parents of teenage and preteen sitters don't want their children to have that kind of responsibility. This is the first in a series of articles on taking care of kids with special needs.

You need to learn about the child and his disability first. Ask the parents if you can visit before your first babysitting job. Spend part of the time learning about the disability and the child, and the other part playing with the child or learning the skills you need.

You need to find out what the parent calls the disability. Usually they aren't called handicaps anymore, because a lot of people see that word as meaning helpless. Some people use the words disabled, challenged or special needs. Use whichever one the parent likes best. Also find out what word the child's specific disability is called. For instance, some parents say deaf, some say hearing impaired, and some say hearing challenged. I even heard it called sound challenged once! Practice using that word so you don't forget what it is.

When you meet with the parent, ask what the child can do and what he needs help with. Is there anything you should be teaching him to do? If a child is just learning to tie shoes, he may need help, but you might have to let him try as much as he can. What is this disability all about, anyway? What danger signs should you watch for?

If you have to do special things for the child, have the parents teach you how. You should ask them to write it down or give you a paper about it. Skills you might have to learn include handling seizures, sign language, putting on a leg brace or making sure a hearing aid is on. Practice until you are sure you can do it correctly.

When you play with the child that day, try not to think of him as just a disabled child. Children with disabilities are just kids. They have the same feelings and needs. They want you to like them, to think they are special and talented, to treat them like other people. Their disability is not as important as who they are as people. Don't talk to them about their disabilities all the time. You don't have to avoid talking about it if something comes up, but talk about normal things most of the time.

Don't do things for the child that he should do for himself. Don't spoil him because you feel sorry for him. In fact, you shouldn't feel sorry for him. It's better for him to be independent and to feel good about himself. The more things he does without help, the better off he will be when he grows up.

Watch him when he plays to see what he can do and what his personality is like. This will help you plan ways to entertain him when you babysit. When you are planning, think about what he can and can't do, but also what he likes to do.

Try to read about the disability too so you know as much as possible. If you can learn to babysit children with special needs, you will have lots of babysitting work.

In the next articles, we will learn about some of the kinds of disabilities the children you watch might have.