How do we find a nanny with experience with developmental delay?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
We recently discovered that our eight-month old son is at risk for developmental delay. He is currently in a nanny share, but I fear that he is not getting the individualized attention he needs to address any developmental problems that might arise. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Any suggestions for how to find a nanny who is knowledgeable about developmental delays? If you'd prefer to chat off-line, my email is [e-mail].
Thank you!!
Rebecca

[Anonymous]

You could post an ad specifically asking for special needs experience. That is typically where I start when I am looking for a job. There is also a nanny agency in McLean called Special Care Nannies. I have almost 10 years of nanny experience, with about 7 of that with special needs kids. I was quite surprised that it was impossible to get any return phone calls from them with my experience. That is not completely out of the ordinary for agencies.
There are many nannies out there with special needs experience.

[Anonymous]

That's very helpful - thanks!

[Anonymous]

Where do you work?

In Silver Spring the Easter Seals is opening up a daycare in the fall.

Although Easter Seals is more focused on larger scale special needs - the staff there might be better trained and focused to help your DS.

Since it is not open yet, you may not have too much of a wait

[Anonymous]

Hi. My nanny who will be available on August 11 is a terrific nanny very well qualified to deal with special needs kids. Shirani (she is from Sri Lanka, has a green card, English good) has worked for us for almost 3 years - since our son was born 10 weeks premature with multiple issues (blindness, cleft palate, feeding problems, speech delays) She came to the NICU and held him for hours at a time, knows how to feed a child with a stomach and nasogastric feeding tube, is used to hundreds of therapists coming and follows all of their instructions. Shirani has really been a mainstay for us during a difficult time. She doesn't watch TV, very rarely talks on the phone, comes at 6:30 a.m. (a huge blessing for sleep deprived parents) and can work until 6 pm. She makes $15/hour all taxes included. Shirani is extremely reliable and loyal. And a bonus is that her husband comes every day at about 5 pm (she doesn't drive) and hangs out, he has become one of Jackson's favorite people in the world.

Shirani previously worked for a family where the boy was autistic and had feeding problems (reflux) etc. She has had CPR training several times, and I really trust her as much as anyone in the world with Jackson. She's a real gem. Since Jackson is going to school end of August, we do not need full time care for our son, but want to make sure she's placed in the right family.

If you want more information, please call me at 202-422-5415 or email me at [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could post an ad specifically asking for special needs experience. That is typically where I start when I am looking for a job. There is also a nanny agency in McLean called Special Care Nannies. I have almost 10 years of nanny experience, with about 7 of that with special needs kids. I was quite surprised that it was impossible to get any return phone calls from them with my experience. That is not completely out of the ordinary for agencies.
There are many nannies out there with special needs experience.

If you are looking for a job in northern va, email asap at [e-mail]!!!

[Anonymous]

Also Five Star Nannies is great, they also work the special needs population. You can visit their webite @ www.fivestarnanny.org

[Anonymous]

A surprisingly good source for nannies with special needs experience is Sittercity.com. We were looking for someone temporary, and I'm not sure whether it'd be equally useful for permanent people, but we got replies from someone with an MSW and someone else with a degree in OT who both had relevant experience.

The site can generate a lot of responses, and some are completely useless -- some people just reply to any ad, no matter what it is. But, if you are very specific in your ad, especially when describing your attitudes and approaches to child care, you can tell by people's responses who has actually read it. Good luck!

As an aside, we also tried two people that we got through the White House Nannies temporary service -- in each case they claimed relevant special needs experience. Very, very not recommended.