Special Needs children

When a Host Child Has New, Psychological Challenges

by cv harquail April 29, 2017
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Every host parent of a child with special needs or unique needs knows to look for an au pair who’s ready to handle these sorts of challenges. But, life being what it is, these challenges can show up *after* you’ve matched, and while the au pair is happily placed in your home. Many au pairs […]

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Bridging Yards, Bridging Cultures, Guest Post by Amy Massey

by Amy Massey May 29, 2014
bridge between two back yards, with girls lauging

Here’s a guest post from Amy Massey, a long-time reader, a host mom, and now a placement director with A.P.EX PROaupair. Amy writes about her experiences as a host parent who — like her backyard neighbor– has a child with special needs. Please note that this post isn’t sponsored by PROaupair, nor is it an advertisement […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Cross-Cultural Connections with Our Children

by cv harquail February 5, 2014
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It been a year and a half since our beloved Educare AP, R, left us to return home for university, but she remains a strong presence in our lives. She is present through her letters, and especially through the lessons she taught the children. Our children were in third grade and kindergarten when she was […]

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When a Host Parent Is Diagnosed With Asbergers, How Does This Reshape The Au Pair Relationship?

by cv harquail October 13, 2013
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We’ve had some wonderfully honest, thoughtful and insightful conversations here on Au Pair Mom about how to manage relationship dynamics with Au Pairs who have emotional challenges or histories,  and children who have cognitive or developmental ‘special needs’ — chronic cognitive or relational challenges that families need to support. But we haven’t even talked about […]

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Sample Family Handbook, with sections on Food from HM P

by cv harquail March 22, 2013

Family Handbooks should all cover a core set of topics including schedule, safety, child care rules, car rules, and family rules. Beyond these topics, we each need to add specifically what’s important to OUR family. At my house, this means a section on “How to Adore Coco (our dog)” and another on “Traveling Safely in NYC”.  In […]

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Au Pairs and Common Sense: Guest Post by TakingAComputerLunch

by TakingAComputerLunch February 27, 2013
Mother Owl, fox, baby shower card, baby shower invitation, adoptive mother card, grandmother, whimsical, blank card

Common sense plays a huge role in how we function as adults, especially those of us with children. As parents, we know a late night out will cause us to pay double in the morning, because the kids’ internal alarm clocks don’t reset just because we’ve had no sleep. We know we need to think […]

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Revealing Your “Special Needs” During the Matching Process

by cv harquail February 17, 2012
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When is the best time to discuss with a prospective au pair candidate that a host child has special needs? When your child has special needs, you need to be sure in advance that your au pair is up for the challenge. Many au pair candidates will indicate on their applications that they are open […]

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How can we prepare our Au Pair for significant disruption?

by cv harquail January 4, 2011
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Life brings us wave after wave of change. To move forward, we have to adapt to changes that happen to us and to changes that we make ourselves. And, as parents, we have to help our families anticipate and adapt to the changes we see coming, and to all the surprises we’re not quite able […]

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Au Pair Asks: What happens when you discover that you can’t provide what your Host Kid with Special Needs needs?

by cv harquail October 15, 2010

Dear AuPairMoms- What happens when the au pair is placed with a host family that has a special needs child, and it isn’t working out? Both the agency and the host family knew beforehand that the au pair did not have any previous experience with special needs, but the Au Pair chose to take the […]

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Finding an Au Pair for a child with Special Needs: Willingness is not enough

by cv harquail October 15, 2010
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When I first noticed that au pairs could indicate with a simple check mark whether they were “willing” to match with a family with host kids with special needs, I was surprised. I was pleased that there was an easy way for au pair candidates to indicate, without embarrassment, whether or not they felt they […]

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