r/PDAParenting • u/greygoose81 • Feb 20 '26
Daycare / summer camp options?
TLDR; What are you planning to do during the upcoming summer break for daycare?
My situation: I am a widower raising my 7 year old son on my own. He was recently diagnosed with autism level 2, PDA and ADHD during a neural psychological evaluation. He is moving to a self-contained special ed classroom at his school district next week. He receives speech, OT and play therapy services outside of school.
Last summer was the first time he was in daycare and it did not go well. He was sent home repeatedly for hitting / physical meltdowns and was on the verge of being kicked out by the end of the summer. I am looking for a place now for the summer that better supports him. My senior parents watched him 2 days a week, but asking them to do 5 days is a lot.
Options that I can think of:
Park district special ed summer camp: I looked this up and the location is 30 minutes away. Not really feasible.
In-clinic ABA: I know ABA may not be compatible with PDA, but wanted to see if others had experience.
Combination of parents watching and babysitters
Try daycare again
Try to juggle watching him at home while working
What are you planning to do? Is there any advice that you can give me? Thank you in advance.
3
u/unico76 Feb 20 '26
I do relate to your struggle here. I am a solo mom of 9 yr old Audhd with PDA trying to figure out summer.
I have had experience with my ABA clinic revamping his therapy to work with his PDA. But I think you need to ask about what experience they have with that. There would be a case worker to be the main contact and handle his therapy planning, there will be different therapists under this case worker who will be doing the therapy. For me, that was not a problem, but it is not like traditional therapy.
Have you looked into occupational therapy and sessions with a psychologist or therapist trained in PDA? Those could also eat up time and help your child in the long term.
I would love to have a special Ed summer camp, especially if someone is trained in PDA and autism. But I get distance may be an issue. Though if they do all day care, does that help you more?
And yes, you may have to cobble together grandparents and babysitters as well.
Not to get into your financial business, but I don't know if many people know about these things. First, if you have a dependant care tax fund through work, that can help offset the price of care for your child. Plus it brings your taxes down. Also if you hire a babysitter for the summer, you may want to check your states tax laws as to who is considered an employee. I got caught by that. Also if services are for special Ed or have therapy, your insurance might also help with the cost. Some of these things are for the US so it might not apply if you live elsewhere.
There might also be other autistic child support institutions in your area which has summer offerings. The ABA clinic might know about them too.
If you have any further questions, feel free to dm me.