no, I haven't. In fact I'm a little afraid of some of the people available thru respite services. They see the high $ figure per hour and that is what motivates them. My neighbour had me look after her son. If I didn't also have my ASD son and toddler I would continue to do it. Just hard with all of them.

we are lucky enough to have nanny when we need a sitter, i hate sending him for overnight but when we are in a pinch and need someone fast she is there. welcome, you are at the right place for support and advise!

12 years into it and still no sitter. Moms used to do it 10 years ago when we were in Scotland but since coming to the US never had a night out with hubby. Miss that.....

Hello! I have a 5 yr old daughter and i havent had a break since i had her, it is very hard for me to find a babysitter, and i could use a night out. :)

I have trouble finding a babysitter before I had a special needs kid and I don't even try now. I have respite hours from the state MHMR but I can't find a provider to trust to do it.
It is so stress to think about it I can't even consider looking for one!

Hello, welcome to daily strength.I love it here.I have a five year old boy with moderate autism.I moved away from all my family and friends.I use services to watch my son.There is a Child development Service here and I get $200.00 of free babysitting money every 6 months called resprite care.They have a place called the resprite house where this couple lives beside the CDC.They cost $8.00 an hour but its paid for unless I go over my $200.00.Its really nice, and I know my son is well takin care of.Overnight is $85.00 though.We used it overnight so we could go to Seattle Washington to see Kenny Chesney doing the flip-flop tour on 7/7/07.These services are here for us and we need them.I would definitely suggest taking a break it makes for better parents.-Julie

I haven't left Zach with a sitter yet. (He'll be 3 next month). One set of grandparents is in Florida-see them once a year-the other set is upstate(about 3 hours away) and we see them at least once a month (my parents). My sister-in-law is 20 mins away, but she has 3 teenagers and Zach's a handful if you're not used to being around him, so we don't ask her to watch him. I had thought about going to a local university to see if there are any students studying special education who might be open to babysitting. I haven't done it yet, but I've thought about it. Also, you could check with autism based pre-schools in your area. They have teaching assistants who are used to dealing with spectrum kids and might be available for occasional baby sitting services. Like I said, I haven't done this myself, but it's what I've tought about.
Hugs...
Tracey