Jo_

My Requirements

I am looking for a babysitter for potentially evenings in the week and at weekends. It'll just be on an ad-hoc basis, so not all the time. My son is autistic therefore we’d like someone with special needs experience, specifically autism. We say he's non-verbal but actually it is limited speech as he can communicate what he wants most of the time saying basic sentences. He doesn't have very good understanding, you can't have a conversation with him for example and he has sensory issues. He’s laid back and generally well behaved, he does have his moments though. Even though he doesn't understand a lot of what you say, he’ll follow basic instructions. He’s fine eating out, going on holiday, bowling, the cinema, theme parks, boats, planes, we’re very lucky as he’s a very happy, affectionate boy. He used to have frequent meltdowns however he doesn’t have them as much any more. He is toilet trained but needs you to wipe after number 2s (sorry there's no other way to say that!) He needs assistance opening things, pouring drinks etc, he can use a spoon but not a knife and fork. Our daughter is brilliant with him and always helps and tends to know what he needs if he’s upset. We can leave our daughter on her own for a bit as she is sensible but we obviously couldn't leave her with our son in case anything happened. Sometimes he 'elopes' so you have to keep checking where he is especially if he is in the garden. He is a big boy now, he is taller than me so it would only ever be babysitting in our house. Our family live far away and the only real babysitter we have is my mum so we just use her for big things as she needs to stay over when she babysits. My husband and I would like to have the option to go for a meal and a couple of drinks after work and at weekends.