Prietto Speech Therapy

Early childhood is marked with a lot of transitions, for children and parents. There are many decisions to make. One of those big ones is deciding on childcare and schooling. When considering daycare or early preschool, especially for children who are not speaking yet, you will want to ask yourself and the center the following:

What is your ratio of students/children to teachers? How many students are in a classroom? Many times one of the children may be sick or sad. If there are two teachers for 16 children, and one needs special attention, that is a lot of children for 1 teacher to manage, especially under 4 years old.

What type of experience and education to the providers have? Providers for children in these ages would be expected to have early development backgrounds. I would want to know they have developmental milestones and can tell me if my child was behind or make referrals appropriately if my child needed them.

What is your sick policy? What are the signs or symptoms I should keep my child home (and other children would be expected to miss) and when can I send them? Unfortunately, when a child starts daycare or preschool, they are exposed to a lot of new germs and bugs. It is quite a hit to their immune system BUT I believe they do grow a stronger immune system from it. Knowing the sick policy can help you make contingency plans if your child is sick.

What is mission statement of the school? What are their values? Trusting the care of your child to another is so hard. Knowing that you have similar values as the caretakers will help create confidence.

Does the school/daycare follow a daily schedule? Are there healthy hygiene practices in place? Confirm that diapering needs and hand washing will take place regularly. No one likes to have a messy face or soiled clothes for long.

What is the communication like? For me, I liked knowing what the children were learning that week and month, which was communicated via email and a bulletin board. It was also imperative that the staff communicated with me any incidents. Hearing bits and pieces from a three year old is a lot harder to understand then a verbal conversation with the staff if there was a conflict.

Are there opportunities to meet parents and families outside of daycare/school? Establishing relationships with other parents and children is fun for everyone. Whether the school organizes it or not, its great to know if there are scheduled monthly get togethers or if everyone meets at a nearby park after school casually.

What measures are in place to keep the children safe? I’d assume background checks are completed by all teachers/staff and regular visitors. But also ask about gate codes, playground monitoring, emergency systems.

I’m sure there are a million more questions you’ll consider. But I hope this is a good place to start.