esSENtial ABA Childcare was founded by Sheila Sekasi, a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) working with children with disabilities and in the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) since 2008. Sheila provides ABA consultancy services privately to families with children with disabilities, both at home and in nursery or school settings. In addition, she works directly with schools and local authorities, training school staff in mainstream and Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools, and provides ABA consultancy services.
Sheila has a passion for working with children with disabilities and those who support them, including providing families and children access to services that other families often take for granted.
As any parent or carer knows, raising and caring for any child is not an easy job, and something we all benefit from, is a break or an extra pair of hands.
Through her experience working closely with families of children with disabilities, one thing that became apparent to Sheila, was the need for accessible and specialised child care.
On a quest for more information on what is available for parents/carers, Sheila found that there is a distinct lack of specialised childcare available, for children with special educational needs (SEN). There are services for respite/short breaks, which seem to be the largest available form of childcare on offer, although these can often have waiting lists as long as 6 months. The biggest problem, however, was that from speaking with parents/carers of children with SEN, Sheila was made aware, that not everyone is comfortable with sending their child to a respite centre to be cared for and would love to have carers with experience come to their home or accompany them on outings to provide support.
Sheila learnt that a large number of parents/carers whose children receive ABA services, completely opt out of receiving childcare support, therefore not accessing that much needed break we all benefit from. Some would rely on or juggle childcare amongst close family members whom were familiar with the principles of ABA, from either living in the home or through spending time with the family. Then, there were those who would pay above the odds for the child’s ABA tutors to undertake childcare duties.
Parents & carers of children who receive ABA services are familiar with adapting the way in which they interact and care for their children on a daily basis at home, and in the absence of ABA professionals. They benefit from having this specialised skillset in order to continually expand on their child’s progress in a naturalistic manner, as well as manage any behaviours that may be challenging. These parents are often reluctant to source childcare services that provide carers who are not skilled in the principles of ABA, which has proven paramount not only in the progression of skills, such as communication, for their child, but also the management of any behaviours that pose a barrier to the child accessing social and community activities.
After years of consideration and researching what is available, Sheila decided to design a platform that allows parents/carers of children with disabilities to access specialised childcare by carers with SEN experience that can be delivered in their home or community, rather than having to send their children anywhere.
In addition, a specific service for parents/carers of children receiving ABA services has been created so they can access specialised childcare at a reasonable cost, delivered by trained ABA professionals. Allowing for the consistency required to successfully achieve any ABA goals, whether it’s following a Behaviour Support Plan (BSP), mand training, consistency in toilet training procedures, or just general understanding in reinforcing target behaviours, which is at the core of ABA principles.
At esSENtial ABA Childcare we provide carers for your children who are matched specifically based on their experience and the requirements outlined by the parents/carers of the child. When we match our child carers with children, we not only look at the disability of the child but we also look at the finer details, such as the child’s communication method and any challenging behaviour the child may engage in, to ensure the carer is experienced in these areas in order to provide quality care for your child, and peace of mind for you.
Children who are receiving ABA services will be matched with experienced ABA professionals who will provide childcare duties. This does not mean we neglect the other specifics when matching, it just means along with all the other specifics, we also ensure that the carer possesses ABA experience.
Children with SEN and disabilities will be matched with experienced SEN professionals who possess experience working with individuals who share diagnoses and disabilities of that of the child. Again, this does not mean we neglect the other specifics when matching, it just means along with all the other specifics, we also ensure that the carer possesses experience with individuals with the diagnosis and difficulties your child has.
All our child carers have a valid DBS, relevant First Aid, Safeguarding Children and Professional Liability Insurance. Only carers with Positive Handling Training, will be matched with children who exhibit severe challenging or self-injurious behaviour. As well as all of this, each carer will provide 2 references, which will be verified. All checks will be conducted during registration, and again prior to matching, so you can rest assured when you take on a carer, the relevant safety checks have been done for you.
