Where to find respite / after-school child care ?

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I am finally at that point where I just no longer want to be an SAHM anymore. It is exhausting, frustrating and I miss adult company. I need to find a job and get out of the house at least a few hours a day or I will go bat sh1t crazy.

Where can I find good after-school child-care for my 5-yr-old preverbal kid with LFA ? I have no family or friends around, that can watch my son for even a couple of hours a day, so I need help resolving this. I am at the end of my rope with this whole homeschooling SAHM thingie. It just isn't working for me anymore. I am just getting more and more depressed and overwhelmed with each passing hour.

Thanks !

-Does the school offer anything?
-Is there any way to link ABA/IBI with the school? Our school board will bus students from the school to IBI- some of the kids do half the day at school and the other half at IBI, but they also run an after school program.
-If your son goes to any centre for autism or whatever, ask the staff there is they can send out an email with a job posting (child care for your son) to their volunteers. Those volunteers already work with these kids AND are already screened by the centre.
-Ask parents at the school what they do for after school care
-Look for university students studying child psychology
-Even a regular "home child care provider" could be good, if you find the right person. My son who I think sounds quite a bit like yours, thrived at a home daycare before he was school-aged (actually he went there before he was even diagnosed). She had no expertise on autism, but she was open-minded and had some great ideas on ways to connect with him, etc. You could get lucky.
-ETA: There are also camps that you can put them in- like horse back riding camp which will run for a few hours after school (although you have to transport them there).

If money is an issue, you could possibly start off with a "child care swap". You take someone else's child in exchange for them taking yours on a different day (so you both get a break). That obviously won't allow you to work, but in the meantime while you are organising this, that could potentially help you not go bat sh1t crazy.

Good luck with your search. It's not easy to find the right solution, but it is possible.

Care.com has a special-needs section where you can find babysitters and nannies who have experience with autism. I was looking for a babysitter with twins experience, and found someone who had watched both twins and ASD kids, which was a bonus.

Autismsource.org is a great search engine to try, and if you have a POAC (Parents of Autistic Children) group in your area, they should be able to lend you a hand in keeping/regaining your sanity.

Forgive me for pointing this out if you've already gone to your county's or city's department of human services, but they should be able to locate other sources of care, especially ones that are certified. They could also tell you if you're eligible for any child care assistance (financial) they may have to offer.

HTH!

I would second Care.com - lots of the Special Needs Moms I know use it.