What kind of questions do I ask a potential Personal Care Attendant?
I’d ask them a lot of the normal questions I’d ask a babysitter; what their experience is, check out if they’re certified in first aid/cpr (if that’s important to you), what training they’ve had, etc. I’d also describe several scenarios to them, asking them what they’d do if your child did something – and make those “somethings” the typical tantrums or common patterns of behavior that the child does. And lots of ‘what if’ questions – what would you do if he throws a tantrum in the library, what will you do if he won’t get out of the pool, etc. You might want to ask their teacher if they have any suggestions.
I’d ask if the person has worked with kids who have challenging behaviors before, lots of “what if” this happens, how do they feel challenging behaviors should be addressed (of course once they got the job they would be required to handle them according to your instructions, but there are a whole spectrum of responses to challenging behaviors, try to feel out where their instincts lie.
