Awesome! Our little one is in his second year here already. He started in Annie's Angels, which is…read moreacross the street. They break it into three rooms there, based on size and ability. This year, he is in the big house...so to speak. Annie's is great with communication, they send newsletters, let us know what the baby needs if his supplies are running low, if he did anything naughty, etc. They do some crafts, play outside, and have a ton of staff to keep an eye on them. I like the fact that they send us text message pictures almost daily of the kid doing something. When I pick em up, they tell me what he ate, how long he napped, and whatever else I want to know. They even held out spot all summer since my wife is a teacher and is home to watch him. Didn't cost us anything!! I think they are doing away with that soon though. Times are tough. Really like the place.

Met with the owner, Ann, as well as the teacher for the 3 year old class to do a walk through and…read morediscuss enrolling our son. Gave them advance notice that our son has autism and needed a smaller class than the daycare he was currently enrolled in. We also mentioned that our son was enrolled in the Infants and Toddlers program and would have speech and occupational therapists, as well as his psychologist making weekly visits for his therapy on site. They seemed to listen and take everything in stride, and said it would be no problem and they'd be glad to work with him. We enrolled him and he began this past Monday. My wife took the day off and stayed with our son for a few hours to make sure he was okay with his new surroundings. He began playing with toys and seemed happy, so she left him there for the day. When she returned to pick him up later that day, the owner, Ann caught my wife outside and immediately told her that our son had a "bad day". She asked what happened, and Ann sent her in to see the teacher. The teacher told my wife that our son wouldn't take a nap, and that he wouldn't sit in the group for circle time. My son is non-verbal, and cannot sit still for long, but he is also a 3 year old boy in a brand new environment, with all new stimuli around him, so that's not that out of the ordinary that he wouldn't take a nap or wouldn't sit for circle time for the first day or two he's there. Our son seemed in a good mood when my wife got there, so we marked it up to first day growing pains. My wife called our son's speech therapist and explained what happened that day, and the speech therapist said she would come the next day to meet with the staff and owner to show them how to work with our son. The next day the speech therapist went to the daycare and worked for several hours with the owner and staff of Annie's Ark and according to her report, they seemed very receptive to her ideas and willing to work with our son's delays. Our son again seemed happy, and the staff told her that our son even took a nap on this day when my wife picked him up from daycare later that day, so we assumed all went well. That evening the psychologist sent an email and said that she'd be going to the daycare the next day to work with the owner and staff to teach them how to work with our son. We received a voicemail from the psychologist the next day (Wednesday) saying that she'd met with our son, the owner and staff of Annie's Ark and she felt that he would do very well there, and that the staff seemed genuinely interested in working with her to help our son flourish in their environment. Shortly after we received that voicemail I received a call from Ann, the owner. She started off the conversation by saying that she doesn't think our son being there is going to work. I asked what happened. She told me that she just doesn't feel he is a good fit, and that he doesn't listen when it's time to get into the circle for circle time, and that he also hadn't taken a nap that day. She also said he was a disruption to the other students during circle time because he chooses to play with toys instead and he doesn't respond to them when they ask him to come to the circle. I mentioned again that our son has autism and those are some of the results of his condition, and that we went over this when we interviewed with her for his enrollment. She said that she didn't understand what it meant when we told her he was autistic, and that she couldn't deal with it. She then complained to me that she had to take our son into her office with her and close the door because the teacher "needed a break from him", and now she can't get any work done because she had to watch him. I told her that I certainly wasn't going to debate to keep my son somewhere he's not wanted, and told her I'd leave work immediately to come and pick him up. She said that he could stay until the end of that day with her but we'd need to find somewhere else for him to go after that. Given Ann's tone and what was said to me, I felt it best we went to get him right away. My wife left her work and went and picked our son up from Annie's Ark. When she got there, Ann brought our son out of her office and tried to discuss it with my wife, but by that point there was nothing left to say. Then her staff followed my wife to the car and asked if she would tell them why our son was kicked out of the last daycare he was at. She informed them that he was not kicked out, and that we transferred him to Annie's Ark at the recommendation of his psychologist because their classes were smaller so it would less stressful. I cannot put into words the level of disdain I have for the way this was handled. Not only did Ann make it appear to us that our son would be welcomed at her daycare despite his learning disabilities, but she also led everyone to believe she was interested in learning more about autism and helping our son succeed, only to kick him out in 2 1/2 days.