Autistic Child Kicked Out of Daycare in Washington? What to Do This Week

If your autistic child was kicked out of daycare, you probably have two problems at once. You need somewhere for your child to be on Monday so you can keep working, and you need help with whatever behavior got them sent home. This guide covers both, with the Washington rules and the free and insurance-funded options that actually exist.

You are not the only family this has happened to

A study by Jan Blacher and Abbey Eisenhower, published in Exceptional Children in 2023, asked parents of 203 autistic children ages 4 to 7 about their early care history. By parent report, 16 percent, about one in six, had been expelled from preschool or child care. The average age at expulsion was 3.3 years. Expulsion was more likely in private programs than in public ones, and in UC Riverside’s summary of the study, many of the children hadn’t yet been identified as having a special need when it happened.

That last point matters. A lot of families get the call before there’s a diagnosis, an IEP, or any support in place. If that’s you, the evaluation steps further down are the place to start.

Was the daycare allowed to do this?

Washington’s licensing rule. Licensed early learning programs in Washington follow WAC 110-300-0340. It says a provider “may expel a child only if” two things are both true: the child’s behavior “presents a serious safety concern for that child or others,” and the program “is not able to reduce or eliminate the safety concern through reasonable modifications.”

After an expulsion, the same rule requires the provider to:

• Review its expulsion policy with you
• Give you a record of the expulsion and the steps taken to avoid it, including the date, time, staff involved, and details of each incident
• Give you information about community-based resources that may help your child
• Report the expulsion to the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)

The report goes on DCYF’s Report of Expelled Child form, and the same form serves as your record. Ask for your copy. It’s the most useful document you’ll have when you talk to the next program, an evaluator, or a BCBA.

Every licensed program also has to have a written expulsion policy under WAC 110-300-0486, with examples of behavior that could lead to expulsion and the steps it takes first, including environmental and staffing changes. Washington’s rules don’t set a notice period, so a same-week expulsion isn’t automatically a violation. A program that skipped the steps in its own policy is a different matter.

The Americans with Disabilities Act. The U.S. Department of Justice’s child care centers and the ADA guide says private child care centers, including small home-based programs, are covered by Title III. Centers have to make an individualized assessment of each child, make reasonable modifications to their policies, and can’t exclude a child with a disability unless the child poses a direct threat to others or including them would fundamentally alter the program.

Three parts of that guide come up most for autistic kids:

• Hitting and biting. The center should first work with you on reasonable ways to address the behavior. If reasonable efforts have been made and the child keeps hurting children or staff, the DOJ says the child may be expelled even with a disability. Centers can’t assume a child will behave a certain way based on other children with disabilities.
• One-to-one support. A center can’t exclude a child solely because they need one-to-one attention, if that can work without fundamentally changing the program. The ADA generally doesn’t require the center to hire extra staff, but the guide’s example is an aide provided at no cost to the center, usually by the parents or a government program.
• Religious programs. Centers actually run by religious organizations are exempt from Title III. A private center that only rents space in a church generally is not.

Washington’s own anti-discrimination law, the WLAD, lists day care centers as places of public accommodation. It also exempts educational facilities run by a bona fide religious institution, and how that applies to a church-run daycare depends on the facts.

If you believe your child was expelled because of disability rather than safety, you can file an ADA complaint with the DOJ or a WLAD complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission. Be honest with yourself about the goal, though. Most families don’t want to send their child back to a program that didn’t want them. The complaint can still matter for the next family, and the incident record still helps your child.

Start a free evaluation this week

Neither of these will solve childcare by Monday. Both are free to start, both can lead to services, and the clocks start when you ask.

Under age 3: ESIT. Washington’s Early Support for Infants and Toddlers program evaluates babies and toddlers for developmental delays. Call Help Me Grow Washington at 1-800-322-2588 to make a referral. DCYF’s fact sheet says the evaluation is at no cost to the family, and federal rules require the evaluation and first plan meeting within 45 days of referral. Ongoing ESIT services may involve insurance billing or a cost share, so ask.

Ages 3 to 5: your school district. Under Washington’s special education rules, you can ask your district in writing to evaluate your child for preschool special education. Your child doesn’t have to be enrolled anywhere. WAC 392-172A-03005 gives the district 25 school days to decide whether to evaluate, then 35 school days after you sign consent to finish. Services that come from an evaluation are free. Autism and developmental delay are both eligibility categories. Our Washington IEP guide explains what happens next, and is kindergarten mandatory in Washington covers the school-age timing.

Put the request in writing and keep a copy with the date. That date starts the clock.

If your child doesn’t have an autism diagnosis yet, ask your pediatrician for a referral now. Waits for diagnostic evaluations can be long, and a diagnosis is what opens insurance-funded ABA. Our autism testing and evaluation guide lists options on the Eastside.

Full-day options while you wait

Center-based ABA with daycare hours. For a child with an autism diagnosis, an ABA academy can cover much of a workday, and insurance pays for it instead of tuition. Orchid’s two Issaquah academies, Creekside and Maple Street, run Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 6:00, for ages 2 to 15. The East Wenatchee academy runs 8:00 to 6:00. The day has a routine, other kids, and a treatment plan written by a BCBA, which means the behavior that got your child expelled is the thing the team is working on, not a reason to send them home.

The catch is timing. ABA needs a diagnosis, an assessment, and an insurance authorization before it starts. Our post on how long it takes to start ABA therapy has the Washington timeline step by step. How many of those hours your child gets depends on the treatment plan; see how many hours of ABA therapy. If you’re near Issaquah, the Issaquah daycare and preschool alternative page explains the hours, the two academies, and what a full day looks like.

In-home ABA helps with behavior and daily routines, but it isn’t childcare. A caregiver usually has to be home during sessions.

If you use Working Connections Child Care, ask for a special needs review. Under WAC 110-15-0220, a child with a verified condition that needs a higher level of care can qualify for a special needs rate on top of the base rate, and an IEP or IFSP counts as documentation. That extra rate can make a provider able to say yes, including to one-to-one care.

If you want to try saving the spot, or set up the next one, Child Care Aware of Washington runs Holding Hope, an infant and early childhood mental health consultation program funded by DCYF. Its request form includes an option for parents asking for support for their own child. It may have a waitlist.

What to ask the next daycare or preschool

Before you enroll, ask:

1. What is your written expulsion policy, and can I have a copy?
2. What do you do the first time a child hits, bites, or runs?
3. What are your ratios in this room, and how often do staff change?
4. Have you used Holding Hope or another behavior consultant before?
5. Would you allow an ABA technician or aide in the room, and what would you need from us?
6. How will you tell me about incidents, and how fast?

Answers that are vague, or a policy that says behavior concerns lead straight to dismissal, tell you what you need to know.

What to bring from the last program

Keep these together in one folder:

• The expulsion form and every incident report
• The program’s written expulsion policy
• Any texts or emails about behavior, with dates
• Notes on what seemed to set things off: transitions, noise, a particular time of day, a new teacher

A BCBA will use exactly this information to figure out why the behavior was happening. Our post on preventing meltdowns during challenging times has strategies you can use at home in the meantime.

---

Orchid Academy runs full-day ABA academies in Issaquah and East Wenatchee for children ages 2 to 15, funded by insurance. We’re in network with Premera, Regence, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Aetna, Washington Apple Health, Molina, Asuris, Personify Health, and TRICARE. An autism diagnosis is required before ABA begins.

If your child was just sent home from daycare, request a call back and tell us what happened. We’ll tell you which academy fits, what your insurance needs, and how soon your child could start. You can also compare academy and in-home ABA or read about our school readiness program.