For families
Sitters who get kids on the autism spectrum
Finding a sitter for your autistic kid is not the same as finding a sitter. You need someone who is not going to flinch at the bedtime routine you have spent two years building. Someone who understands that the visual schedule on the fridge is not decoration. Someone who will read your notes and follow them, not improvise.
Our sitters are off-duty pros who already work with autistic kids during the week — Registered Behavior Technicians, paraeducators, special education teachers, Direct Support Professionals. They are not just CPR-certified college students. They sit through us because they wanted weekend hours that paid better than tutoring.
What to expect
What your Sidekick will and won't do
- Sitters who read your kid's profile end-to-end before they accept. Sensory triggers, communication style, calming routines, foods that work, foods that do not.
- Comfort with stimming, scripting, and the kind of behavior that sometimes makes a babysitter back out at the last minute. None of our sitters list themselves as autism-experienced unless they actually are.
- Quiet about transitions. Sitters who give your kid a five-minute warning before bedtime instead of announcing it. Who know the difference between a tantrum and a meltdown.
- Real backup. If a sitter cancels for any reason, we re-match within hours. If the first sitter is not a fit, the next booking finds a different one.
Boundaries
What we don't do
- The sitter is sitting, not delivering professional services. They do not run a behavior plan, do not document discrete trials, do not chart sessions.
- We do not bill insurance, Medicaid, or your DD Waiver. Cash pay, full stop.
- We do not administer prescription medications. If your kid needs a routine dose during the booking, the sitter can hand it to your kid per your written house routine, but they do not measure, calculate, or document anything.
- We do not represent our sitters as anything they are not. They are sitters with day jobs in the field — the day-job role stays at the day job.
Booking tips
How to set up a good first booking
- Build the kid profile in the app before your first booking. The 10 minutes you spend filling out sensory triggers and bedtime routines is the difference between a great sit and a frustrating one.
- If your kid does best with the same sitter, favorite them after the first booking. They will show up first in your next matches.
- For evenings, a 20-minute video intro with the sitter before the first booking is free to you. We pay the sitter $10 for that call so it is a real conversation, not a sales pitch.
- Late additions are okay. If your kid had a hard day and you want to add notes the morning of, the sitter sees them on arrival.
Common questions
- Are your sitters specially certified for autism?
- Our sitters list their professional credentials on their profile — RBT, DSP, paraeducator, SpEd teacher — and we verify them. None of those credentials make them autism sitters in some certifying sense. What they do make them is people who have spent thousands of hours with autistic kids during the week. The credential is the floor, not the ceiling.
- Can the sitter handle a meltdown if one happens?
- Yes. Our sitters are not flustered by meltdowns. They follow your written plan if you have one in the notes. They do not try to redirect using techniques you have not asked for. If something is escalating in a way they cannot handle, they call you.
- What if my kid is non-speaking or uses AAC?
- Tell us in the kid profile and we will match to a sitter who has worked with kids who use AAC or sign. We have a separate detail page for AAC-experienced sitters that you can also browse.
- Can you find a sitter who knows our particular routine?
- Yes, with time. After a booking or two, you will identify a sitter who fits. Favorite them. They will show up first in matches and the booking will get easier each time.
- Do you sit for autistic adults?
- Yes. See our adult bookings page. Many of our Direct Support Professionals prefer adult clients during their weekday work and bring that experience to weekend bookings.
Other kid profiles we sit for
Common bookings
Find a Sidekick in your city
Their Sidekick already knows it.
Tell us about your kid; we'll match you with someone whose day-job experience fits.