Au pair and therapy: is an au pair allowed to accompany my child to therapy?
Ergotherapie on Monday.
Logopädie on Wednesday.
Physiotherapie on Friday.
Perhaps additionally horse-riding therapy, early intervention, or some other regular support session.
For many families with a child with a disability, therapy appointments are simply a normal part of the weekly plan. And yet they always mean organisation:
Who takes the child there? Who picks up the siblings? Who stays with the child during the session? And how does all of this fit alongside school, nursery, work and everyday family life?
This is where an au pair for a child with a disability can be a valuable support.
Because the au pair can accompany a child to therapy appointments – without themselves becoming a therapist in the process.
Is an au pair allowed to accompany a child to therapy?
In principle, accompanying a child to appointments and activities can be part of normal childcare.
The au pair can, for example, accompany the child to:
- Ergotherapie (occupational therapy),
- Physiotherapie (physiotherapy),
- Logopädie (speech and language therapy),
- early intervention,
- horse-riding therapy, or
- other regularly occurring support sessions
sessions.
What this accompanying role looks like in practice naturally depends on the child, their age and support needs, and on the particular practice or setting.
Especially with a child with a disability, the au pair should first be shown the ropes together with the parents.
Together first – perhaps alone later
Here, too, our basic principle for settling an au pair into a task applies:
show – do together – hand over responsibility step by step.
In the first few weeks, the host mother might drive to Ergotherapie together with the au pair.
She shows:
Where is the practice located?
How do we get there?
Where do we wait?
What does the child need beforehand?
What needs to be brought along?
How does the child react to the therapy situation?
Once the au pair knows the routine confidently and the child feels comfortable with it too, the family can consider whether the au pair will take over this trip independently in future.
The au pair accompanies – the professional carries out the therapy
This boundary matters a great deal to us.
An au pair is not an occupational therapist.
Not a physiotherapist.
Not a speech and language therapist.
They therefore do not take over the child's therapeutic treatment.
But of course they can accompany a child to a therapy session and – provided the therapeutic setting allows it and it makes sense for the child – also sit in on a session from time to time.
This can even be very valuable.
Watching can help you understand the child better
Imagine the au pair regularly accompanies a child to Ergotherapie.
There, they might see:
How does the therapist motivate the child?
Which games work particularly well?
How are tasks explained?
How much time does the child need before they respond?
What kind of support do they need?
Which activities do they particularly enjoy?
This gives the au pair a completely different insight into the child.
And this insight can help later in everyday family life.
Picking up therapy content playfully in everyday life
Perhaps the occupational therapist says:
“You could quite happily do this shape-sorting game more often at home.” (Translated)
Or the speech and language therapist shows a game in which certain words are repeated quite naturally, along the way.
Or the physiotherapist explains that certain movements on the playground are especially good for the child.
Of course, the au pair can pick up on such suggestions later in ordinary everyday life.
Then, while playing, shapes get sorted, jigsaw pieces get put together, climbing happens, words are spoken, or a sign is repeated.
This is not therapy carried out by the au pair.
It is everyday life.
And that is exactly what can be lovely about it: things the child is practising anyway become part of everyday family life quite naturally and playfully.
Communication can be carried on in everyday life too
The same applies to children who use, for example, a talker, picture cards, or signs.
Perhaps the speech and language therapist shows the au pair:
“When you offer him something, give him a little more time.” (Translated)
Or:
“We always use this sign for this word.” (Translated)
The au pair can then, of course, also use this form of communication while playing together.
Because communication doesn't end at the door of the Logopädie practice.
It happens all day long.
Accompanying therapy can give parents several hours back
A therapy appointment might only last 45 minutes.
But in everyday family life, that quickly turns into two hours.
Getting the child ready.
Driving there.
Looking for a parking space.
Waiting.
Therapy.
Driving back.
Perhaps traffic on top.
If a child attends several therapy sessions a week, this time adds up enormously.
If a well-prepared au pair can take over individual therapy trips, small windows of time suddenly open up for the parents.
And these can be used in entirely different ways.
Perhaps the host mother works undisturbed.
Perhaps she picks up the siblings.
Perhaps she does the shopping.
Or perhaps she genuinely does nothing at all, for once.
That, too, is allowed to be relief.
The au pair can also be there for the siblings during therapy
It doesn't always have to be the au pair who accompanies the child with a disability to therapy, though.
Perhaps the mother quite deliberately wants to be at the physiotherapy session herself.
Then the au pair can take on another important task in the meantime:
They are there for the siblings.
And suddenly the little brother doesn't have to sit in the waiting room for another 45 minutes.
The au pair picks him up from nursery.
They go to the playground.
Drive to football.
Bake muffins at home.
Or meet a friend.
Meanwhile, Mum can focus fully on the therapy appointment.
This, too, is relief provided by an au pair.
Sometimes Dad takes on the therapy trip – and the au pair keeps everyday life running at home
This variation is often underestimated too.
Perhaps the host father drives the child to Logopädie.
The au pair stays at home with the other children.
Homework gets done.
The children play.
A simple meal gets prepared.
And when Dad comes back with the child, home life hasn't ground to a halt in the meantime.
So an au pair doesn't necessarily have to take over the appointment itself to provide relief around a therapy session.
They can provide support exactly where the appointment creates a gap in everyday family life.
Therapy and the au pair: keeping working hours in mind
Naturally, accompanying a child to a therapy appointment counts as part of the au pair's working time.
This includes more than just the actual therapy session itself.
If the au pair picks the child up, drives to the practice together with them, stays responsibly with them there, and then drives home again afterwards, this entire period belongs in the au pair's weekly schedule accordingly.
Here, too, the framework of the German au pair programme continues to apply, with a maximum of six hours of duties per day and 30 hours in total per week.
A weekly plan can help, especially with several therapies
For families with a child with particular support needs, forward planning is therefore worthwhile.
Monday Ergotherapie.
Wednesday Logopädie.
Thursday horse-riding therapy.
Friday Physiotherapie.
Which appointments does Mum take?
Which ones does Dad take?
For which appointment can the au pair accompany the child?
And when does it make more sense for the au pair to be there for the siblings in the meantime?
This way, the au pair isn't simply deployed wherever something happens to come up.
They get a clear role and know in advance what is expected of them that week.
An au pair cannot replace therapy – but can make the everyday life around it easier
This is really the decisive point.
A family doesn't welcome an au pair so that they take over the child's Ergotherapie, Physiotherapie or Logopädie.
That is what professionals are for.
But an enormous amount of everyday family life happens around these therapy sessions.
Journeys.
Waiting times.
Sibling care.
Organisation.
Exercises that can be woven playfully into everyday life.
And this is exactly where an au pair can be an enormous support.
They can accompany.
Watch.
Learn to understand.
Pick up ideas through play.
Look after siblings.
Or take over trips.
For a family with a child with a disability, support doesn't always mean handing over a task entirely.
Sometimes it simply means:
There is someone else there. And because of that, Mum and Dad no longer have to think about five other things at once during every single appointment.
