Little Explorer Montessori – SW 194th Ct, Aloha | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

***This review has been updated in response to the owner’s comments********

The owner was friendly and clearly loves her job. Unfortunately the environment was not right for our son.

We wound up pulling my son out of care after 2 months due to his experiencing behavior problems. He was 20 months and had never before had behavior problems and, since removing him, has not had any reports of behavior problems since. I am placing this review a year after care as I now have more perspective.

I don’t think this is a good setup for special needs children or anyone requiring a more gentle approach. The owner would handle his unwanted behaviors (when I was present) by firmly saying “No! Thats a no-no!” instead of redirecting him or changing the environment (pull the blinds if he keeps playing with the blinds!). She would say “He was being difficult today,” even though he was 19 months old and was incapable of intentionally “being difficult.” Once we removed him from Little Explorer, we never had any reports of him ‘being difficult’ from other care providers or babysitters. His next daycare provider was able to notice some things about his behavior that led to his diagnosis of autism; we now know his ‘difficult’ times were related to communication issues and sensory issues.

Child care providers are not therapists or autism specialists, so I never expected my child care provider to be able to diagnose him or to provide any service above and beyond what they would provide for a neurotypical child. My particular child doesn’t require anything more than what other children should be provided in a day care setting and does very well in a normal child care setting when the provider takes time to be gentle, redirect, and change the environment to change behavior.

To be fair, we never addressed these issues with the owner. Much of this reflection is hindsight (he was in her care a year ago). Still if you are looking for care for special needs children or children who need a gentle approach, there are other programs out there that would be a better fit and who understand that ‘difficult’ behaviors are children’s way of communicating and are not just ways to make life hard on care providers.

UPDATE: I have read the owner’s response, and while perhaps there was a miscommunication about the 6 months and 6 weeks (although I specifically remember asking about 6 weeks) and have since removed it. I will call it a miscommunication on my end.

Everything else she mentioned in the response is not valid: my husband taking 3 months off of work, mentioning food additives and sugar (the child has never had food coloring or ADHD symptoms), conversations we had, the degree I have, and the age at which autism is diagnosed. She may have confused me with someone else.

All I can say is Mrs. Nilu is the best!! She puts nothing but love into her business and it shines through the children. I have been nothing but pleased with Little Explorer and the decision to enroll 4 months ago. My child has not only blossomed academically, but socially and emotionally as well. It is such a great feeling knowing your child is in such good hands. Especially when you have to be away for so many hours out of the week. Thank you so much Little Explorer Preschool!! I recommend you 5 out 5 and am happy to refer you to any of my friends.