In the past year, 55 child daycare centers have shut down around Austin.

Next to housing, daycare is the most expensive necessity for parents.

Because of the rocky economy, daycare operators say parents are finding alternatives for their children.

Open Door Preschools has a unique approach that has been attracting parents for 28 years.

The local daycare facility accepts all children regardless of ability, upon the belief that children learn more by being around others who are different from them.

Open Door started in 1975 with nine kids and one school. Now they have three schools and 150 children, and tuition varies based on ability to pay.

"Families can't afford the full cost of child care, or many families can't, and especially if their job situations are fragile. So, they're looking at cheaper alternatives, staying with a relative, or a friend, a neighbor in some unlicensed kind of situation," executive director Larry Elsner said.

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	Daycare alternatives Open Door is one unique place that offers child care regardless of ability.

Doctors think David Borden's 4-year-old daughter Savannah had a stroke at birth. She has cerebral palsy and the difficulties that go with it. She requires full time care because she has difficulty eating, and she can't walk or talk.

You'd expect teachers to be trained to handle these sorts of things, but even the kids at Open Door are taught to be caring and open-minded.

"They don't think that she's weird or freaky or anything like that, and they interact with her a lot. They play games with her; they enjoy talking to her and holding her hand and helping her do things. They just see her as another kid," Borden said.

Caregivers at Open Door Preschool have strict policies. First, if you're under two, you need at least an hour in the wading pool every day.

And children with disabilities will not be segregated from society on any day.

"They're one of the few places in town that, first of all, actually take a child with disabilities and, second of all, knows what to do once they come here," Borden said.

Dawn Goetzel said 8-year-old daughter, Leah, learned sign language, something she would have never picked up at a traditional daycare.

"[Leah] had a child in her class who was hearing impaired and she learned sign language, and so we would be in the market and she would be asking for more to eat," Goetzel said.

The skills Leah learned in Open Door’s inclusive environment came in handy when her sister Maura was born.

"She had intestines up here and her heart was moved over so they didn't know if she was going to have lungs," Goetzel said.

Maura is much better now, and Dawn thanks Open Door.

"We were not expecting the medical problems she had, and [at Open Door] there was no need for us to worry about anything," Goetzel said.