aspergers and disney world

[sl_underwood]

Can it be done? We have planned 3 vacations since our son came to live with us a year ago and havent actually made it on any of them due to his sisters health. Now he has been diagnosed with aspergers and I am reluctant to go even though our dd is in the clear. Should I cancel our trip planned in March or go ahead?

[Lawshark]

I haven't checked this board in awhile but I'm glad that I did...

I have a DS6 with an Aspergers/ADHD diagnosis...and we will be going on our 3rd WDW vacation with him in late January.

I wouldn't let the diagnosis itself keep you from going...just realize that you know your son and the quirks that his personality may bring...and adjust your touring and expectations accordingly.

Fireworks? Ummm...not our first trip. We needed to do a LOT more frontloading for that. It happened on our second trip though and saw Wishes. Still haven't seen any of the others...

Transitions are always tricky...but once again...lots of frontloading about what we were doing each day...planning is always a good thing for WDW...but it really helped us.

If you have any specific questions...please feel free to post or PM...but we have had two wonderful trips to Disney with an Aspergers son and we're looking forward to our 3rd trip.

[1stluvispooh]

In answer to your question. YES! it can be done. Yes you have to do some extra research and preparation but it will be a wonderful trip for your family. Remember he is the child you have been dealing with for the past year he just now has a label attached to his behaviors. What I can tell you from personal experience is my DD who is high functioning autistic acts more "normal" when we are at the world. She is patient, has more spontaneous speech and very social epically with the characters. Now I know every kids is different and even more so if they are on the spectrum but please take your trip! You may wind up being surprised!

[Lawshark]

In answer to your question. YES! it can be done. Yes you have to do some extra research and preparation but it will be a wonderful trip for your family. Remember he is the child you have been dealing with for the past year he just now has a label attached to his behaviors. What I can tell you from personal experience is my DD who is high functioning autistic acts more "normal" when we are at the world. She is patient, has more spontaneous speech and very social epically with the characters. Now I know every kids is different and even more so if they are on the spectrum but please take your trip! You may wind up being surprised!

I'll second that...especially the part about how much better our DS6 actually did at the World. You may be surprised at how well it goes...or not...but if it starts to fall apart during the day, just be willing to call it a day and head to the hotel for some RNR.

[tmli]

My son (age 11, Asd and bi polar) has been going to Disney since he was 3. Many times more than once a year. YES!!! Not only can it be done but it can be done with great success!!! DS does better at WDW than anywhere else in the world! Its like a huge weight off his shoulders as soon as we land in MCO.

We have used Pin trading as social skills training with great success. Having the passport signed throughout the countries of Epcot was another great way for him to interact with others.

[JESW]

Another Mom with a ds13 with asperger's - he has been going to Disney since before he was 3. The best thing to do is have a plan before you enter a park - we often split up if ds starts having meltdowns. Dh is usually very happy to head back to the room with ds while I stay at the parks with dd8.

Pin trading is what has gotten through many trips as it gives him something to focus on and also is practise for him to talk with strangers and negotiate. I get pins on-line from Pin Castle and they are cheaper than what you will pay at the parks - they are "real" pins and in excellent condition - I have ordered from them several times.

My son has always loved the water so we make sure we get some pool time in every day. We also go to both the water parks when we can. When my son was your sons' age he used to take several baths a day as that was the only thing that calmed him down - he would bring his cars and toys in and the world was a wonderful place! :)

Our son is a VERY pick eater so I have to make sure there is something he will eat wherever we go. Checking out the menus beforehand can be a big help.

Good luck! :)

Jill

[love2crooz]

WOW!!!!!Thought my son was the only one who took up to 7 baths a day a few years ago. He has out grown that now, he will be 9 in 2 weeks. He does extremely well at WDW and cruising, lives in the pool on the ship avoids some shows if he thinks it will be too loud and rarely does the clubs, but will if we tell him for how long he will be there, then holds himself together for that period and then we make sure to go do something physical, like swimming, to release his stress from the club. WDW is great!!! He is free to explore and really keeps his mood even because there is so much to see and do. Saw wishes the first time and not able to keep it together the second time so it's never the same day to day. I agree with earlier post as long as you know your child and the limitations for them you'll be just fine!!! We have found that the vacations we take actually help him more and doesn't require nearly as much medicine while we are there as to when we are home. Go for it and enjoy the trip!!!!!

[Dis1978]

I have taken my aspie son to WDW about 15 times since he was a baby. WDW is a brilliant place for aspies. He loves all the preparation prior to the trip, reading the guide books, maps and making plans, ADR spreadsheets etc. Once we are there he enjoys everything. If he feels it is all a bit much he goes back to the room for a rest. The disney appartments are great for aspie kids because of all the extra space. He has his own room to calm down in and can eat whenever he wants, which is often at odd times of the night.
Pin trading is also good for social skills and chatting to the cast members and characters. We also found the disney clubs to be very good when he was younger.

[Amy5000]

I'm planning a trip for our family which includes my just turned 5 y.o. DS with Asperger's.

One tip which I'm really happy I followed was to join TourGuideMike. Right now I'm planning our trip w/o using a GAC. (Of course, I re-eval if we get there and things are not working). TGM (the sponsor of the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies board) has a wealth of information on ways to tour the parks. But here's the hitch...it's so much information and the site takes some getting used to, that it makes sense to join way in advance of your trip. Also, the pricing of the site is "per trip" so it greatly benefits you to join as early as possible. (TGM also has some very good resources on the message boards).

There was one thing I wanted to mention regarding the "pin trading" suggestion someone made above. As you probably already know, Asperger's can present very differently. While I could see pin trading being a great way for entering into social interactions (and it might even become an "obsession" or "special interest" for some), I suspect some young children might not get the concept of "trade" and that he/she will not see the pin again after it's traded away. (And many kids w/ Asperger's are way more into "things" than we would like them to be). If you're going to try pin trading I would definately do several practice runs at home before you go. (You don't want to hit that meltdown on your first day out of no where).

Anyway, I'd like to avoid another costly obsession so I've decided to make autograph books this trip and not do pin trading.

Good luck. Amy

[SueM in MN]

Anyway, I'd like to avoid another costly obsession so I've decided to make autograph books this trip and not do pin trading.

Good luck. Amy
Another inexpensive thing to do along similar lines is to do a passport at World Showcase in Epcot. You can buy an Epcot passport in the shops at Epcot for around $10-12. The passport has stickers and pages for each WS country. You take the passport to a CM in each country and the CM will add an impression from a stamp for that country and write something in their native language. It pretty much works the same in each country (except for the language), so coming up with a social script would not be hard. The best part is that you don't have to give anything up to get something. Also, the CMs know the drill pretty well since so many kids do the passports.

People have also made their own passports with pictures printed from the internet for each WS country.

For the older Aspie, people have posted that finding hidden Mickeys was popular - there are books that hint where to look for them. There is also a small book written by Imagineers for each park (I am not sure if all 4 parks are done yet). The books have a lot of the 'layers of information' that a lot of Aspie kids like.

[sl_underwood]

Thank you all for your responses. We are planning on going for his 5th birthday the first week in April. He is quite delayed (developmentally closer to 3) so I am not sure pin trading would work. He loves Mickey Mouse and playhouse disney and has watched the planning video and wants to go. He has alot of fears so I dont know if he will do many rides. This will be our families second vacation so I have planned before but the first with our soon to be adopted son. Last time we went we had a 12 year old and a 9 year old and we were celebrating thier adoption. Thanks again!

[dananbethany]

My nephew has Asperger's - we went in 2005 when he was 6 and he did fairly well, with only one meltdown. I think the excitement overcame any problems he had - he even watched the fireworks (both at Epcot and Disney) without any problems. We did take frequent breaks and usually spent one day at a park and the next at the resort.

[2BoysMom]

I haven't posted in awhile, but I thought I would contribute here. Just yesterday, I was talking about WDW with another Mom of an ASD child, who had never been, and I was telling her how wonderful Disney is for our children. Not only in the suprising, positive reactions we often see in our children, but also in the way the people at Disney do so much to accomodate our children. Every time we go (at least 2 or 3 times a year) my husband and I are always touched by the CM's and the policies that Disney has established to assist all people with disabilities, but especially for children on the spectrum.

I have twin boys, 3 and 1/2 y.o One ASD, the other NT, but speech delayed. One of the things we have noticed, that on every trip to WDW, there seems to be a major boost in speech and language capabilities. It's always exciting to watch.

Long story short (too late), don't be afraid to go, and don't be surprised if you experience some really wonderful developmental milestones. :love:

[sl_underwood]

Thank you for your response. I am still overwhelmed by it all but I cant imagine letting our lives stop just because we got a diagnosis. We have been dealing with these behaviors for a little over a year and though I dont exactly know how he will react at the world, all of your posts have made me a little less aprehensive. I signed up for TGM to help with planning, hopefully that will allow us minimal wait for rides. I am a bit concerned after reading the cars thread on another board. Cars are his favorite and they are talking lots of wait time and the possibility of not meeting the characters. I dont know if Colton could handle that. I didnt see any schedules for these character meet and greets so I am not sure how to schedule those. I think we might extend our trip by one day as well. Now I just have to decide if saving a few hundred dollars is worth driving 21 hours over a 2 day period, what do you all think?

[2BoysMom]

The hardest part for my kids is the car ride to Disney, and our ride is only 4 hours. If you can afford it, spend a few hundred dollars and fly. Like another poster said, you can take the Magical Express from the airport right to your hotel. Therefore, your Disney experience starts right from the beginning. When thinking about driving costs, don't forget how high the gas prices are these days.

Less stress for Mom = happy Mom.
If Momma's not happy, ain't nobody happy!

JMHO

[OneLittleSpark]

Just to say, if you wanted to help prepare your son for some of the rides he might be going on, there are a lot of videos of rides on YouTube. Just type Disney and ride you're looking for into the search bar and see what comes up. I'd suggest getting a number of videos lined up before you get him to the computer, partly so he doesn't get bored, but also because some videos aren't very good quality, so you may need to try a few before you find a good one. Also, there are unfortunately some people who put undesirable content up on the Internet.

Also, I can't remember whether it's been mentioned or not, but do you know about the Guest Assistance Card (GAC)? If not, have a read about it on the FAQ thread, as it may well be very helpful to you!

HTH!:thumbsup2

[sl_underwood]

Ride videos would be great. He loves the planning videos, lol. Has watched it everyday lately sometimes more than once. My husband is insisting on surprising our kids so its making it very hard to plan and prepare him for the trip. Any other ideas that would prepare without telling the girls would be helpful.

[OneLittleSpark]

When are you planning to surprise them? Are you going to tell them a few weeks before, or just let them figure it out when you arrive? I'm just thinking that, though surprises are good, sometimes the planning and preparing for Disney is fun too.

One year (when I was about 5 and my sister around 8) our parents surprised us with a trip to Disney. We were doing a drive down holiday, going along the I95, visiting any museums that took our fancy, but they didn't tell us we were going to Disney (so they could avoid the week of "are we nearly there yet"s :rotfl:). When we got there I was just pleased to be in Disney, but my sister found it hard to deal with the sudden mental adjustment (she's NT). It took her a couple of days before she really got into the swing of the Disney holiday, because she hadn't had time to prepare herself. Just thought I'd throw that experience in, as it might help.

As for planning without telling them, that's a tricky one. If he were a bit older, I might suggest introducing him to Virtual Magic Kingdom (an online, multi-player computer game run by Disney), but he's probably too young for it. You might be able to try the "I know how much you love the planning video, so I thought I'd show you these" line, but the girls might get suspicious. I'll have to think about this one... :scratchin

[sl_underwood]

I am not sure I want to surprise them but that was my husbands only request. We have surprised them before with trips and they loved it. In our house, he will always get bugged daily until they know there is a trip in the works. He has made me promise not to tell them until they figure it out (he hopes it wont be until the ME bus but I think our children are a little smarter than that. He has told them he has a work related conference to go to so they think we are going somewhere else.

[OneLittleSpark]

If they've reacted well to surprise trips before, I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. Has your son been on any surprise trips yet or not?

One thing I thought of, you could always prepare a 'what we're doing today / tomorrow' book for your son. It might not prepare him a long way in advance, but it'll set him up for the day, at least. You can have pictures of the park your going to, photos from some of the rides you might ride, maybe a park map for each page, with the areas / rides you're going to highlighted. Probably advisable not to get too detailed, so you don't have a meltdown if one particular ride in the book doesn't get done on that day. You can get pictures from travel agents' brochures or search for them online. You could also have a little calendar in the front page, so he can tick off each day as it happens.

HTH! If I think of anything more, I'll post it up!

[Slakk]

My son is not Autistic but is ADD and what I found REALLY helpful is You Tube...yep You Tube. He watches all of the rides before going on and then is prepared for them... I actually highly recommend it for all kids that need a bit of *explaining*

[mousescrapper]

Can it be done? We have planned 3 vacations since our son came to live with us a year ago and havent actually made it on any of them due to his sisters health. Now he has been diagnosed with aspergers and I am reluctant to go even though our dd is in the clear. Should I cancel our trip planned in March or go ahead?

Thank you OP for starting this thread! My DS 8 (9 when we go) has AS and ADHD. This will be his 2nd time there but first since being diagnosed last summer. I have many aprehensions with this trip, but still a ton of excitement.

I have taken my aspie son to WDW about 15 times since he was a baby. WDW is a brilliant place for aspies. He loves all the preparation prior to the trip, reading the guide books, maps and making plans, ADR spreadsheets etc. Once we are there he enjoys everything. If he feels it is all a bit much he goes back to the room for a rest. The disney appartments are great for aspie kids because of all the extra space. He has his own room to calm down in and can eat whenever he wants, which is often at odd times of the night.
Pin trading is also good for social skills and chatting to the cast members and characters. We also found the disney clubs to be very good when he was younger.


I ditto the planning part! My DS loves reading, he has read cover to cover a Passporter Treasure Hunter book for the parks and can't wait to go and find Hidden MM's and other fun things. Keeping him and my other children this trip involved in the planning has been fun and really helps DS have a good sense of what we'll be doing. He even likes to read the menus from the restaurants we have our ADR's at.

I'm planning a trip for our family which includes my just turned 5 y.o. DS with Asperger's.

One tip which I'm really happy I followed was to join TourGuideMike. Right now I'm planning our trip w/o using a GAC. (Of course, I re-eval if we get there and things are not working). TGM (the sponsor of the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies board) has a wealth of information on ways to tour the parks. But here's the hitch...it's so much information and the site takes some getting used to, that it makes sense to join way in advance of your trip. Also, the pricing of the site is "per trip" so it greatly benefits you to join as early as possible. (TGM also has some very good resources on the message boards).

There was one thing I wanted to mention regarding the "pin trading" suggestion someone made above. As you probably already know, Asperger's can present very differently. While I could see pin trading being a great way for entering into social interactions (and it might even become an "obsession" or "special interest" for some), I suspect some young children might not get the concept of "trade" and that he/she will not see the pin again after it's traded away. (And many kids w/ Asperger's are way more into "things" than we would like them to be). If you're going to try pin trading I would definately do several practice runs at home before you go. (You don't want to hit that meltdown on your first day out of no where).

Anyway, I'd like to avoid another costly obsession so I've decided to make autograph books this trip and not do pin trading.

Good luck. Amy


I ditto TGM! I'm doing that too, and have found it extremely helpful! I can agree on the "pin trading" my DS can get confused on the trading, selling, borrowing concept of things (except library books). Besides looking for the HM's and "treasure" he wants to get the penny presses. It will be a fun thing for him do and he loves "collections"

Another inexpensive thing to do along similar lines is to do a passport at World Showcase in Epcot. You can buy an Epcot passport in the shops at Epcot for around $10-12. The passport has stickers and pages for each WS country. You take the passport to a CM in each country and the CM will add an impression from a stamp for that country and write something in their native language. It pretty much works the same in each country (except for the language), so coming up with a social script would not be hard. The best part is that you don't have to give anything up to get something. Also, the CMs know the drill pretty well since so many kids do the passports.

People have also made their own passports with pictures printed from the internet for each WS country.

For the older Aspie, people have posted that finding hidden Mickeys was popular - there are books that hint where to look for them. There is also a small book written by Imagineers for each park (I am not sure if all 4 parks are done yet). The books have a lot of the 'layers of information' that a lot of Aspie kids like.

I know I said it above already in one comment, but thanks for post on how this has worked for you!

Ride videos would be great. He loves the planning videos, lol. Has watched it everyday lately sometimes more than once. My husband is insisting on surprising our kids so its making it very hard to plan and prepare him for the trip. Any other ideas that would prepare without telling the girls would be helpful.

That is a hard one! we suprised our kids (DS did not have this full diagnosis then in 05). I personally could not suprise him w/no forewarning at this stage. But I know how fun a suprise can be. We told our kids then (about to turn 6) at the airport. My DS was stressed in not knowing what was going on but settled into after awhile. You know your child the best and can plan the best way for him. If your aphensive about keeping it all a suprise you could tell him your going to WDW and then maybe have a special dinner, or thing to do a suprises to help your DH keep the suprise part....

If they've reacted well to surprise trips before, I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. Has your son been on any surprise trips yet or not?

One thing I thought of, you could always prepare a 'what we're doing today / tomorrow' book for your son. It might not prepare him a long way in advance, but it'll set him up for the day, at least. You can have pictures of the park your going to, photos from some of the rides you might ride, maybe a park map for each page, with the areas / rides you're going to highlighted. Probably advisable not to get too detailed, so you don't have a meltdown if one particular ride in the book doesn't get done on that day. You can get pictures from travel agents' brochures or search for them online. You could also have a little calendar in the front page, so he can tick off each day as it happens.

HTH! If I think of anything more, I'll post it up!

I love the idea of the 'what we're doing today/tomorrow' book....it's kind of like a social story? yes? have you personally or know anyone who has done this?

I'm really trying to figure out what some ways can be to help my DS have a "plan" and have versions of expectations from each day.

so thanks for your post.


Thanks to everyone who has posted thus far....I truly appreciate all this info. It brightens my spirits that we can have not only a successful trip but a magical one for all my children including my special DS.

[SueM in MN]

Besides looking for the HM's and "treasure" he wants to get the penny presses. It will be a fun thing for him do and he loves "collections"
Those are very popular. When we were there with my niece (without any special needs), she loved the penny machines. There used to be a list of the machines someplace, but in general, we found one in pretty much every shop.
One caution - if he needs to collect everything - be aware that most of the machines have 2 possible designs. And be aware the sometimes the whole machine or just one design is out of service. Not real common in our experience, but it could happen.
Also, they had a penny album that you could buy in the parks. I think around $10, but very good for keeping the collection organized and (well) collected.

I love the idea of the 'what we're doing today/tomorrow' book....it's kind of like a social story? yes? have you personally or know anyone who has done this?

I'm really trying to figure out what some ways can be to help my DS have a "plan" and have versions of expectations from each day.
That would be like a social story.
I know people have written about making some sort of personal 'guidebook' for their kids with pictures of the park (look in the photo part of the DIS site). (http://www.wdwinfo.com/pictures.htm)
I have not done this, but one of the ways I had thought of to have some flexibility to it would be to treat it more like a scrapbook (with a DIS name like mousescrapper, might you be a scrapbooker?). You could have some pages with permanent parts on them (the parts you know won't change) and have some extra pieces to add for the things that might.
What I was thinking of was to print pictures of the different attractions on sticker paper. (http://www.avery.com/us/Main?action=product.Details&catalogcode=WEB01&node=10210893&productcode=3383) Cut the printed sheet into the individual pictures and you have stickers and store them in a envelope or coupon sorter that you can bring with for the appropriate park you are visiting that day. As you are going on/know you will be going the attraction, your child can add the picture sticker to your schedule. If you need it to be changeable, you could cover your pages with contact paper or something that would make the stickers removeable.
If you need more flexibility than that, you could print the pictures on 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 cards and use a photo album to slide the cards in and out of as you need to change your schedule.
A plus of either of those would be that he would have a nice little start on a scrapbook of his own. After the ride or at the end of the day, you could use it to ask him about his day; write his comments on the appropriate page and he would have his own personal WDW guide for next time.

[OneLittleSpark]

Neat idea Sue! I love the scrapbook take on a social story (thank you for supplying the name, I'd forgotten it!)! :thumbsup2

[SueM in MN]

Neat idea Sue! I love the scrapbook take on a social story (thank you for supplying the name, I'd forgotten it!)! :thumbsup2
I built off of what you had posted earlier. Sometimes one idea suggests another.

[s&k'smom]

We just got back from our latest trip in October with son who has been diagnosed with high functioning autism. And I have to admit every trip it gets better. Yeah there are some extra things we have to do like pack a lot of food for him, had ear plugs for the HDD, making sure he swam every day but in all honesty it was the best trip ever. We make sure he had his blankie and we talked alot about it but he is actually now looking forward to our next trip and well he decided we have to stay at BC next time. Go have fun and just roll with the punches.

[mousescrapper]

Those are very popular. When we were there with my niece (without any special needs), she loved the penny machines. There used to be a list of the machines someplace, but in general, we found one in pretty much every shop.
One caution - if he needs to collect everything - be aware that most of the machines have 2 possible designs. And be aware the sometimes the whole machine or just one design is out of service. Not real common in our experience, but it could happen.
Also, they had a penny album that you could buy in the parks. I think around $10, but very good for keeping the collection organized and (well) collected.

That would be like a social story.
I know people have written about making some sort of personal 'guidebook' for their kids with pictures of the park (look in the photo part of the DIS site). (http://www.wdwinfo.com/pictures.htm)
I have not done this, but one of the ways I had thought of to have some flexibility to it would be to treat it more like a scrapbook (with a DIS name like mousescrapper, might you be a scrapbooker?). You could have some pages with permanent parts on them (the parts you know won't change) and have some extra pieces to add for the things that might.
What I was thinking of was to print pictures of the different attractions on sticker paper. (http://www.avery.com/us/Main?action=product.Details&catalogcode=WEB01&node=10210893&productcode=3383) Cut the printed sheet into the individual pictures and you have stickers and store them in a envelope or coupon sorter that you can bring with for the appropriate park you are visiting that day. As you are going on/know you will be going the attraction, your child can add the picture sticker to your schedule. If you need it to be changeable, you could cover your pages with contact paper or something that would make the stickers removeable.
If you need more flexibility than that, you could print the pictures on 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 cards and use a photo album to slide the cards in and out of as you need to change your schedule.
A plus of either of those would be that he would have a nice little start on a scrapbook of his own. After the ride or at the end of the day, you could use it to ask him about his day; write his comments on the appropriate page and he would have his own personal WDW guide for next time.

Sue

Thanks!!!!:hug:

Thank you for the insight on the penny press machines. I knew of the book, but thanks for the tip on $. I've added "penny presses" to my list of things to discuss with DS before and during the trip. We'll discuss limits of 1 penny per machine and what if a machine is broken, or we lose money in it etc. This will give me some base to work with.

And yes, I'm an avid scrapbooker! The ideas you gave would work great with him, and would be fun for me too. I'm going to tell DH about this idea. He's very clever too. I'll keep you posted on what we do.

[Coach81]

In answer to your question. YES! it can be done. Yes you have to do some extra research and preparation but it will be a wonderful trip for your family. Remember he is the child you have been dealing with for the past year he just now has a label attached to his behaviors. What I can tell you from personal experience is my DD who is high functioning autistic acts more "normal" when we are at the world. She is patient, has more spontaneous speech and very social epically with the characters. Now I know every kids is different and even more so if they are on the spectrum but please take your trip! You may wind up being surprised!

I have a 10 year old highly functional autistic son. I can totally agree with luvispooh. He is more sociable, likable, and if you want to use the word "normal" he does seem more "normal".

He has a tremendous time. His meals have to be pre-planned, and the day will go a lot better if he is pre-warned about what the plans are for the day. But one of the reasons we bought into DVC is because of how we are as a family at Disneyworld HAPPY!!!

I would say.. plan carefully, take preccautions.. but you need to go!

[DorkyDisneyMom]

I didn't see this before I posted on your other thread. Sorry.

I just wanted tell you went to DLR in November and we loved it!!!! My DS5 did so awesome! I had forgotten what it felt like to feel so good. He did so awesome and I was so proud. He did beautifully. He exceeded my expectations by about a million miles. He rode all the rides, even the scary ones. Yes! You must go. It was the best vaction we have ever had!!!

[mommy2allgirls]

THis thread has been really inspirational. My dd is on the spectrum, thanks!