Any tips for a child that cannot talk?

[nevadadis]

Medic alert has some great kids braclets for boys- our son has a bright orange one but they also have soccer, animals, other colors etc... He has a lot of medical issues so I want medic alert to be able to be contacted to give his medications etc.. if we were ever say in a car accident and I couldn't give that information. Our son never takes his off-swims with it etc... It recently broke and we just sent it back and they sent us a new one at no charge.

 

[SandrainNC]

I didn't read all of the posts, but my 8 year old has Down syndrome and doesn't say a whole lot. And when he does it is hard to understand. I have gotten the Whos Shoes IDs for all of our trips. There is no way he would keep on a bracelet or necklace so these work great for us. They just velcroe to his shoes. I put one on my youngest too even though we can't get him to stop talking!!!

Sandra

 

[SandrA9810]

my brother could never talk. just make noises. But you could tell when he was happy or frustrated or upset. And we always had really good interactions.

And working with the characters as a photographer, many times there's no talking needed to have a great time. If they do feel the need to talk about something, make sure you're close enough for mom translation. But it helps alot if the kid has something in his hands. Like my brother loves balls and playing catch, so if he had a ball in his hands, the character could take it and toss it back to him. Or if his favorite thing is dinosaurs, wear dino shirts. That's where most the converstations start from.

And nine times out of ten, the little princesses get so star stuck anyways when they finally meet the princesses, there's hardly a two way converstation going on. It's usually the little boys that have the best converstaions with them because they don't aww the princesses.

And watch the attendant and photographer to help you out with character translations... I always did my best to know what they wanted from the kids. So everything went more smoothly.

And as annoying as it sounds, some characters do not give in the extra time they should with special needs kids. But don't just go up and yell for the whole world to know that "he's got XXX". It was always annoying to have parents just yell my kid has autism.
The best thing is to walk up to the character and introduce your son. Saying "Hi mickey, this is my son. Sometimes he has a hard time talking". And always allow for the character to control how much time they spend together. It's so frustrating watching little ones with the time of thier life being yanked away when they're still playing. I always tell the parents, if mickey wants to play, let him, he'll tell you when he's ready to say good-bye.

 

[SandrA9810]

carefull of same colored t-shirts. You don't want to blend in, but you also don't want to blind anyone else.
Never ever wear red. it is the most popular color, followed by blue (like crayola blue), and bright yellow. It's bright enough standing in the sun here in florida, and then to wear a bright colored t-shirt like neon yellow makes it reflect back into your face. I can't even stand to see it on other people.

colors like turquiose, or green, or orange (just not too bright).

 

[luvwdwfla2]

We just went to Disney. I used one of the Disney luggage tags for my son who is 6. Had cell phone info and our names, where we were staying, There shuold be enough room for you to add some medical info. We atached it to belt loop.

He actually did get separated from us, luckily it was in the hotel, and he did as taught, and went right to the desk.

 

[gailanncreates]

Even without a special needs child, I make may family wear the same color shirt every day. My husband asks, "what color day is today?" I never have to look twice to know what to look for; doesn't matter that they are not identical shirts. I have to also wear a bright colored ball cap or visor, so they can spot me. We also had purchased shoe tags for my special needs niece; make sure you put your cell phone number on it!!
Have a magical trip!