Autism Question

[Mel6197]

Hi all

I remember reading along time ago maybe 3-6 months ago a post on bringing a Autistic Child on a Cruise and how they did.. I post on an Autism Board and another mommy wanted information on how any children did on the cruise, any tips, adives.. So do any of you know how to pull up a really old post.. Thanks all

 

[mickeyboat]

This board has a search function. I believe the thread referred to children with "special needs." The search function is generally diasabled during high usage times. I would recommend searching early in the morning or late at night. I hope you find what you are looking for.

Denae

 

[SweetSpot]

My high functioning autistic DS was on the cruise at 12 and 13yrs old. Although there were issues he did extremely well and I felt Disney was wonderful with how they treated him. A lot depends on the age of the child and how well they deal with change. I remember the threat you're talking about but the search engine is down now. The DIS boards also have a disABILITIES board where parents who have special children can exchange information:

http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=20

Tracy

 

[mickey squared]

We sailed in Sept. 2003 with our four children, two whom have autism. The 4 year old is high functioning, the 8 year old is not. Very different experiences, both magical! I can answer specific questions if you want to pm me. Thanx!

 

[disneyelaine]

My 7 yr old son is high functioning, ASD & also has a speech disorder called Apraxia & is hard to understand. He loved the cruise & did great in the kids club. We never got a page once while he was there.

Our one bad experience happened when we left the boat at Nassau. We were only going to walk around the Atlantis & look at the fish tanks. Well he loved the fish, but you have to walk thru the casino to get to see them. He was fine going in, but for some reason, on the way out wanted to pull a slot machine and play with it. As you may know, autistic kids can be hard to reason with. A HUGE tantrum took place with him kicking & screaming as we tried to carry him out. We managed to get a taxi van & get him inside. He crawled straight under the seat. His tactic when he is stressed/mad. Well to make a long story short, when another family got in the van, my son went off again. We got tons of bad parent looks & the driver told us to get our kid out! Ughh! It can be so hard at times.

So anyway we talked to a different driver & explained to him our son (while he was screaming still) & told him we would pay extra for our own van. He put us in, my son stayed quiet for the drive back to the ship thankfully. We paid the driver well for being so nice about it.

Anyway it was not a fun time, but so it is.

That was in 2001. We went again in 2002, but stayed on ship in Nassau.

The servers were really great with our son. I never told them, but I think they picked up the cues. My son would not interact with the servers, but loved it when they showed him a few magic tricks. They were excellent!