Child with ASD nervous about cruise

[unicorngirl]

Hi,

My 8 year old son has ASD. We are planning on going to WDW and taking the DC soon. He is happy about going to WDW, but he is terrified of the cruise. Any ideas on how to alleviate his fears? I already have the cruise line video to show him. He is afraid of the boat.

 

[1stluvispooh]

Can you do a small boat ride before the cruise? Do you live near a lake or river and can borrow/rent a pontoon for a couple of hours? My ASD DD loves going on her uncle's boat although she seems nervous at first. Maybe you can do a trial run on a smaller boat to easy his fears. Good luck

 

[JESW]

What part of the boat is he afraid of? (I have a ds13 with asd) Maybe you could contact the cruise line and ask if your son can talk with the captain when you get on the boat and he can answer all his questions and alleviate his fears. My son is much better when he knows what is going on - the unknown can be very tough on him.

We did the cruise in 2005 when ds was 10 and he liked it....me, well, it will be a while until I go on another one. He didn't like the kids clubs since his sister (4 years younger) was going to be in a different one so we spent the entire cruise together. No relaxing except when I got to go off and play bingo.

Jill

 

[stellablue]

Hi there,

I'm a special ed teacher (mainly for children w/ASD) and you might consider writing a social story for your son. These are tailor made stories that help prepare a person for an event that they might have anxiety towards. Kind of lets him know what to expect. They follow a very specific format and I believe there are websites where you can buy one custom made, though they are not hard to write (see link below). They are very successful tools for preparing a child for an event like this.

More info here:
http://www.thegraycenter.org/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=30

or Google search "social story" "carol gray" (she is the creator of these)

I would also suggest that you take your son on a boat ride a few times before he goes to get him used to the motion. Also, if you live near any "stationary ship" attractions you could take him to (restaurants that are docked boats, we live in MA near the USS Constitution where they allow visits on the boat), that would be great as well.

Try to prepare him as much as possible to avoid any surprises when he gets there. I've known some people to bring familiar items from home (i.e. the hand towels that are usually in their home bathroom, kid's own pillow from his/her bedroom) to help make their child feel comfortable and safe.

Just some suggestions...you might also want to consult with his school teacher-he/she might have some other useful advice.

Have a great trip!!

 

[SueM in MN]

What part of the boat is he afraid of?

That sounds like an important question.
If you don't know, you will have to guess based on other experiences that might be similar. It may be something you would never guess, like that he is afraid there will not be bathrooms on the boat (I know someone who was worried about bathrooms on the airplane and didn't want to fly because of that).

 

[unicorngirl]

Thank you for the hints and tips. I think he was imagining a smaller boat. He has not seen such a large ship before. I showed him some youtube videos of the ship and he seems to be handling it better.

 

[Selket]

My kids don't have ASD but I thought I'd throw out that if it is ok for your son to take motion sickness meds I would make that a priority. We gave our 9 year old the generic form of bonine (the adult version). They make a children's version of it too - I found both at drugstore.com. (my 5 year old took the children's version - he has more medical issues and the pharmacist checked and said for sure that the children's version was safe for him) He may not be anxious about getting sick but it is something that could happen anyway - and might cause more problems than usual.

We found that we had to take the medication before the boat sailed and we took it every day whether we felt queasy or not! The one night my son didn't take it - sure enough he got sick.