Love the designs, what else could I use them for?

[Rachandgarry]

Hi all,

I absolutely love all these graphics, they are totally incredible. I am very jealous of the DISigners' flair and talent, not to mention grateful for the amount of time and energy you spend doing all these graphics for people.

I would love to use more of them, but I can't 'fit' them in to my family. I've not got much experience with 'prettying up' our trip so any suggestions would really be welcome. Our party is Nanny, Grandad, Mummy (thats me!), Daddy, and 5 year old autistic son Matthew. Matthew is non-verbal and also doesn't understand a lot of things; for example he would have no clue what an invitation was, even if we read it to him. He doesn't understand certificates, or souvenirs etc - he can't displace himself in time/place. (e.g. he can't understand the context of "you did colouring at school today"...he will just pick out the word 'colouring' and think you are saying "lets do colouring now")

He doesn't understand autographs at all, but I hope in time he will look back and I can tell him he got the character autographs, so I'm going to make him an autograph book. I like the stickers that come with the official Epcot passport, so we'll probably just buy one there. We'll do a stroller-sign, because we are taking our own special needs buggy which we can personalise.

Other things I thought of were room signs for the villa (we are staying offsite), like "Matthew's room", "Nanny's and Grandad's room" etc.

Can anyone else think of anything I can do to bring the pictures and graphics 'in' to our trip? He really responds to characters, and pictures etc so this is definitely something I want to work out.

Many thanks if you can help, (I understand if you can't think of anything)

Rachel x

 

[jtanddolly]

Here is a thread that just might help...it is called the "what do you make thread":

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2179996

Here is another thread that will help you create a "Grand Welcome":

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2342599&highlight=footprint

And some really cool kits that one mom assembled:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2623412

You could have make daily snack treat bags...Mel (Bababear) has lots of great treat bags and bag toppers!

 

[Rachandgarry]

Thanks Dolly, I'll have a look at those threads now!

Rachel

Editing to add: have been looking at those threads for (literally) hours now, lol, I'm totally addicted. Each thread has given me about 10 other threads to read as well. This is brilliant! Thank you again x

 

[Jrabbit910]

Hi Rachel,
Your son Matthew sounds very much like my son. He too is on the Spectrum & just turned 4. Can your son Identify himself in pictures? When is your trip? Making a countdown to your trip w/ his picture would be fun.. Magnets on the fridge to identify some characters. You can start simple, maybe with one or two characters. I think whatever you make him & your family will be wonderful.

Feel free to PM me & we can always chat!

Wishing you a wonderful & exciting trip!

 

[Rachandgarry]

Hi Rachel,
Your son Matthew sounds very much like my son. He too is on the Spectrum & just turned 4. Can your son Identify himself in pictures? When is your trip? Making a countdown to your trip w/ his picture would be fun.. Magnets on the fridge to identify some characters. You can start simple, maybe with one or two characters. I think whatever you make him & your family will be wonderful.

Feel free to PM me & we can always chat!

Wishing you a wonderful & exciting trip!

Hi there!

Matthew turned 4 in August, its such a turning-point age isn't it.

We've just come back from Disneyland Paris, and OMG did he adore the characters...it was incredible, enough to bring tears to my eyes (not that it is an unusual occurence!). He (of course) thinks the characters are real, and just wants to hug them, touch them, kiss them etc.... poor characters must have felt overwhelmed by him, lol.

He can identify himself in a photo, yes What he can't do (yet anyway) is understand anything that is not 'now' and not about him. He doesn't get that people are asking him a question, like "whats your name?" - has no recognition that it is a question at all. He knows he's called Matthew, but thats as far as it goes. Its really difficult to put in to words.

I'm thinking of doing several t-shirts for him for our trip, with his name on the front and different characters. On the back I was thinking I might put a reference to his autism. I'm 50/50 on it; on one hand it would be nice to have a reference to it so people have some understanding when he is having a meltdown/doing odd stuff but on the other hand I don't want the autism to be in our face in all the photos. That probably sounds selfish/thoughtless, I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

Oops, have rambled. Will PM.

Rachel x

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Hi there!

Matthew turned 4 in August, its such a turning-point age isn't it.

We've just come back from Disneyland Paris, and OMG did he adore the characters...it was incredible, enough to bring tears to my eyes (not that it is an unusual occurence!). He (of course) thinks the characters are real, and just wants to hug them, touch them, kiss them etc.... poor characters must have felt overwhelmed by him, lol.

He can identify himself in a photo, yes What he can't do (yet anyway) is understand anything that is not 'now' and not about him. He doesn't get that people are asking him a question, like "whats your name?" - has no recognition that it is a question at all. He knows he's called Matthew, but thats as far as it goes. Its really difficult to put in to words.

I'm thinking of doing several t-shirts for him for our trip, with his name on the front and different characters. On the back I was thinking I might put a reference to his autism. I'm 50/50 on it; on one hand it would be nice to have a reference to it so people have some understanding when he is having a meltdown/doing odd stuff but on the other hand I don't want the autism to be in our face in all the photos. That probably sounds selfish/thoughtless, I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

Oops, have rambled. Will PM.

Rachel x

Hello! I snuck a peak at this thread, and though I don't have much experience with autism, other than teaching autistic kids karate, I had a thought on the shirts you were thinking about making for him. He's so cute by the way! You said that you didn't want the autism to be in your face in the photos, but maybe you could put the colorful autism symbol on the back of his shirt, and a cool Disney design on the front. That way people will see that he's special needs, but also it won't be in all your pictures. I don't know. It was just a thought. Good luck.

 

[jtanddolly]

Natalie (Donatalie) has some great design (I think) for autism in her files if the symbol is a puzzle piece. You can find a link to her things in the "meet the DISigners" sticky.


Check out this thread...it has an idea for how you can make a daily picture calendar that you can post on your hotel room door for him so that he will know what your plans are for each day in the morning, afternoon and night...it is post #22:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2005108&page=2

If you have powerpoint...I have a copy of the social story (pictured right below the calendar in post #22) that CAZ1712 made and forwarded to me. Send me a pm with your email address.

 

[Rachandgarry]

BBDG - thanks for that suggestion, its perfect!

Dolly - thanks for the links and the offer of the social story, I will PM you.

Thanks again,
Rachel x

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

BBDG - thanks for that suggestion, its perfect!

Dolly - thanks for the links and the offer of the social story, I will PM you.

Thanks again,
Rachel x

No problem! Hope it all works out for you!