Traveling with Autism

[Fish2girls]

Hi everyone,

My DD 2 1/2 was diagnosed with ASD 2 months ago. We are flying into Florida next weekend with family and are going to be in Disney in December 2008. Can anyone give me advise on air travel with her and what to recommend for booking character dinners. I also have a DD 6 and would love to book a Disney character meal for her and my other daughter, but afraid that my DD 2 will not sit still (wiggleworm ) . I would not want to dissapoint my other daughter. Well any advise for Disney or any other vacationing with an autistic child would be welcomed!!!
Also, she is still in a crib and we're not sure where she will agree to sleep next week at the condo. Their portable cribs are small and she is not ready for a regular bed yet. Sugg?
Thank you very much!!!

 

[TeamTinkerbell]

Fish2girls,

I do not have any information to give you. However, if you don't get what you need here, try going to the community boards. Good luck.

 

[KirstenB]

I can't help you with air travel, but if you'll have another adult with you, I'd say do everything you'd normally do. We have a 9 yr old, and a 2 1/2 old (dx'd with ASD last summer). Our 2 1/2 yr old tends to be underreactive to sensory stimuli, rather than overreactive. This makes her generally easy to travel with, although she sometimes has a delayed reaction, and will melt down really badly the next day.

Anyway, when dh or another adult is with us, we try everything we normally would. If one of us has to take the youngest one outside halfway through a show or meal, we're used to it, so no big deal.

On the sleeping issue, our 2 1/2 yr old is small, so she sleeps in a pack n play when we travel. You might think about just laying the sheets and pillows on the floor, and see if she and her big sister will sleep there. I think that's what we'll try when we go in May.

Oh, and character meals. We do the breakfast at the Grand Floridian with Pooh Bear and the Alice in Wonderland characters. Early in the day is generally a good time for us, and if things don't work out, well at least it wasn't as expensive as dinner!

I hope you all have a terrific vacation!!

 

[KirstenB]

I almost forgot, visit the Disabilities forum. There are many parents with autistic kids there, and they'll have tons of ideas.

 

[esbrick]

http://www.disboards.com/searchbt.php?s=&search=autism

I did a search for Autism in the Search section of Disboards and this is what I got! Hope it helps!

Good Luck and I wish you the best of luck!

 

[LAH LAH]

The DISabilities section has been wonderful and trully helped with the planning!


Hope you have a wonderful time!!!!

 

[apr9twins]

We went to WDW twice last year (total fluke - but it was awesome) with my son (just turned 5 at the time) who has PDD.

One of the best things we did (if not THE best) was getting the Guest Assistance Card. We went to the Magic Kingdom first and went into City Hall, but my guess is you can get them at Guest Relations in any of the parks. We carried the pass in a plastic bag in our backpack and pulled it out when needed. It was more help than most people will ever know. It allowed us to take him on rides that he enjoyed and let him have fun that he would have missed out on otherwise. We were able to spend time together as a family, rather than 1 parent having to leave with him.

We had a basic idea of what we wanted to see and do, but it was very much open for adjustments as needed (or totally ditching it). He was so overstimulated most of the time it seemed like he was going in 10 different directions - so a lot of the time we just took his lead. Where did he want to go, what did he want to see - and off we'd go. I think that that helped because he had a little bit of control (very important to him) over what was going on.

He absolutely loved playing in the pool - and I think we probably could have saved the price of buying park passes (or going to Disney all together!) and stayed someplace that had a pool and he would have been thrilled.

Meals were very difficult. He doesn't really like to eat to begin with - and being hyper-stimulated just made that worse. We did our best to let him take the lead on whether or not he was hungry. He absolutely loved Hoop Dee Doo and WCC - I think mostly because there was so much to see, he got to participate, and he liked the food. He was sort of afraid of the characters at the character meals - and some of them he didn't want anything to do with (he hid under the table when Minnie Mouse came to visit at the Beach Club breakfast). However - we went to the Princess Storybook Breakfast on Easter Sunday (his twin sister is a huge Princess fan) and he just did his thing while dd was visiting with all the "girls" - and then Mulan came to the table and he jumped up and ran over to her! It was so cute! She said that was because he knew that she was a brave warrior, and he said "yep!".

We flew down both times - non-stop the first and layovers the next - but both times, the planes had televisions on the backs of the headrests and I swear that alone is worth the price of flying. He loves TV and was totally engrossed in watching cartoons (our daughter watched FoodTV the whole time!), and switching over to the station that showed where the plane was along the route. I brought along some snacks and a few small toys and that helped too - but the TV's were the best.

Sorry this got so long - but hopefully it is a little helpful.

 

[Fish2girls]

We went to WDW twice last year (total fluke - but it was awesome) with my son (just turned 5 at the time) who has PDD.

One of the best things we did (if not THE best) was getting the Guest Assistance Card. We went to the Magic Kingdom first and went into City Hall, but my guess is you can get them at Guest Relations in any of the parks. We carried the pass in a plastic bag in our backpack and pulled it out when needed. It was more help than most people will ever know. It allowed us to take him on rides that he enjoyed and let him have fun that he would have missed out on otherwise. We were able to spend time together as a family, rather than 1 parent having to leave with him.

We had a basic idea of what we wanted to see and do, but it was very much open for adjustments as needed (or totally ditching it). He was so overstimulated most of the time it seemed like he was going in 10 different directions - so a lot of the time we just took his lead. Where did he want to go, what did he want to see - and off we'd go. I think that that helped because he had a little bit of control (very important to him) over what was going on.

He absolutely loved playing in the pool - and I think we probably could have saved the price of buying park passes (or going to Disney all together!) and stayed someplace that had a pool and he would have been thrilled.

Meals were very difficult. He doesn't really like to eat to begin with - and being hyper-stimulated just made that worse. We did our best to let him take the lead on whether or not he was hungry. He absolutely loved Hoop Dee Doo and WCC - I think mostly because there was so much to see, he got to participate, and he liked the food. He was sort of afraid of the characters at the character meals - and some of them he didn't want anything to do with (he hid under the table when Minnie Mouse came to visit at the Beach Club breakfast). However - we went to the Princess Storybook Breakfast on Easter Sunday (his twin sister is a huge Princess fan) and he just did his thing while dd was visiting with all the "girls" - and then Mulan came to the table and he jumped up and ran over to her! It was so cute! She said that was because he knew that she was a brave warrior, and he said "yep!".

We flew down both times - non-stop the first and layovers the next - but both times, the planes had televisions on the backs of the headrests and I swear that alone is worth the price of flying. He loves TV and was totally engrossed in watching cartoons (our daughter watched FoodTV the whole time!), and switching over to the station that showed where the plane was along the route. I brought along some snacks and a few small toys and that helped too - but the TV's were the best.

Sorry this got so long - but hopefully it is a little helpful.

Not too long at all!! The longer the better, it only means I get more information. Thank you so much for sharing all of your experiences, we will definately look into the Cinderella dinner and the Guest Assistance card.I have heard of this before on the Disney website and it looks promisisng. I just wasn't sure if it will work all of the time at every park but from what you said I do think I will check it out when we get there!!