We did it!! Trip with Asperger/Autistic Son

[Napria]

Thank you to all who encouraged me to go ahead and take the trip. We came home a week ago and it all worked out better than we had expected!

I was worried about dirty looks or comments with regard to my seemingly able-bodied son riding in a wheelchair and/or using the GAC. This trip has taught me a lot about Chris though. And we didn't get any dirty looks or comments that we noticed!

First, after this trip I think Chris is actually more HFA than Aspie. His behaviors, his lower intellect and his limited speech are making me think so. Secondly, although Chris is addicted to tv at home, he hated any movie, show, circle vision attraction we did, with the exception of Soarin.

Also, we are not big "ride" people, but the last day Belle (yes, I really did name my daughter Belle) finally got the nerve to ride Goofy's Barnstormer Rollercoaster. She's 8 years old but was still pretty frightened of it... until she rode it. She loved it. After riding two more times I convinced her to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She thought that was "AWESOME!!!" All this time DH was pushing DS in the wheelchair around the MK. Belle asked dad if he would ride the Barnstormer with her. I decided (perhaps wrongly of me) to just put Chris on it. After all, its a very quick ride. We got to the front of the line, I put him in the car and he had no idea what was to come. The car took off and he laughed the whole time! When it was over he wanted to do it again. It was hard to get him off, but we took him over to BTMRR and put him on that. As we were flying over a bump Chris yelled out, "Tally ho!" and laughed even more on that coaster.

So now we know. No shows, movies, etc. But Soarin and Big Thunder Mountain are must-do's next time.

Also, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to whoever it was who posted about a wheelchair being covered for their epileptic daughter by their insurance. Chris' was approved by our insurance and it's been ordered. We expect to get it in about a week! Now I won't be afraid of taking him out in public and dealing with him being unconscious for 30 minutes or so if he has a seizure. Unfortunately he did have a doozy of one the first day we were at WDW, but we were still at Ft. Wilderness, so it wasn't as big a deal as it could have been.

The last thing I want to say is among other things, my son suffers from mild depression. We often hear him say, "I'm having a bad day!" but never anything positive about his mood. I was just looking at the 182 photos I took at WDW and in every one of the ones Chris is in he is either showing a neutral expression or smiling -- mostly smiling! He also has an extremely poor memory, but is still occasionally saying that he wants to "go back to that place where we camped" meaning WDW. It was a hard trip for us, but after realizing what a positive impact WDW had on Chris (and Belle, too!) it was worth every difficult moment! We're already planning our next trip in 2008!

 

[irish_trip_mom]

I loved hearing how magical your experience was. We found ours to be as special with our two ASD sons. We cannot wait to go back!

 

[amykathleen2005]

I am so happy that your family had a wonderful time. Disney is truly a magical place!

 

[SueM in MN]

thanks for sharing.
glad to hear you had a great time.

 

[JEZE]

Very touching! Im glad things worked out for you and your family. We are planning a trip-my son is HFA. Even though your son has some memory issues this is probably one thing he will remember for ever.

Would love to hear more!

 

[AJKMOM]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. My DS, 18, with autism, has been to DisneyWorld 11 times- 12th on Feb. 25- and we think he is better with each trip. He listens, he's not watching TV, he helps read maps, he picks out his own meals.

I (his Mom) will be traveling alone with him, I plan to report how it goes, too.

 

[Belle68]

disney is a magical place but even more so with special children. i loved reading your report and its true you do discover some interesting things about your child. my DD13 has Downs syndrome and is austistic and when we visit Mk we have to go on "grim ride", yep you got it "the haunted mansion" she just loves it and laughs all the way through. she also keeps asking me if it will rain at epcot this year!! its great to know that she remembers and talks about some of her disney experiences.

have you thought your DS probably didn't like the shows etc because of the noise it can get very intence.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

I am so glad you guys had fun. I think it was me posting about the w/c being covered for our Chris LOL. He has epilepsy and that is how he qualified but I think any dev disability would qualify also. It could have been Sue too (the moderator) I think her daughter has the big E too.

That is so cool that your Chris had so much fun. We never experienced problems with people or cm's at WDW with the gac but universal the worker at the guest services made me cry by acting like we were trying to get over.

The worker was in denial mode and when I told him that DS normally has seizures where it would knock him out for 1-3 hours he could have cared less. That if it weren't for accomodations we may only wait on lines all day. He was having about 7 seizures a day back then.

But aside from that one blip Universal was pretty good too

 

[OKWMom]

Thank you for your post. As the mother of a child with ASD who loves WDW, I enjoy hearing about other families' trips and rejoice in all of your happiness.

 

[SueM in MN]

I am so glad you guys had fun. I think it was me posting about the w/c being covered for our Chris LOL. He has epilepsy and that is how he qualified but I think any dev disability would qualify also. It could have been Sue too (the moderator) I think her daughter has the big E too.

You're right, 'the big E' is among my youngest DD's disabilities.
I think there were quite a few people who suggested the same thing (so we are all to thank!)

That is so cool that your Chris had so much fun. We never experienced problems with people or cm's at WDW with the gac but universal the worker at the guest services made me cry by acting like we were trying to get over.

The worker was in denial mode and when I told him that DS normally has seizures where it would knock him out for 1-3 hours he could have cared less. That if it weren't for accomodations we may only wait on lines all day. He was having about 7 seizures a day back then.

Sorry about that experience at Universal. We had the same experience on several trips many years ago, so I can imagine just how your felt. It had me in tears too, which is why we have not gone back to Universal.

Very touching! Im glad things worked out for you and your family. We are planning a trip-my son is HFA. Even though your son has some memory issues this is probably one thing he will remember for ever.

One thing some people have done to help their child remember is make scrapbooks or memory books. One of the moms in my DD's high school class volunteered once a week to help the kids make scrapbooks. My DD ended up with a really cool book for each year and she enjoys looking at them or letting friends/relatives look at them.

Depending on your child's abilities or interest level, he may not want to actually do the making of the book, but could participate in the process whatever way he can. Even if he doesn't participate in making it, he will have a book to look back at.

I have never been organized enough to do an actual scrapbook, but I make a book with some of our photos for DD to take with her when she goes back to school. With digital photos and Powerpoint or a similar program, you can make a book with text really easily.

 

[catnik]

Thanks for posting and so glad that the trip went well for all of you, but especially for Chris. We are taking our family in October and our youngest son is HFA. I enjoy reading about other trips and am culling all the tips I can get to make our trip successful!

 

[Napria]

One thing some people have done to help their child remember is make scrapbooks or memory books. One of the moms in my DD's high school class volunteered once a week to help the kids make scrapbooks. My DD ended up with a really cool book for each year and she enjoys looking at them or letting friends/relatives look at them.

Depending on your child's abilities or interest level, he may not want to actually do the making of the book, but could participate in the process whatever way he can. Even if he doesn't participate in making it, he will have a book to look back at.

I have never been organized enough to do an actual scrapbook, but I make a book with some of our photos for DD to take with her when she goes back to school. With digital photos and Powerpoint or a similar program, you can make a book with text really easily.

Well you just made me feel better about spending $111 on a photobook at Kodak Gallery (used to be ofoto.com and you can still get there that way). I had 250 digital photos when we got back, 182 of which were good enough that I wanted to print them. I went to Kodak Gallery and put together a classic photobook. It's a lot of money, but I think it will be a good way to keep the memory alive and there was a lot of room for text by each photo, so there is a "narrative" to go with each pic.

 

[JEZE]

One thing some people have done to help their child remember is make scrapbooks or memory books. One of the moms in my DD's high school class volunteered once a week to help the kids make scrapbooks. My DD ended up with a really cool book for each year and she enjoys looking at them or letting friends/relatives look at them.

Depending on your child's abilities or interest level, he may not want to actually do the making of the book, but could participate in the process whatever way he can. Even if he doesn't participate in making it, he will have a book to look back at.

I have never been organized enough to do an actual scrapbook, but I make a book with some of our photos for DD to take with her when she goes back to school. With digital photos and Powerpoint or a similar program, you can make a book with text really easily.

This is a great idea! Will try this with the kids when we get back in May. May also be a little premature but we'll attempt the Christmas card picture also.

 

[MommeeOfAPrnzess]

Awsome! I am so happy you went and had such a great time
It's sad that Walt Disney doesn't know what an impact he has on everyone lives!!
Congrats - and enjoy planning your next trip
Also, maybe your son will be up to trying other rides too - there are books out that descripe what each ride does - maybe that will help!

 

[OneMoreTry]

OP, thanks for the report. I know how great an experience like that makes you feel. It's also encourages me when thinking about our upcoming trip and the hardships we will face.

I was debating about taking DD7 on Soarin and Barnstormer. I think we'll try Soarin but not B.

I'm also gonna start taking more pictures. Not just at WDW but in general.

 

[Brightsy]

OP,

I'm so glad you had such a great trip! I have two special guys. my 7yr. old is ADHD (moderatley severe) and my 5 yr. old is HFA. We'vtaken them to WDW several times. I wish I could get my insurance to cover WDW as therapy! It surely is for my little guy. EVERY singe time we've been to the World he's had some kind of little breakthrough.
Breakthrough at WDW breakdown:
First full sentence.
First time use of personal pronoun "I."
First "I love you, Mommy."
First time my son initiated social contact with another child.
Things like that.

There've been some rough spots, too, I'll admit...a couple of gloriously spectacular meltdowns (usually relating to missing a character meet and greet.)

My guy loves the coasters, too... major input for sensory seekers.

Again, I'm glad you had a good time!

Sara

 

[MarieS]

Sue--
Love your idea about the scrapbooks! I love to scrapbook ( working on the second album from the boys MAW trip!LOL), but did not think about this being a school project. I may mention it to their teacher and see what she thinks.
My oldest son loves watching the slideshow of digital pictures of our trip on the computer. I am hoping photopass will have the movie option when we go on our second trip.
I make small 5 x 7 or 8 x 8 size scrapbooks for my boys for them to look at. One will be for camp, another for challenger baseball, etc. They really enjoy looking at them and showing them to others.
To the OP:
Thanks for sharing your story! My boys had a MAW trip fall 2005. I thought we would go once and that's it. But my boys had the best time! Like you, I couldn't believe all the smiles in the pictures I took! My youngest has a lot of sensory issues but we used the first aid stations for breaks and he had a good trip. We are planning another trip for Nov since it was such a great experience.

 

[Brightsy]

Had to jump in again! I love scrapping and doing my Dis-Albums are the best fun! My HFA DS adores looking at the pix on the computer. His favorite books are my scrapbooks. I have a small one in the works for him w/ nothing but pix of him and all the characters he's met and hugged in the World. I know he'll love it.

Sara

 

[Goofyluver]

Sounds like you had a great time. Sometimes those children of ours surprise us!

 

[LivingDreams]

I have taken my ds to wdw twice now. He loves that place! He is a thrill seeker and loves the fast rides. He even rode TOT at MGM this past time! We have never had a problem (so far) with any dirty looks for using the GAC. Everyone has been really accomodating to his needs. Even taking him off a ride and putting him right back on if he doesn't want off. And the poeple in line have never said a thing. Disney is truley a wonderful place! Going back in December!