Long Vacations and Autism – Part Four

How to take a long vacation with your child with autism

After taking a month-long vacation with my child with autism, I have some advice.

What advice can I give?

I tried an experiment with my son—it almost backfired on me big time.

The comfort toy

My son still adores his comfort toy, a stuffed dog. He sleeps with it.

For the past few months, I had been telling him how he’s getting too old for “doggie.” It might be time to put it away. Big boys don’t use comfort toys.

The long vacation

We discussed leaving doggie home during our upcoming summer trip, but I left the final decision up to him.

My son came to the conclusion that doggie would be safer if we left him at home, less chance of losing him and/or having him “injured” in some way.

My son was confident with his decision. He told me he would be fine.

What happened?

Not that first night in a hotel. 

When he went to bed, I guess it had suddenly hit my son that he didn’t have his comfort toy for the first time in his life.

He got upset.

Boy, did he get upset.

We sat up and talked about it for a while, over an hour. 

My son finally calmed down, and was able to go to sleep.

The comfort toy issue

the issue of doggie wasn’t brought up again throughout the entire trip.

He slept fine and seemed to be okay without doggie after that first night.

What I learned. Don’t try to cut out a habit like a comfort toy while on vacation. I probably shouldn’t have pushed it. However, he did well for most of the trip.

What else would I suggest?

Besides your child’s comfort toy, bring his/her favorite things to do (if there are things that travel well).

For my son, this meant his smartphone and his iPad.

Younger children verses older children

When he was younger, we brought his “small cars,” his toy airplanes, his Titanic books, and his DVD player on vacations (the items varied over the years).

Food

When it came to food, our son has a limited diet, but not extremely restrictive.

For example, he’ll eat any make or brand of pizza. For us, pizza is always the safe fall back food.

Breakfast

For us, feeding my son breakfast is the most challenging. To help with this issue, I have been traveling with his favorite oatmeal. Therefore, he’d, at least, have something to eat for breakfast.

Travel by car

If traveling by car only, definitely try to fit a scooter or small bike in the car (if it’s something your child uses to regulate his/her body). There’s plenty of room for snacks and drinks, too.

Overall advice

1. Talk to your child well ahead of the trip. Discuss your expectations of what you plan to do, and how you hope your child behaves.

2. If traveling by air, talk to your child about how they’re going to have to sit still for long periods of time.

3. Let them know that they may have to deal with long lines at amusements parks or restaurants.

4. If staying with friends or family, let them know that other people may have different rules about their house. They’re going to have to respect the homes of other people.

5. If staying in a hotel, let them know that this is property owned by a business and you’re only “borrowing” it for a night or two.

More advice

6. Let your child know that they may be meeting lots of new people and seeing lots of new places. This experience is meant to be exciting and interesting.

This is not their usual routine. But, Mommy and Daddy would like them to practice flexibility.

7. If you have a reward system, I would encourage you use it. Give your child a reward if he/she makes it through a short trip without a meltdown. Or, let them have an extra twenty minutes on their device if they get through a family function.

Communicate with your child. But, also remember your own flexibility.

For example, on our trip my son wanted to stand behind our seats at three of the baseball games we attended. He’s twelve and never been a wanderer, so I instructed him where he can stay, and allowed him to stand. He didn’t wander and even came back to sit with me a few times.

He earned my trust while regulating his body in an overstimulating environment.

Overall, our trip and our experience was excellent. I’m so happy I did it, and I look forward to more opportunities for my son and my family.

Here’s some more information on vacationing with your child with autism that may be helpful, along with the other articles that I posted on Parts One through Four. Long Vacations and Autism – Part Four

http://www.autismparent2parent.com/autism-on-vacation.html

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