Navigating Summer Adventures: Designing Stress-Free Vacations for Children on the Spectrum

Discover the keys to crafting an unforgettable summer for your child on the spectrum. With decades of educational experience, I've learned that the biggest thrills don't always come without a hitch, especially when navigating vacations with special considerations in mind. This episode is your treasure map, revealing how to chart a course for a stress-free getaway, whether you're embarking on a road trip or soaring to theme parks like Legoland or Disney.

We tackle everything from the logistics of shipping essentials ahead of your resort stay to the benefits of driving versus flying with an eye for comfort and minimal overwhelm. You'll gain insights into how to pinpoint calm sanctuaries within bustling amusement parks and the advantages of staying on-site for added perks and ease. Equipped with these strategies, you'll be more than ready to balance fun and relaxation for a summer that's not just manageable but truly magical for your entire family. Let's turn potential obstacles into stepping stones for joy-filled memories.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everyone, here's a quote for today the best and the most beautiful thing in the world cannot be seen or even touched, but just felt in the heart. Helen Keller. Hi everyone, I've worked 30 years in education and some of my favorite kids are the ones that are on the spectrum, so my hope is to share, help and provide some insight from my experience. Today we're going to talk about summer plans. Summer's almost out a couple more months so I'm hoping to give you some tips to help you plan for this summer. Okay, so summertime and you're planning a trip, so here are some little bit of tidbits that might help you If you're going to know where you're going, if you're planning, like, maybe, going to Legoland or Disney or some kind of resort place or camping, know that you can ship some items ahead of time. This is very useful, especially if you're flying and you can. Only every piece of luggage cost you something unless you're taking everything on board, which you can't take everything. So if you can ship some of the things ahead of time, that will be a huge, huge help. But make sure you check with the place that you're going and let them know that you want to ship some stuff ahead of time. A lot of places, like Legoland, I believe, will do it and I think I know Disney will do that. So that's one thing.

Speaker 1: 1:23

But if you're not going to fly because it's too overwhelming for your child, think about driving instead. It's less crowded, more confined for them. You can have different activities that they do Nowadays. You can have your iPads with them to watch movies along the way and to take short little breaks at the park and then they get a run around. And to me it's a little bit more in control than if you're flying. If you're flying, you're just sitting there waiting. Now it depends on how far you're going. If you're going down a short trip, you know, and it's only an hour or two of the flight, I would recommend trying to get direct flights so you're not changing and over stimulating with all the crowds. So those are a couple little tips about the travel part. Don't take breaks, go down, especially if you're driving, you know. Take those little breaks, just relax, help to be more in tune, to help take care of your child.

Speaker 1: 2:26

If you're driving and you can make little stops Before you take the your venture, inquire about the place. Do they have a place for kind of a quiet area to kind of decompress a little bit, like sometimes, like in amusement parks, they will have places where they're kind of dark or kind of quiet, where you can just take your child and kind of decompress. Okay, so that's four things. So another one is if you're, if your child, needs the opposite, to get rid of some of the energy and they're full of energy because they've been sitting in the car or on a plane trying to place where they can kind of maybe has a playground where they can run around and swing, or on the monkey bars or whatever they want need to do but some area where you can maybe get a kick a ball or something like that, just to help break up that or get rid of that energy that they have.

Speaker 1: 3:27

If you're going to a park like Disney or Legoland, first check with guest services before you go in. They probably have a lot of things that they can help you with, like first in line or tell you where the place this is to kind of relax a little bit and provide other services that they may have for your child. So just let them know, but always check with guest service. If possible, stay on the property, so like if you're going. I know Legoland does and I know Disney does, but some of the parks will have hotels or something that's close by, because if you stay at the property, sometimes places have extra stuff that they will provide you, like maybe free parking or, like I said, accommodations that they will provide for your child. So check with that first and see you know which way is the best way for you to go. I know that used to be. Disney did have some hotels that weren't too far from there that were pretty reasonable in price.

Speaker 1: 4:32

Make advance eating plans. Know where you're going to eat. If you're going to a special park, you'll you can find out about the food and see if they'll make accommodations for your child, if they have stuff that your child will eat, because I know that sometimes kids on the spectrum, I can be very picky eaters. So you need to see, you know what is available and make plans and even maybe pay for it ahead of time. So it's all done and taken care of. But find out what foods they have and where you're going at, and that will help you alleviate some of the stress of, okay, where we're going to eat, we've already made plans. This is where we're going to be. We're going to eat here and here and here, and it just takes some of the stress off in you.

Speaker 1: 5:14

The next thing is just plan, plan, plan, plan as much as you can Find out what's available Plan for family needs, plan for meltdowns what's going to? What are you going to do when they have a meltdown? Where are you going to go? What are you going to do? What do you have something in your bag that can help that you know. Create a little, a little bag for different stuff and then be creative.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Maybe decorate a noise canceling headphones to where you're going, like, if you're going to Disney, mouse ears. Or if you're going to Lego lamp, have the kids decorate Lego stuff. Or if you're going camping, maybe animals. Or if you're going to the zoo, animals to help them not be so stressed out and find, like battery operated fans that will help them cool down If it's hot. If you're going in during the summertime and it's very hot place, you know that might help them cool down, because if you buy stuff like that in Disney, it's extremely expensive. So maybe take something for yourself. Also, you can find funny sunglasses and have the kids decorate them to where you're going.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Find pictures and videos of the place that you're going ahead of time and get them custom to kind of see what's what's out there. You can also make t-shirts or design a water bottle. Those kind of things you can kind of do and get them prepared to. This is where we're going, so I hope that helps you with with summer coming up and if you're going to just stay home for the summer because of expense or gas or whatever the situation is, you know, do camp outs at your, in your house, make tents inside the house or outside the house. You can be creative. What, what the kids would like to do and just stay home and and do things at home. I hope you're having a blessed day and I will talk to you soon. Bye, bye.