Am I nuts?
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Am I nuts?
| Mon, 03-27-2006 - 8:17am |
DH and I just planned vacation for this summer. We are going to Hilton Head with another couple who has a daughter 4 and a son 6 months. I am starting to worry that this might not be a good idea. My DD will be fine, but Jacob--I'm not sure about. He is not diagnosed officially, but I am just worried about the whole thing. He is not routine oriented and transitions ok, but I don't know how he will be in July. he's only 18 months and this will be his first official vacation. DH says he will be fine, but I am a worrier at heart. Anyone else have good experiences with vacations at an early age?
Thanks
Sonya
Thanks
Sonya

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Hey, next time tell me when you come to san diego!
We have taken lots of trips with our kids too and it has worked out rather well from the time when they were small. Of course when Mike and Cait were small it was to their grandparents house cross country. We took our first big trip with hotels and such when Mike was 3 so we were able to use visuals and set up a schedule.
We did have a tough time when Cait was a baby and we took a trip, but we didn't know any better then about why she was having a tough time. It is probably best to start with him now while he is young and taking trips can become a routine too.
1. Relax and have a good time.
2. Do this by being prepared. Bring preffered items and food with you. Set up a plan for what you are going to do and a back up if things go wrong. If you all decide to go somewhere perhaps take separate cars. If your son gets very difficult you can let them stay and you can go back to the hotel and relax.
3. Swimming is great fun for all and typically our type of kids do great with that kind of sensory activity or water play. Hopefully they will have a kids water play area with a wading pool and you can relax by the side and watch him play. If not get in and swim too. This is an excellent way to spend time on vacation and relaxes the lot. Every time we go on vacation we make sure where we are staying has a pool available and we set time aside each day for swimming. It really helps to sooth the savage beasties.
Don't set your expectations too high. Just relax and have fun.
Renee
We just recently took our two guys on a 6 hour car ride to visit relatives. My older son (7.5 with AS) does well during these trips as long as we let him out at rest stops to use the bathroom and run laps, bring portable DVD player, crayons and paper to draw and plenty of snacks.....he'll even take a nap! Our other guy is 20 months (NT).....we just did one of these trips. I got him a toddler etch-a-sketch, his favorite stuffed animal, some toys he likes to chew, some snacks and plenty of juice. He did okay. He slept for only about 1 hour of the trip......cried (screamed) for about 1.5 hours. Unfortunately he has no interest in the DVDs. We stopped several times to let him out to stretch their legs......had a devil of a time getting him back in the car......not a very happy guy. All-in-all, it was okay. I am not excited about doing this trip again but we do go to this relatives twice a year........September or October is our next visit......joy!
My older guy (with AS) loves trains.....so we always make it a point to do something train related during our trip......or something special for him.....this last time we went to the aquarium.....he loved it.
Good luck!
Christie
If it is any encouragement, my son seems to make developmental gains on vacations! Go figure! I think it is bc we live in a big city and vacation in quiet remote places. DS just does better in that kind of environment.
We travel a lot too. When DS was that age, our biggest problem was the fact that he always wanted to move around. In the plane, that was the main problem. I don't know if you are flying or driving, but if flying, go ahead and buy the extra seat for your child and if he likes the car seat, bring it on the plane too. If you have the whole row to yourself when the seat belt light is off, your son can move around a bit and with just your family in the row, you hopefully won't bother anyone (and if you do, so what!). With any luck, maybe there will be kids in front or back of you. Also, if DS still naps, see if you can plan to travel during at least part of naptime.
If you are flying, the airport was actually a worse problem than the plane ride. Security was a nightmare (after all, it's a nightmare for NT people too!). Just be prepared for possible meltdowns there. All the lines, noise, confusion are hard on our kids. My son also had some kind of phobia of going through the airplane door, but is over that now. Once he was on the plane he was fine, it was something about actually going through the door that set him off. I have heard of other ASD kids with the "scary airplane door" problem too.
Then like everyone else said, bring lots of snacks, toys, things to do. I always packed a backpack for my son with lots of "new" but inexpensive little things to keep him interested, just stuff from Target I knew he'd like. I wouldn't give them to him all at once, just slowly bring out new things as the day went on. Like everyone else, I also brought along familiar videos/dvd's that he were his obessions so that he could relax.
You're not nuts! Go for it! You never know until you try.
Katherine