Would You Take an "Autism Vacation?"
When I first started here at About.com, I wrote an article about planning a vacation with your autistic loved one, based on our own experiences. In it, I talked a bit about options for vacation destinations - and pointed out that - at least for us - renting a cottage for a period of time was a great choice because it provided us with plenty of control over our environment. We could establish routines that worked for our family, based on the routines that worked at home. If we found a particular activity or setting wasn't right for Tom, we could just... "go home."
But I've never experienced an "autism vacation." Reading the Times article, I found myself wondering whether we'd really enjoy the experience of spending our vacation time with other families coping with autism. Would we spend all our time swapping stories of therapies and special education? What if our child got seasick, and there was no way to get off the boat? What if our typically developing child found the whole experience difficult to manage?
Have you ever experienced an "autism vacation?" What did you like or dislike? Would you recommend the experience to others? Share your thoughts - and take the poll!
Comments
The other autism parents doesn’t sound like much of a vacation to me. I love meeting other parents and talking autism if it’s at a conference or something, but not on “vacation”.
My daughter loves to travel and we don’t have a lot of issues other than packing food for the diet or planning out where we can get said food when we get there, etc.
We have talked about a cruise, but that’s one trip we are too afraid to go on with her. The fear of her going over the rail is one part of it, but also, it sure seems like you are on your own with regards to safety in international waters. I think I’ll pass on that one.
A Disney autism day might be one trip that I would want to go on as an “autism vacation”.
Parents should probably try to work in a vacation FROM autism every now and then if possible for their own sanity, even if it’s only a night away.
I think the autism group vacation is a good service for families with severely autistic children that don’t do well with regular trips. I assume they’ll have ABA or other therapists available to help make the autistic person more comfortable with all the new stimulation.
My autistic son is pretty good on regular trips so far (5 years old) and he’s pretty open to new places and new people. He might, sometimes, ask to go back home if he gets bored but he changes his mind as soon as he’s having fun again. I guess a typical child would feel the same way.
My stepson, Nolan has Asperger’s Syndrome. More debilitating is his anxiety disorder. Last spring we decided to chance a trip to Seaworld (his thing is animals). I have WONDERFUL news! It was a smashing success! The Seaworld people were VERY AUTISM-FRIENDLY! Nolan did not have to wait in lines, there were side doors for slipping in and out and more helpful, friendly people than we could have dreamed of! If you’re thinking of taking your loved one to a theme park, this is the one. Here’s some pictures of our trip: http://web.mac.com/craigrevans/iWeb/Site/Seaworld!.html
I would consider it! This past summer , there was a carnival at a local church. For 4 hours on a saturday , it was just for an autistic group I had recently found. It was actually refreshing to be with other families who didnt look at you like you were from Mars when anyone had a melt down .
Hi, I was one of the families interviewed in the article - we went on the cruise. It was a lot of fun — we had plenty of choices as to what to spend our time doing. We were around the other autism families at mealtime and certain on-board events, but other than that we could do what we wanted, and as you know on a cruise there are many different choices or excursions. It wasn’t like a conference at all.
We have gone on many other vacations but it’s always one of the parents that needs to run interference with the kids — this gave the parents a chance to relax away from the kids for a while! Just wanted to give my perspective.
My son has autism and we vacation a lot. We have been on two cruises with autism on the seas, with two more booked. We are also frequent visitors to Sea World, Disney, Universal Studios, and other parks. Check us out on autismonthego.com Read our stories and share yours.