Aids for Autistic Visitors

[alysnwndrlnd]

Pete, et. al..

Consider our family one of those you've helped with the videos of the fireworks, parades and events. I wouldnt know where to begin to recommend anything else but I can tell you the things that worked best for me were ones that not only had sound (fireworks), but also a bit of background noise (bits and pieces of people laughing, talking and then moving on). The first time I showed my son the videos I would keep the sound off.. then the second time, I turned the volume up just a bit, and so forth. Until we were able to watch the video at a normal volume.

The videos of rides were very helpful... Some of the videos we watch we found through You-Tube. (yes, i pre-screened them). but the ones that I accessed here I never had to worry about.

I am anxious to hear what other parents will suggest here. Thanks for everything!!

 

[mommyceratops]

My DS7 is ASD and the video's on youtube really helped prepare him. I only watched the Dis ones but they were fabulous to help him see what was going to happen before hand.

We also went through the pictures on the site to help him prepare.

DS also listens to the DisUnplugged and hearing them talk about things really helped him also.

One tip we let me DS do things at his pace and did not push him to do things, that helped so much and by the end of the trip he was pushing his own boundaries.

 

[alysnwndrlnd]

hey mommyceratops..

my ds (5), borders on the PDD-NOS line. Depending on what day it is and what the reverse proportional cosine of the sun's tangent divided by the median alignment of mercury, the moon and Rigel VII, over the powerball numbers for the saturday before minus the number of socks in Beijing....he could be Little Lord Fauntleroy or he can be Damien, Omen 2.


However, on our trip, we had the best day on the day we let him make the plans.. (yes, we let a 5 year old tell us where to go hahahahaha). He held the map, he made the choice of what do to, and how long to stay (within reason)... The day was the best, and then we wound up having quite the Disney Magical Moment over at the Judges Tent when we met Mickey Mouse face to face. (DS had shunned all other character interactions up til that time and flat out refused to associate with them all week long). of course, I was nearly crying when I saw my son walk tentatively up to Mickey and take his hand to shake it.
So, I have to chime in with you when you said "One tip we let me DS do things at his pace and did not push him to do things, that helped so much and by the end of the trip he was pushing his own boundaries." Best advice!!!

----

I should add here (edited 9:24pm) that I would not have felt as comfortable about letting my ds determine where we go, if we had not gone through as many videos as we did. We used the maps sent to us from the disney website and he associated each video with a ride, place, event or show. The smaller things we never found videos for, well, we just had to try it. Some things were bust (Mickeys summer house was closed for decorating) and others were BINGO! (teacups!)


alysonwonderland

 

[pershing]

hey mommyceratops..

.... Depending on what day it is and what the reverse proportional cosine of the sun's tangent divided by the median alignment of mercury, the moon and Rigel VII, over the powerball numbers for the saturday before minus the number of socks in Beijing....he could be Little Lord Fauntleroy or he can be Damien, Omen 2. ....

alysonwonderland

lol

Well, alot of things helped my son. I'm not sure if wdwinfo had the maps then or if it showed where to get to the maps, but that is a tremendous help for a non- or low- verbal, highly visual autistic child. I talked my son thru the map of each park starting with the overall map. And when we got to each attraction, we could then look at the pictures of the attraction and I could describe what was going to happen on the attraction.

For my son, its the fear of the unknown that triggers his fight/flight anxiety and he withdraws into himself. Since I could read up on everything here on wdwinfo and the boards, I could then prep him verbally or visually. I found using Carol Gray's social stories helpful as a method to talk him thru WDW. Starting with, ...ok, see the pic. of the bus? We are going to take a bus to the airport..then get on a plane....etc. I only had to do it for the first trip. (Nobody has better memories than autistic children!) He could carry the book w/pictures in it on the plane and then I could remind him what would happen next.

I'm not sure what could be added to make wdwinfo a better resource for parent's of autistic children çause all the tools are really here.

Using this website as a resource led to me teaching my son how to use a computer and surf the web. He still comes here every now and then because he loves the smilies. Clicks on all of them. I'm always afraid he'll post but I've caught him before so far.

So if you see a post on the board that's all smilies, you know who it's from.

 

[Forevryoung]

I have a word document that has boardmaker symbols mixed with ride signs to be used for communication purposes.

There is a post on the DisAbilities Forum that talks about what I have/don't have and I have sent out quite a few emails with the word attachment and several CDs with the actual programming on it (they were originally designed for a high tech speech output device)

The majority of the people contacting me have children on the spectrum- they create picture books or boards for their kids of the rides and characters in the parks with them

Seek out the DisAbilities post or contact me for more info. I'm hoping to create a website when I get back from my trip (in Jan) with pictures and symbols for communication purposes specifically for Disney trips.