Autism and Planes

[Sleuth]

Our son Gavin is 4 and is a high functioning autistic as well. We took him on his first airplane ride last May when we went to Disney. I was soooo nervous on how he'd react. First thing off, we had to prepare him. His speech pathologist prepared a social story for Gavin on boarding the flight and going to Florida. We read that to him as much as possible before the trip! It worked like a charm. He ended up loving the airplane takeoff and landing- when I was ready to get sick (I hate flying!). He exceeded our expectations and was so well behaved. We were renting a rental car so we took his car seat and he sat in that on the plane, which I believed also helped. For a child that usually has enormous sensory issues, the plane ride was his favortie thing and he was just fine at Disney. Just be prepared and everything will go smooth!

 

[TinkTatoo]

We have two children with autism and travel to Florida from Ireland most years. The flight is usually 7 hours to Newark then about 2 1/2 hours from there down to Orlando. Initially I was very worried - particularly on the 7 hour international leg that one or both of them would have a meltdown, but we did as much preparation as possible and so far seem to have survived.

DS who was 7 on his last trip loves planes and has no problem flying. We chose Continental as our airline last year as they had seat back TV's which kept him amused for most of the leg from Dublin to Newark. I also had loads of homemade word searches which were relevant to him (names of dinosaurs, names of horses where he goes riding etc.,) and things he likes doing.

DD who was 6 was more of a problem as she (like me) suffers from travel sickness and also has a short attention span. I again brought her loads of sticker books and other stuff to keep her amused and this year we are taking an MP3 player with all her favorite songs on (she is really into music)

Another tip for us is to bring food they will eat as neither of them will eat airline food - I made sure we had plenty of snacks and we managed to get something to eat while waiting for our connecting flight in Newark.

It is not so bad on the way home as the Newark - Dublin leg takes off at 8:15pm and lands at 2am so DD usually falls asleep / unfortunately DS doesn't sleep but plays the game system on the seat back TV's all the way home.

Our journey can take 17 hours door to door but we love WDW and for us it is a special place and a chance where we can be like a "normal" family. We love it so much we have bought into DVC and our kids know they will come back year after year.

Go for it and have a grea time

 

[tinkerbelle22]

Sounds like you're getting plenty of great advice here...but I'll chime in too. We have always been lucky when we explain to the airlines that our son has autism and can we have a bulkhead seat or first row. So far, they've always been very accomodating. That gives him extra room to kick and to get on the floor (he especially likes to sit on the floor because he can feel the vibrations of the jet better) or to lean on the wall in front of us. And of course a personal DVD is worth every penny. Lollipops and a cup of ice to chew also keeps him occupied for good stretchs.
The main thing to remember is that you will probably never see those people on the plane again - so don't be too worried about trying to keep your child behaving as an angel. Many years ago, our son was three and we were flying across country. My husband, my 8 year old daughter, my son, and I were sitting in four seats next to each other. At the time my son was going through a kind of foot/toe fettish - the only thing that would soothe him was for him to suck his thumb while, I guess, he kind of sniffed our toes. Anyway, needless to say, three hours into the flight, you could spot us: three barefoot passengers with a three year old sprawled across the floor over our feet. Hey, you do what you have to do! Good luck!

 

[cabowser]

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I have decided to take Charlie's car seat with us and I returned the big bulky dvd player for the car that I got and got one that is much easier to handle for just one kid, so he can take it easily on the plane.

Luckily our flight is just under two hours. We were planning to drive and that would have been two days on the road. Amazing how fast it is in the air.

I also made a little book up with a story about going on an airplane and getting to watch your DVD, but having to stay seated. I hope everything goes ok, because when he gets started screaming it scares people.

Jan