Trip Plans...advice please

[admepo]

I am the very lucky mom of 3 wonderful boys- DS age 6, DS age 3, and DS age 11 months! DS age 3 is Developmentally delayed with autistic tendencies (current diagnosis). Jacob will scream, throw tantrums, flap his arms, yell "NO" like someone was trying to harm him, become easily excited, have emotional behavior reactions to things that are overboard, can be completely inconsolable, loves spinning - but can not be out of control of his body positioning (such as being held up high or seated on a counter), any kinds of movment, bright colors - the TV!!!!, doesn't like loud group singing, will scream and cry if another child is - especially one of his brothers, has a spoken vocab of about 15-20 understandable words and a few signs, and my list can go on forever..... Jake will begin Pre-K in the autism room this August. Until then we attend speech therapy and OT and are looking into reccomended ABA for him.

We are taking the boys to WDW in July. We have planned to stay at a resort to take frequent breaks throughout the day and have access to the bus transportation. I am considering getting a GAC (another posting about that) for him. He LOVES playhouse disney so I think he will really enjoy certain things in the parks and he adores Winnie the Pooh. Jake has finally started singing along with some Disney songs - although the "words" are mostly half sounds from the words but it is a MAJOR start for him! I would love any advice from any of you about things to do with him he may really enjoy and things to make sure we avoid from your experiences! THANKS

Melanie

 

[ducklite]

I would definitely get the Guest Assistance Pass. Also, if you need apalce to remove him from the stimulation, all of the parks have first aid stations which would be perfect for that.

Anne

 

[gritzel4]

We have a DS6 who is autistic. He loves WDW

Definately get the GAC.

We are going in July as well and we have planned our day to go to parks in the am, lunch & swimming back at SSR, back in parks after dinner. We never do fireworks or parades.

It sounds like your son has sensory issues. If he will tolerate - I recommend ear plugs. The rides and crowds are very loud. If not be prepared to cover his ears and any moment and you may want to have him practice covering his own ears. My DS still has a hard time with group singing and clapping. We sing Happy Birthday every night in the hopes he will adjust.

A great place in WDW for the kids to run around is Toontown. Great attractions for relaxing and resting are the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, steam train and monorail. A hidden treasure at WDW is Tom Sawyers Island.

Take frequent breaks in the parks - traveling with 3 small children is very difficult. If you see your son beginning to melt down try redirecting his focus. I carry matchbox cars to distract my son at all times.

We love ABA. We use it all the time with my DS - I actually use it with my husband at times. One of the biggest aspects of ABA is positive reinforcement (other parents call this bribery, parents of autistic children call this reinforcement). Let your DS know that good behavior will be rewarded ie. Mickey ice cream on the way out of the park.

Give your son a map of the parks you are visiting and give him options of what he would like to do there. Make sure to include your older DS in the game. My DS does better when we allow him to make some choices.

Sorry about the rambling Have a great vacation.

 

[leise]

Your son sounds very similar to my DS, Luke, when he was three (he is now 5), he is diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. We went to WDW when he was rising 4, and exhibiting a lot of the behaviours you describe. We had a wonderful time. I also have another son who is now almost 3 and not autistic, so he was about 18 months when we went.

We played it very much by ear, and built up the length of time we spent in the parks from a couple of hours to all day, over our two week holiday. We let him guide us, going out of the parks for a ride on the bus if he'd had enough.
My top tips would be
1) Get a Guest Assistance card and use it. Don't feel guilty, you are helping your son enjoy the holiday you have paid for in the only way he can. My DS would not queue for anything if he didn't know what it was, because he would get too nervous with all the people around him. Once he'd freaked out in the queue of any ride, that was it for him, he didn't want to know. We now always use the GAC for any ride that is new to him, and he will try things. If he likes them, we are stunned at his ability to queue for a second time.
2) Get him a stroller in the park. They do double ones if he'll share. These are brilliant as they are quite enclosed, will hold large children and it is somewhere for him to feel safe if it gets too much. We did two days at DL Paris last month, one with stroller, one without. On the day without, he kept running off, flapping, getting over-excited and distressed. On the day with a stroller he was a different boy, calm relaxed, focussed and happy.
3) Staying on site is great, break up your days, make full use of the Extra Magic Hour and the transportation system.
4) If he doesn't want to go on something, don't take him on it , however much you think he'll like it. He won't stop screaming long enough to find out, and he won't trust you.
5) Luke was terrified of characters at the start of our holiday, really hated them, would spot them at 100yds, hands over ears, screaming. We kept him away from them as much as possible, then I started approaching only ones I knew he liked, like Baloo and King Louie, with him on my shoulders. He slowly got more confident, and by the end we did a character breakfast at Crystal Palace and he bounced with Tigger , holding his hands. It was amazing. He still talks about it now (in his way!). But he still hates ones he doesn't know.
6) Luke loved Playhouse Disney LOS ( queued for an hour second/ third/ fourth time, no problem!), Winnie the Pooh , Snow White (train ride), Peter Pan and all the animal rides in AK. TTA in Tommorrow land was also a favourite. He hated IASW, with a vengeance; thousands of shrill singing dolls, singing different languages, really noisy, bright colours etc etc. If it's shut when you go breathe a sigh of relief. Ironically he loves it now, and will miss it when we go next. But at 3 it was hell. And fireworks were also intensely disliked by him, completely terrifying.
7) Be prepared that he may love "off-the-wall" things about Disney. Luke's absolute favourite two things were the Disney World Tour TV channel in the hotel room, he learnt it off by heart (15 minute programme showing over and over), and still recites it now, 18months later!. And the Disney buses. He would go anywhere if it was on a Disney Bus.

We've recently been to DL Paris, and found he's willing to go on loads more stuff, such as the teacups and Star tours, and the flying carpets. It helps if you can describe the ride to him in terms he can relate to before hand ie. Snow White was a ghost train (like Thomas story he loved), Star Tours was a space ship ride ( like Meg in the Moon) etc.
One last thing , if you can get the trip planning video and get him to watch it (hard if he hates TV) it really helps to prepare them. Luke made us sit through it thousands of times (still does), but when he walked into MK and said "It's the Magic Kingdom" and happily set off up Main Street it was worth it.

 

[admepo]

Thank you all for posting and all of your advice!

Melanie