By: Kelley Hollie, LMSW
I recently traveled by airplane from Arizona to visit family in Texas. It took weeks of planning but, thankfully, resulted in a smooth trip for our little family of four. My husband and I have two children, both of whom are autistic (ages 6 and 4). My son is nonverbal, and my daughter can speak but presents as selectively mute with unfamiliar people. Additionally, my children wear AFOs (leg braces) on their legs. As a bonus, my son suffers from chronic constipation, and incidents of soiling are a regular occurrence for us.
I was stressed about traveling to Texas over the Christmas holiday to see family and friends. This was the first trip home that we were making since my daughter had been born four years ago and we had been forced to survive the pandemic. She would be introduced to her paternal extended family, including older cousins, and meet some of our closest friends. We would be traveling to Houston and then spending a few days in Waco before returning to Phoenix.
Here are some of my top tips for traveling with autistic children:
1) I used social stories to prepare my kids for our trip via airplane. We read lots of stories about traveling. I looked for children’s programming that showed travel so that they could get familiar. Some of my favorite children’s characters have episodes or stories about travel including Daniel Tiger, Bluey, Frozen, Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, and Sesame Street.
2) I allowed my daughter to help me pick out the clothes we packed in our suitcases. This helped her to feel included and allowed her to have some control. She picked out the shoes she would wear and provided the outfit she would wear for family photos.
3) I met with my in-laws and extended family virtually before we traveled to prepare them for our children’s behavior. I wanted them to have reasonable expectations around behavior with our children. I talked with them about my daughter’s anxiety and let them know that she probably wouldn’t hug them all straight away, and that was okay. They are family but unfamiliar family, and she needed time to get to know them. I talked with them about my son who stims by humming, yelling, tapping on objects, hand flapping, and spinning. I let them know that stimming was a positive thing for my son, and with time, they would be able to distinguish between happy stims from anxious or upset stims. I talked about their environment and encouraged them to move breakable or fragile items out of reach of our children so they didn’t wind up broken. We talked about how to introduce the kids to family pets so that they felt safe and supported. We also talked about my kids’ inability to stand still and smile for the camera so they had reasonable expectations when we took our Christmas family photo.
4) I let security know that my kids were autistic and had leg braces so we could move through a special accommodation line (fewer people) in security. My husband was able to walk through it while carrying our daughter, and I had our son. Security did not allow us to remove the AFOs before going through security.
5) I packed a change of clothes including socks and extra pull-ups and wipes in case my son had an accident while travelling. We packed hand sanitizer, bags to store soiled clothing, and baby powder. I knew changing him on the airplane would be tricky since the changing table is not intended for use for bigger children.
6) I found out that there was a sensory room at the airport in Phoenix so that we could access it before our flight. My son could jump on a mini-trampoline, run around, and be noisy before getting on a long flight.
7) I downloaded two movies to my daughter’s tablet so she had something to watch that would not rely on Wi-Fi. We practiced wearing headphones so she could hear the sound for a few days before our trip.
8) I looked up events in Houston and Waco that might be autism-friendly or specific. We were able to go to a Sensitive Santa event, which had a smaller number of children present, dimmed lights, and no Christmas music playing. My son, who can’t sit still, could stim happily and be included in a holiday photo. We spent one evening driving around looking at Christmas lights in the car with hot chocolate. We went to a play area for kids with a specific time set aside for kids with disabilities or sensory issues.
9) We prepared our extended family to have on hand the snacks and treats that our kids enjoyed the most (cheez-its, chocolate chip cookies, chicken nuggets, and tater tots) at home. We traveled with snacks we knew our kids would eat on the flights.
10) I packed bath stuff and pillowcases from home for them so their environment would still smell the same even though we were in a different location. This was helpful for supporting my son’s emotional regulation on our trip.
11) While dropping off our bags at check-in, we requested wheelchairs for our kids so they wouldn’t have to walk the distance from security to the gate. This saved us so much time!
12) We traveled with empty water bottles, made it through security, and then filled our bottles at the water fountain near our gate. This saved us money that would have been spent on expensive bottled water.
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