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Some days I feel like I have it all together, then we go to an airport. LOL
Print the TSA Disability Notification Card – I actually saved it as a PDF and typed Autism Spectrum Disorder in the white area, printed it in color, and used laminating pages to ensure its longevity in my wallet.
Get TSA Pre-Check or Global entry. Not having to navigate Hunter’s shoes is worth it alone.
Remember to get a State ID for our children who are no longer children. When Hunter turned 17-years old I got him a NYS Non-Driver’s Card (google your state) and started the guardianship process.
A free, lifetime pass – available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States that have been medically determined to have a permanent disability (does not have to be a 100% disability) – that provides admittance to more than 2,000 recreation sites managed by six Federal agencies.
Click on the picture and follow the steps! Took some effort with getting a doctor to fill out, but so so so worth it!
Now, just don’t forget it bring it with you if you are flying for a road trip!!!!
Hunter doesn’t enjoy experiencing things as they come. It’s not an aversion to surprises; rather, they just don’t resonate with him, and he doesn’t get excited by what we’re experiencing. The better prepared he is, the more he appreciates the activities! I get maps of where we’re going, we read books about the area, and lots of YouTube.
I also really really like to search Amazon for activity books themed for where we are traveling. For example, type in San Francisco and keywords like “activity book,” “workbook,” “word search,” and “kids” and a bunch of books will pop up. Once you find one item, you can always scroll down to find similar products.
They make child harnesses for airplanes which we used the first time Hunter went to Disney. I never needed after that, but I was happy to have it at the time. They make a ton of them, so just search Amazon or better yet, ask a friend if you can borrow theirs!
Any time Hunter gets caught in a loop, I will break it by writing down the appropriate response and have him read it aloud, so I am not verbally reinforcing. I love index cards for this so he is focused on it differently than normal paper. If it is something that he is doing daily, I will laminate the index card so I can whip it out and it won’t get destroyed. Example- Hunter had been fixated on earning his phone for five minutes at school, so I sent it a laminated card that said,
I will earn my phone after ____ period.
His shadow can rewrite the correct period every day but doesn’t have to rewrite the whole phrase every day.
The first time we went to Disney, Hunter pin traded to help with speech and social interactions. We wrote a script on an ipod (it wasn’t that long ago) and the cast members could not have been happier to make this happen!
Put an extra outfit in a 2.5 gallon sized Ziploc/Hefty bag, especially for the littles…just in case. And don’t just throw an extra outfit in your bag… use the Ziploc so you have somewhere to store the offended outfit.
For road trips, I buy a hard plastic shower caddy for Hunter’s activities and snacks for the day. Every morning on Route 66, I added his activities for the day in the large compartment, and extra water in one of the smaller sections, and the other small part got his snacks for the day. He knew when the snacks were gone, he was done eating snacks. I have one in my car at home too!!!
Some Car Activities for Hunter
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