Holiday help with DS having GDD, non-verbal and autism

[bohomoon]

I would appreciate some advice, we have a holiday planned in August. DH has finally made the payment. Our youngest DS who is 7 has GDD, autism (un-diagnosed waiting for bloody CAHMS, but agreed with by the school) and is non-verbal. He hates queuing and because he is non-verbal we don't always know what he wants. Its generally frustrating for us all. But we have three older children my eldest would have completed her A'Levels and we haven't been on a holiday abroad because of our 7 year old. We have not been issued with a disability badge despite receiving a disability allowance. Can anyone please advise on how to make this whole situation easier. I am dreading it. We are going to Turkey btw, so not a long flight. I was thinking to get a T-shirt saying 'I am Autistic please be kind,' for example. Thank you

Speak to the airport and airline. Think about what would help e.g. fast track security, boarding first/last, disembarking first/last etc.

Some airports have a quiet or sensory room, and some have photos or videos you can use for familiarisation beforehand.

Have you applied for a blue badge? You can apply even if you don’t get HRM, it’s just HRM means you automatically qualify.

LargeLegoHaul thanks so much, yes will now start the process (lengthy) to obtain the Blue Badge, as well as contact the airport.
What do you mean by HRM (human resources management?)

HRM is high rate mobility of disability living allowance, which automatically entitles you to a blue badge without going through further assessment.

Not flown yet first holiday in aug!! Think you can get priority boarding at most airports. What about a lanyard rather than t shirt? We plan to take lots of pics of airport process and Holliday to prepare our ds.

Most big airports you can prebook assistance- for example ushering you past queues. Our DS was fine with queuing so we didn’t use this but other passengers saw his sunflower lanyard and were constantly offering to usher us to the front. It was genuinely heartwarming although we didn’t need it at that point in time.

We also used the sensory room pre boarding the plane, DC was exempt from mask wearing requirements and we boarded first, had food for him brought first.
We don’t have a blue badge, we took the latest paediatrician report in case it was queried but everyone was very kind and helpful.

Dear all just wanted to say the holiday went well. We told Turkish airlines about our DS and they said he would high priority. As we were checking in, DH was told to ask for the sunflower lanyard and thankfully we skipped a few queues.
We went via Gatwick and returned via Heathrow, I think the latter was better in service tbh and will fly from LHR in future.
But thanks for your replies @autienotnaughty hope yours was okay too!

@bohomoon it went really well. We were Ryanair going and easyJet back. On the way there we were given the lanyards and skipped the queues. On the way back we were taxied on a golf trolley from airport entrance literally to the plane. We didn't have to lift a finger! Really good ds actually enjoyed. Holiday went well too.