Travelling with ASD & Non-verbal but ACTIVE child

[Davros]

Dear All, wondered if any of you have tips on travelling with above child! Have got letter from GP to say "X has autism and is non-verbal blah blah...". Can get it translated easily too. Flight will be only 2 hours and we have called the airline and airport to advise that we want Fast Track or any other assistance. Thinking of asking to sit at back of plane so, if any problems, everyone isn't looking at us OR front so any noise will be less disruptive to other passengers. Have thought of trying to explain what will be happening as well as possible but not easy to describe something in PECs etc that my son has never experienced. Thanks in advance for any advice.

how old is said child,would they sit and listen to music or a story tape on a personal stereo.i took my ds who is 7 and autistic though he has communication and a bit of concentration level,he loved having the earphones for the plane film screen though he didnt listen to much of the film he enjoyed plugging them into the various seats and listening breifly to the film at all our seats.

Do you live near enough to the airport to do a trip there to look at the planes and "talk" to your DS about the trip? Can you play plane trips at home (set up lines of chairs to sit on and go through the sort of things that will happen). How is he on car journeys?

He's very good in the car. I don't think he'd allow headphones near him but I might try practising that with him as it would be excellent if it worked. He's very active and physically capable (can open, take apart or climb on anything, amazing co-ordination etc). I'm more worried about the airport time and the overall journey rather than the plane specifically although a little about that too. I rather think it'll be fine, just that we'll have to deal with an unfamiliar and busy place rather than it being an airport/plane specifically......

I would call ahead and check with the airlines about fasttracking - explaining how beneficial it is to THEM..... we were fast tracked through first class check in - we did not request it but had arrived early to Heathrow ( thanks to no traffic hold ups) They saw the buggy and the loaded trolley and motioned for us to go to the first class check in and away we went - the line for cattle class was very long....

I would keep contacting the airline reminding them of the situation and asking for a seat allocation - again explaining your situation. I know some airlines you can prebook your sit online?!?! might that not be a possibility??

We were assured of a sky cot for dd (in January) when travelling to Australia (in April) but I just kept calling every week for about the last four weeks to check that it was confirmed and stated that I did not want to get to the airport and not have a cot due to dd's health etc.....

Which airport are you going to, Davros? Gatwick has lots of shops restaurants & an arcade to keep children amused - if it looks like a shoppping centre, might it seem less strange? You can also go and watch planes taking off if that would keep your DS entertained and keep his mind off the fact that it's busy and strange. The smaller airports may be less busy and overwhelming and the one on the Isle of Man had a small childs play area with lego and a bridge to clomp across (but also a number of other children which may be overwhelming for you DS).

You're right - it probably will be absolutely fine. Even when flying with my non-autistic DSs I panic about how they'll behave, how I'll stop them running riot, how I'll keep them quiet... generally speaking it's been worry about nothing.

brave woman davros! There was a discussion about this on aut-uk recently which I paid a bit of attention to as we're always being asked to fly to N Ireland (never been brave enough though). A lot of the tips were more relevant to AS though.

If I was in your shoes- and our boys sound very similar in many ways- I would make sure the staff understand that you have to get on at the absolute last minute. I have a feeling that ds1 would sit for a short period of time but would then want to explore so it would become much harder to keep him still (so the shorter the time period then the more likely we would be to be in the air). "Forcing" him to sit still for take off would cause a massive meltdown. My son wouldn't tolerate headphones either. The only thing that would keep him still would be food, so I guess I would be armed with raisins, chocolate buttons, crisps and cakes- the healthy options. I don't think that in a totally new environment it would be remotely possible to distract him with toys, so I probably wouldn't bother taking any and would just take the food instead

Would your son be distracted by the TV? Maybe make sure you have a seat where you can see the tv screen (if there is one on your flight). I think I would go for the back as well- and a window. The only problem we would have with the back is that he could get rather over-interested in the toilet. (or terrified of it- can you hear them flush through the door?)

Let us know how you get on and any tips. We've managed to put off the flight to N Ireland (go on a massibe trip by ferry) but I'm sure we'll have to do it someday.

Good luck!

Davros - if you;re worried about airport time ask if there is a quiet room or something you can use- you never know. Maybe they'll be a business class lounge or something not being used at the time (ok unlikely but worth a try)