SUMMER HOLIDAYS...

[Shellywelly1973]

Hi,

My ds7 gets summer holidays 13/7. He has ASD & ADHD.

I am concerned how i am going to manage for the 8 weeks. I have 3 dc, dd10, ds7 & ds4.

We are going away for 2 weeks so that will help break it up. I cant find a playscheme place for him. The DCT are being their usual unhelpful selves and still have not made a decision, if he will get restpite this year. He didnt last year.

ExP is unrealible and wouldn't even take a few days off last summer.

I came close to cracking last year, i ended up totally exhausted, mentally it was a massive strain. I really don't want to end up a wreck this year but its so frustrating as i feel like ds is so limited to what he can access. Ie clubs etc.

So how do you all manage the holidays?

Any advice or tips greatly appreciated!!

My lad is up at 5 every day & sleep is an alien concept so although I only have 1, perhaps some of my "coping strategies" will help.

I use the organised Mum wall planner to list the months activities and a large whiteboard for that specific week - so my asd son can see what's going to be happening (meltdown avoidance).

Mon- Fri = 9.30 am swimming lesson every fooking day we aren't camping! It costs but gives me 30 mins to have a cup of coffee and breathe. It's a physical activity so helps wear the wee booger out a bit.

Wed & Sat afternoon = free crafts at the library.

Thursdays - environmental group do outdoorsy activities like den building and

minibeast hunting - so a group activity for him.

Fridays a friend and her son come over to play. IF the weather's nice this will be picnic day. The woodland trust do a series of "nature detectives" worksheets we send the boys round the park with. www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/learning-kids/Pages/children.aspx LOADS of free ideas on this site - do have a look as I think it's terrific.

City farms are good (and free!). Again we take a picnic to keep costs down.

We are going to a couple of charity dog shows (he behaves long enough to show off the dog!).

craftycrocodiles will get a lot of my cash this summer unless the weather improves.

I've signed DS up for a couple of intro riding for the disabled sessions.

When we had an allotment it was a godsend - a little boy can spend HOURS finding and killing snails or digging over a tattie patch I'm lost without it, esp as it helped reduce his general anxiety levels a great deal. The local community herb garden are going to let him go in and be their snail exterminator for a couple of hours a week (prob Monday mornings) as we live in a flat. If you have a garden - help him create his own veggie patch - this years weather will mean you can put him on slug patrol

We'll go on a couple of short camping trips if the weather permits. A hotel would be too stressful.

This year is a hard one for me to plan as the combi of torrential rain + the olympics (making local travel difficult) is placing even more restrictions on what we can do than usual. I've trawled the charity shops without success for new board games.

We'll visit the Norman village in Kent, and spend a week doing norman and viking "things" like recipes as that's the period of history he did at school this year.

No suitable playschemes here either, but I'm long used to that.

Wow bochead, that woodlands trust website is fab. I have hopefully downloaded loads of stuff for Dd3 for when we go away next week.

Thanks for that.

shelley, we also do alot of outdoory stuff, which obviously is tricky with the weather, we have a decent set of waterproofs each and just get stuck in.

I take Dd3 to play areas,dam building, pooh sticks and paddling in streams, pond dipping, bike riding, sculpture trails.

I find if we have a slow morning and go out in the middle part of the day with a picnic for lunch we can have a few hours out of the house and it can seem like we have been out all day. It is cheap and cheerful but we enjoy it.

In the house we do cooking, playdough, tv, dvd's, computer time, colouring, playmobil, board games.

Good luck

I am in the throes of sorting out playschemes. I only found out recently that our LEA has inclusion monies in their "out of school" department for providing extra staff for activites. It seems that if it is council run they will source someone from a specialist agency, but if it is a private scheme they have to apply for funding and then the council refund the cost of the person after they have been employed.
Is there something similar perhaps in your area? You will have to ask. It is not publicised.