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4 Ways of Rethinking Travel for Your Special Needs Family

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rethinking travel in your special needs family
travel for your special needs family

Are you rethinking travel for your special needs family?

Autism and travel can create unexpected challenges. Having a family member with special needs can impact a family’s ability to do nearly everything in day-to-day life – eating, sleeping, and going just about anywhere.

Travel can magnify these challenges.  Whether it is in packing cases of a favorite food item in the car, or pre-arranging strategic airline seats, it can seem like an endless list of tasks.

If you have a family member with autism or other similar challenges, just the thought of a vacation can seem too good to be to true. It can seem like travel, let alone a true vacation, becomes something that other families do, but not yours.

How to maintain travel for your special needs family

Since my son’s diagnosis with autism when he was two, we have constantly felt the need to think outside the box – for his medical team, his education, and his quality of life. Quality of life can seems frivolous, but in the months and years after the diagnosis sets it, you will find that maintaining qualify of life – for your child and for entire family – will become essential. Here are some ways to think outside the box in terms of travel for your special needs family.

Thoughtful family travel

Choose destinations that make sense, travel at times that are less crowded, in weather that is not extreme, and for not too long a time.  Be thoughtful about where you stay and make allowances for everyone’s needs. In other words, take your complexly balanced system that works at home, and take it on the road. As we build the Piece of Mind Retreat, we aim to make this more possible for more families. We want travel for your special needs family to remain a possibility – and even more so, we want you to find a way to truly be on vacation.

Sibling travel

Our family started planning this when B turned 10, and I very much encourage your family to try something similar.  Each summer, my husband and I alternate a week-long trip abroad with our neurotypical son. He gets the advantage of attention and focus (remember – fair is not equal), and we get the advantage of a smaller bill to foot for such experiences.

Couples travel

Self-care for the parents in a special needs family often falls to the bottom of the list – and when it falls off the list entirely, it can eventually create a lot of negative stress.  Finding reliable childcare is often a challenge, one that is magnified by having a special needs child. Use available family members, friends, and/or special needs camps to make these necessary get-aways possible. The time spent together is central to maintaining your marriage, which can feel like it vanishes in a storm of complicated diagnoses and confusing treatment decisions.

Rethinking Travel for Your Special Needs Family

Solo travel

A real rarity in our family, but something that I have come to value.  Recently, I traveled alone to both my Color Street Conference as well as to my college reunion.  Both times, the mundane moments of travel were some of the most enjoyable of the experience. Boarding a plane without wrestling multiple bags of on-board necessities (nor needing assistance from TSA Cares). Watching a WHOLE movie on the plane, uninterrupted. And even graciously being reseated and allowing others ahead of me in line – simply because I know how much we appreciate it when needed.

Has your family traveled post-diagnosis? What does it look like? Please comment below.

Want some tips to plan your next vacation – maybe even to the Piece of Mind Retreat? Click here to download our Ultimate Autism Vacation Planner.

Related Posts:

Special Needs Vacations: 3 Ways to Find Peace of Mind

5 Essential Tips for Airplane Travel

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    « Autism Family: 4 Simple Indoor Sensory Activities
    5 Reasons to Consider Sibling Travel in Your Special Needs Family »

    About

    Our family has been working through the puzzle of autism since 2011. We wanted a place to celebrate our successes, enjoy family time, and create memories. Travel can be challenging, but it is more manageable when you know you have a suitable place to stay when you arrive. For us, the Piece of Mind Retreat will be that place. We hope it will be for you as well. Read More…

    For more Autism Mom resources, visit our other site:

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