Vanessa's Blog - June: Summer Holiday tips

1. Be prepared for the unexpected! Traffic jams and delayed flights can be very challenging times. It may be helpful to create an ‘emergency bag’ containing toys or books to pass the time and perhaps something that really motivates your young person like sweets. A good inclusion would be social stories to explain what will happen.                     Click here for an example story about delayed flights.
2. Don’t take it personally if the ‘fun stuff’ doesn’t turn out that way! Whereas some children thrive with excitement and variety, many autistic people prefer boring predictability. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan days out and interesting things to do, but be prepared for potential anxiety and plan in ways to give your child some support.
3. Visuals are the best way to prepare for days out, holidays or trips to see family. It’s great if you can prepare these in advance, but if not, try using your mobile device or table to search for images, look at websites, or check out the area with Google Maps street view.
4. Use calendars, timelines or count-downs to keep track of when special days or trips will happen. Some of our young children, might prefer to tick of pictures of beds to count ‘sleeps’ whereas the older ones might prefer a digital calendar on their electronic tablet. Use an ‘oops’ on the calendar to let them know when there is a change of plan.
5. Some young people with autism struggle to decide what to do if they have a lot of free choice and can end up repeatedly choosing the same thing, choosing something inappropriate, or saying that they have nothing to do. Create lists, or visual choice boards of their options for playing in doors, playing outdoors and maybe even specific lists of messy/clean or noisy/quiet play options.
6. Try to stick to daily routines, like bedtime. When it is light outside, some young people can be confused about going to bed, assuming that bed is when it is dark. They may need an explanation that bedtime is a time!
7. Children with sensory differences do not always realise when they are getting too hot. Some will want to keep jumpers or coats on, as that is part of their routine. Remind them to wear appropriate clothing and stay cool in the summer heat, perhaps through creating a 'rule' round checking the weather before getting dressed and using the temperature as a guide for what to wear.                                                                                                                                                                      Click here for an example Social Story around clothes and weather.                                        Click here for a version for able readers.