3 Tips from Someone With Experience

How to Plan your Flight With a Child with Autism

Flying is often an overwhelming process for most parents, let alone when travelling with an autistic child. There are so many triggers at the airport and during the flying process, the likes of bright lights, loud announcements, crowded places, security checkpoints etc. These are things that can easily escalate a situation to a full-blown anxiety attack for an autistic child. Luckily, there are simple measures you can take before, during and after the flight to help make the process less stressful to you and your child with autism. Here are a few basic tips put together for you to get you started into preparing for and travelling with a child with autism. The following are some of the measures most parents have had a huge success with when it comes to flying with children with autism. Here are more or less effective strategies you can implement to get you started in the process.

For starters, you might want to choose the shortest flight that you can get for your specific route. Even better is if you found a short route that has no stopovers along the way with connecting flights et al. You see, the longer the flight is the many stop overs it may have and this never augurs pretty well with autistic kids who are naturally very impatient. Note that takeoff and landing are the two worst experiences you can have as a person with autism and this is what you get to avoid when you minimize on long flights. See, the turbulence that comes with landing and takeoff can trigger a very bad anxiety attack on a child with autism. While there is nothing really you can do about this downside of flying, you bet you will have a wonderful time when you avoid a repetition in a single journey.

You might also want to help your kid with autism prepare for the flight ahead both physically and psychologically. This way, you will be helping them control their anxiety e.g. by helping pack their own backpack. Ensure they pack calming objects which they can have on their carryon bag, carry some earplugs or noise cancelling headphones, and don’t forget to include chewing gum on the package. Using chewing gum has worked for many in the past when looking to ease pain in the ears as the altitudes start to change. Still on point, it is important that you pack enough non-technology items with you for the journey. There will be a point during the flight when all technology will need to be shut down so its good to have the child mentally prepared for the shut-down. Of course, this is best achieved through non-technology items that your autistic child has associated with emotional stability and calming effects in the past. Last but not least, ensure you are constantly giving out positive words of affirmation to your autistic child all the time.