There is nothing that compares to the overwhelming feeling that comes when you fly with an autistic kid. Airlines and airports are filled with all sorts of triggers, you know the loud announcements, bright lights, security checkpoints, crowded places to mention but a few. Of course, these are some of the typical triggers of anxiety attacks on people with autism. The good news is that flying doesn’t have to be an overwhelming and emotionally stressful process if you take the right measures. 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.
To get you started, how about you ensure the flight is as short as possible? 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. See, going for a non-stop flight means you are avoiding the worst part of flying: takeoff and landing. You can bet the turbulence in these two instances make the worst of panic attacks especially to an autistic child. No doubt you may not have much control over the turbulence, but then cutting down on multiple stop overs can save the day.
The second important part when planning to fly with an autistic child is to help them prepare. Through this, you can play an important role in anxiety control through several measures such as helping the kid pack their 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. We all know how effective chewing gum is when looking to ease ear pain as the altitudes start to change. Still on point, it is important that you pack enough non-technology items with you for the journey. If you have flown before you know there will reach a point during the flight when the attendants will call for the shutdown of all technology stuff so its important that both you and your kid with autism are fully prepared. And how best to do this than with their favorite non-technology item that they have associated with happy emotional feelings in the past? No matter how turbulent the flight will get, probably the best feeling in the world is to give positive words of affirmation constantly both before, during, and after the flight.
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