Taking a Trip With a Disability - Series

 

July started with a BANG! And with it, 2 trips for Ty and I to experience together...

-The Best Buddies Leadership Conference at the University of Indiana

and

-A visit to my brother and his sweet fam on their picturesque farm in upstate New York

I'll have a post dedicated to each trip in this series, because they are both very unique and different from one another. In the meantime, I thought I'd post about what we do in preparation for ANY trip. These "trips" can range from an unexpected run into the grocery store (hello ABA therapy, IYKYK) to hopping on a plane and visiting a different state. All of these trips take Ty out of his comfort zone and there is much of the same preparation associated with them all.

Most of our prep looks like this...

-In as much advance as possible, I bring up the "trip" itself in conversation with Ty. That could be 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days...as much advanced notice as possible.

-If I'm able to, especially for big trips like the ones I mentioned above, I make digital social stories for Ty that he can access on his phone (I'll get into more depth about this later in the series).

-I continue to repeat the same information over and over again with Ty as often as I can and make sure he acknowledges.

-Ty and I go over any trips using his wall calendar. I mark the big trips on his wall calendar as well as his weekly schedule. He marks off each day when he hops into bed each night, and we talk about what to expect the following day and the remainder of the week.

-At least once a week, I try to throw in an unexpected/unplanned trip to the grocery store, Target, Starbucks, whatever...just to keep him on his toes ;). He can get stuck in a routine which makes him rigid and inflexible if something unexpected does pop up. This enables him to be able to go with the flow a little bit easier. To be clear, the unexpected and unplanned is ALWAYS hard for Ty, but he is to the point where he rarely has a "nuclear meltdown", as I like to call them. He may get upset, grunt and growl at me; he may even try to run away; but I'm usually able to redirect him with hugs and reassurance of our regular schedule/routine.

I'm curious what your prep for a trip looks like...please share in the comments! I'd love to add some new tricks to my arsenal. I hope you join us for this series...more coming soon!