RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

Post Reply New Topic

Thanks for the welcome, HisMom. Consider I came up initially with a diagnosis of HFA and mild autism, and despite we began immediately to get trained and to have him trained his autism revealed to be deeper than expected.
The clinician who tested him at the end of March is considered one of the best in the country was quite surprised of the results of the tests, since he apparently masks very well an autism which is not 'light'.
However, she was also very encouraging, and told us she has seen he has a capacity of 'choice' that is rare for kids like him.

Claudia... I know her personally (we live in the same town, and met a couple of times with our kids).
It's mainly because of her if I ended up here, but she is now quite busy with job and joining a parents' association where she is really pulling good things off. I'll drop her a line and tell her to pass by, if you wish

I dropped her a line, HisMom, we'll see

This thread seems to have died down lately?

How are parents traveling with their kids?

Its certainly been a while.

Traveling? My son loves driving in the car, but he's never been anywhere by plane since he was a toddler. The thought of it..him being cooped up for a period of time and unable to get off..airport procedures, waiting, queues, it all fills me with dread.

He's been on the interisland boat journey of several hours and that was fine but you can get up and walk around and explore and buy French fries and other delectables, so no problem.

We haven't attempted any big trips with our son. A year or so ago I wouldn't even consider getting on a plane with my son, he's come a long way though so it's not as terrifying a thought now.

Just a few tips. My daughter had issues with different aspects of the plane trip. We had to work through each one with her.

Taxis/buses/trains - still haven't solved this one. Short term solution is to use our own vehicle and rent a car overseas.

Queues - this can be a serious issue for autistic kids in customs. When we arrived in LAX airport (LA international) back in 2009 we were delayed in the customs queue for 3 hours. Any child having a meltdown will draw attention from security. I heard recently that a autistic boy was prevented from flying by security staff in a US airport. We provided small toys/i-pad games to keep her entertained. We were amazed at the time she was able to stand for three hours (there were no seats provided for us)

Metal detector/screening - be prepared for a strip search. In the US the lady was amazed that I never went through one before (perhaps my swarthy appearance?) but she put my daughter through a search. After some concern by my wife and I that my daughter may react - they scaled it down to a pat down. Have not had this problem in Australia (yet).

Take off/landing - my daughter has sensitive ears and changes in cabin pressure hurt her ears. This was initially a problem. Our solution was smelling eucalyptus oil and sweets which helped ease the pain.

Plane food - yuck! I pack a lunch/dinner for my daughter before the flight. The disadvantage is it takes up carry on space. Also Australian customs invariably detect fruit residue in our bags from sniffer dogs.

We recently went on a road trip that was "only" supposed to be 10 hours long. Got caught in evening traffic and spent 3 hours crawling through a highway that should have "only" taken about 30 minutes to pass. Net travel time was 15 hours. The drive back was about 12 hours long.

Suffice it to say that we won't be doing this again in a hurry.

We haven't visited the old country in over 4 years. It involves multiple flights and roughly a 27 hour travel time overall. I can't fathom him for that long in such a small space, and then waiting for hours through customs.

He can handle a couple of hours in the car, but anything longer and it's hellish.

Well, my personality seems to have undergone quite the change in the last month or so.

I still worry about my son but not so intensely and not so overwhelmingly. It appears that I am finally at that place where I can accept his autism and delays as "it is what it is". I still work with him and teach him every day but the panic and the depression is starting to fade, and I no longer bawl when I see other little kids running around, chatting. maybe my emotions are spent - and that is a good thing. I've been dealing with an emotionally difficult situation these past several weeks (unrelated to autism) so the whole "at peace with autism" is good for me... and even better news for my poor son !

Good thing World Cup is starting next week. Should keep me entertained and occupied for the next few weeks ! Are you going to watch the finals live, CyberDad ? It's in Melbourne, isn't it ? Bet you're hoping for a Baggy Greens vs Proteas final, yeah ?