I hope this is the right place for this question!
My 6yo DS is very sensitive and easily overstimulated. He is sensitive to noise and crowds, especially. Now that he is getting older we know a lot of things to do to help him in those situations, he can communicate, and we know what to avoid. For example, I don't take him to birthday parties because I know he doesn't enjoy them. If it is the birthday of a special friend, he will go, but he will go and hang out in a quiet bedroom for part of the time. Certain playdates are too much for him (now that we have 3 kids and some of my friends have 3 kids each, a playdate can easily have 12 children in one house!)
I myself have many of these same sensitivities and so it has been interesting and helpful for both of us to figure out what feels bad and what we can do to feel better. Alot of it so far has been avoiding, figuring out timing for going to public places when they are not crowded, having lots of advance preparation, etc.
We are going to Disney World in April. I am a little concerned because I've read April is a busy month. I know it is going to be overwhelming. At the same time, we're very excited about it. He really wants to go. What kind of things can I start thinking about for preparing him and for helping him when we're there?
For starters, I'm taking along my (childless) sister. He is somewhat comfortable with her but he's never comfortable with anyone outside of me and DH wanting to "be in charge of him" iykwim. So my thought about my sister is to talk to her beforehand about what he does when he is overwhelmed, what kind of behaviors we might expect, and what I want to do about them. And then ask her to stay with the younger two while I help ODS.
He's very slow to warm up with transitions and changes in things like routines, but we do travel several times a year for overnights, and stay in hotels, and he's been generally content as long as he gets his breakfast at his usual time and gets enough sleep and advance warning for what we're going to be doing. So that is all taken care of. We're getting a suite with a breakfast buffet, and we'll have a kitchen to take care of our own snacks. I know you can take snacks into WDW so that will help.
I'm also thinking I'll rent a double stroller, and maybe that will be a place for him to "rest" throughout the day. We plan to visit the park (Magic Kingdom) in the early morning, leave around lunch and rest at the hotel, and return in early evening. We're staying 5 days and only visiting the park 2 days.
What else? What about the actual park? He said he would like to take earplugs. I thought that was a great idea. Are there places to sit and rest when it gets overwhelming?
baby crying, gotta go....
My 6yo DS is very sensitive and easily overstimulated. He is sensitive to noise and crowds, especially. Now that he is getting older we know a lot of things to do to help him in those situations, he can communicate, and we know what to avoid. For example, I don't take him to birthday parties because I know he doesn't enjoy them. If it is the birthday of a special friend, he will go, but he will go and hang out in a quiet bedroom for part of the time. Certain playdates are too much for him (now that we have 3 kids and some of my friends have 3 kids each, a playdate can easily have 12 children in one house!)
I myself have many of these same sensitivities and so it has been interesting and helpful for both of us to figure out what feels bad and what we can do to feel better. Alot of it so far has been avoiding, figuring out timing for going to public places when they are not crowded, having lots of advance preparation, etc.
We are going to Disney World in April. I am a little concerned because I've read April is a busy month. I know it is going to be overwhelming. At the same time, we're very excited about it. He really wants to go. What kind of things can I start thinking about for preparing him and for helping him when we're there?
For starters, I'm taking along my (childless) sister. He is somewhat comfortable with her but he's never comfortable with anyone outside of me and DH wanting to "be in charge of him" iykwim. So my thought about my sister is to talk to her beforehand about what he does when he is overwhelmed, what kind of behaviors we might expect, and what I want to do about them. And then ask her to stay with the younger two while I help ODS.
He's very slow to warm up with transitions and changes in things like routines, but we do travel several times a year for overnights, and stay in hotels, and he's been generally content as long as he gets his breakfast at his usual time and gets enough sleep and advance warning for what we're going to be doing. So that is all taken care of. We're getting a suite with a breakfast buffet, and we'll have a kitchen to take care of our own snacks. I know you can take snacks into WDW so that will help.
I'm also thinking I'll rent a double stroller, and maybe that will be a place for him to "rest" throughout the day. We plan to visit the park (Magic Kingdom) in the early morning, leave around lunch and rest at the hotel, and return in early evening. We're staying 5 days and only visiting the park 2 days.
What else? What about the actual park? He said he would like to take earplugs. I thought that was a great idea. Are there places to sit and rest when it gets overwhelming?
baby crying, gotta go....
