Summer's Pleasures and Special Needs Kids

When you are raising a special needs child, the launch of the summer season can bring a whole new set of challenges as your child goes
from the highly structured routine of the school year and into summer’s more
variable schedule. Although lack of structure is not ideal for most special
needs kids and certainly not for autism spectrum kids, the less pressured
timeframe of the summer break presents wonderful opportunities for your child’s
growth if you approach it wisely. A well balanced approach to the summer
months, combining continuity of certain schedule elements with carefully chosen
travel excursions and new outdoor activities can help make this an enriched
season of new sensations and opportunities for personal and social growth for
your child, regardless of their diagnosis.

TRAVEL/FAMILY VACATIONS: Summer is the season when most families embark on some type of vacation or getaway, and there are plenty of opportunities to expand your
child’s awareness of the beauty of nature, the majesty of the ocean, the pure
excitement of travel, and the stimulation brought on by new scenery and new
activities. It offers the chance to have your child try out different modes of
travel (maybe they have never been on an extended train trip); experience a new
place; or simply engage in a new outdoor activity (boating/fishing/mild hikes)
with less time pressures. However, engaging the special needs child with an
array of new and unfamiliar experiences needs to be undertaken cautiously if
the trip, excursion or new activity is to end up enjoyable for both the child
and the rest of the family. The first thing to keep in mind follows standard
advice for pretty much anything and everything you do with a child or teen with
autism or other special need issues.  Prepare
the child in advance as much as possible about where they are going and
what they can expect to see. Show them a through a brochure or on-line the
beach area or recreational park you will be visiting and talk about what it
will be like and the good aspects of it. If it involves a hotel, show them
images from the hotel’s website in advance. Also, if you have an ASD child who
is very dependent during down time on access to computer games/ videos or will
wish to use an IPAD, be sure you have checked in advance that there is proper
WiFi at the hotel you are using! This may sound unnecessary, but seasonally
operated hotels and motels in coastal or rural areas of New England don’t
always have internet access for guests (personal experience with this!!) and
you would be well advised to clarify that in advance of your trip. ( or look
into the mobile WiFi adapters if you don’t already have one!) 

The second piece of advice for summer travels: Earphones!  Invest in a good set of specially designed,
noise muffling “ear muffs” or headphones, if you don’t already have them. It
vastly improved our family’s ability to attend numerous summer festivals, busy
beach town settings, or just town parades. My preferred set came from a
specialty line designed by occupational therapists for a Massachusetts company.
Found at www.therapro.com, and referred
to as “ear muffs”, they are invaluable for the child with strong noise
sensitivity, and can go a long way toward expanding your child’s ability to
tolerate –and therefore enjoy--- a variety of typical summer events.

A third piece of advice: Don’t be overly ambitious about the plan,
getaway trip, or day excursion. Joanne Quinn, Executive Director of the
Autism Project of RI, says whether it’s laying out the day to day summer
activity schedule for your child, or how to plan for a family vacation, devising
a long list of activities is probably not a smart goal. “More is not necessarily
better,” she cautions. “Organize your day with different activities, but don’t
over book. Also be careful not to book two challenging events back to back.” In
my own experiences, I have approached family summer getaways with what I call the
two-track approach. That simply means if you have more than one child in the
family, and you are undertaking an untested travel excursion or tourist
activity, you have an agreed upon plan of which parent or adult will pair up
with each child so that if the special needs child tires out, has sensory
reactions, or just wants to have quiet time away from the activity at hand, you
can pull them off the activity without disruption to the other child’s
experience.

SUMMER CAMPS and PROGRAMS

Most special needs children and teens are enrolled in some form
of an extended school year (ESY) program during the summer break, but it
usually consumes a limited portion of their day. That’s why the roster of
specialized camps, town recreational programs that offer inclusion
opportunities, and special needs oriented sports leagues should also be on your
radar for your child’s summer activities. They present opportunities for social
skill expansion, increased tolerance for adapting to a new environment and new
set of peers, and a variety of other areas of personal growth. A highly
regarded camp for ASD children and teens, run between late July and early
August by the Autism Project of RI, offers a wonderful chance for kids on the
spectrum to experience an authentic outdoors summer camp in a rural setting.
Run by a seasoned support staff and trained counselors, Camp Wannagoagain (!)
offer a secure and special experience tailored to campers on all ends of the autism spectrum. www.autismprojectri.org

Other day camps and activities for kids with a variety of special needs can be found at the Trudeau Center in Warwick at www.trudeaucenter.org; summer sports teams that are part of the roster of year
round leagues run by award winning coaches and staffs, can be found at  Special Olympics, RI, at www.specialolympicsri.org; and a unique outdoor water/spray park and camp setting, “Trailblazer’s
Camp”, an ESY summer option for children 
with a variety of learning disabilities, can be found in Warwick on the
grounds of the Kent County YMCA, at www.ymcagreaterprovidence.org/kentcounty.Those are just a few of the larger organizations that
offer summer programs that may be a good fit for your child.

CHORES & NEW
RESPONSIBILITIES Summer also presents a chance, with less time pressures, for
trying out new degrees of independence and responsibility. Set up new routines
to increase awareness of responsibility of items in their bedroom, bathroom,
playroom, or play items in the backyard or around the pool and as always, write
out a simple and clear schedule for when this tidying up should occur, where the
items should go and so forth. Joanne Quinn’s advice: “Emptying a dishwasher,
taking out the trash, learning to tie the knot on the trash bag, making our
beds, and putting clothes in the hamper are expectations we put on our typical
kids. Take the summer to teach and visually support the activities for kids
with ASD. It helps to fill their day and eventually they are independent doing
it, and that eventually frees up more of the adults’ time.”

Though many parents continue to juggle job responsibilities
during their child’s more open summer schedule, keep in mind that embarking on
an after work, late day excursion to a nearby harbor or riverfront, taking an
evening walk or just a visit to an ice cream stand, can offer a chance of
summer enjoyment for you and your child.

By adhering to some new strategies and smart planning, you
can ensure your child gets to enjoy plenty of moments of summer’s beauty. After
all, summer’s pleasures are timeless, and they should belong to all children.