Vacationing with children with autism can be a challenge, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
For a child with autism who insists on consistency, a new hotel room, new rental car, new food and new sights is anything but relaxing. These changes in routine often trigger very challenging behaviors in children with autism.
We have six tips to help your child maintain appropriate behavior during new and changing activities of a vacation:
1) Make a visual schedule of the day’s activities to prepare your child for what to expect.
2) Bring a comfort item (stuffed animal) and/or highly preferred item such as an iPad. On the visual scheduled made in #1, write that at the end of the day, or after each activity if necessary, the child will earn access to the preferred item.
3) Bring his communication device. If your child uses any augmentative communication device, such as a PECS book or electronic device, bring that along wherever you go so your child can still have a voice and communicate his wants and needs.
4) Try to minimize change when possible and gradually introduce change when necessary. If your child likes 
to only eat chicken nuggets, try to find a restaurant that has chicken nuggets – the “different” part will be that they are from a different restaurant and he is eating them on a different plate, but they are still chicken nuggets.
5) Bring soothing activities to regulate your child if he becomes overstimulated. Ideas include a weighted blanket, brush, wrist weights, etc.
6) For a higher functioning child, write a social story with the activities that will occur, the behaviors that other people will do, the behaviors that your child is expected to do, how you will feel when your child does those behaviors, and what he will earn for doing those behaviors. Laminate this book and read it prior to each activity.
By visually preparing your child and visually showing him the expected behaviors and what he will earn for those behaviors during the change, your family can enjoy your vacation a bit more and use this natural environment learning opportunity as a teachable and memorable experience.