Making a Special Guidebook for my ADHD & ASD son NEW 4/15/11 Post#91

[mousescrapper]

Julie,

Thanks so much for sharing your book photos and social stories! I made a book with pecs for our trip last year. We are considering another trip this fall and I will need to add a few things. I definitely agree with you about the wind down time. DS needed time to chill out with his spinner toy or Video Now Jr. We also took a break midday at first aid so he could lie down out of his wheelchair and watch his video now.

Last trip we had two meltdowns due to crowds and noise. This time I want to be better prepared. You've given me some great ideas!

Thanks I am truly touched and humbled by so many wonderful comments. It is joy to be supported by so many and be helpful in return!

Julie, we also live in the Chicago burbs and have found your suggestions so helpful. I am not creative but being able to see how you organized the books for your son is a huge help. We leave next Saturday and I'm excited to have an idea of how to organize our PECS and schedules into a more meaningful arrangement.

I have to tell you, I have searched high and low for good PECS pictures for the different parts of the park and they have been hard to find. If you were to organize your pictures and stories by park or area of Disneyworld and then offer them for a fee I know there are people who would gladly pay.

Thanks for sharing what you did!


Christy

Well thanks and just now you don't have to be "creative" to make some wonderful and loving to help your child....

Finding all the pic's and putting all the details together was long I admit but worth it. I am happy to share.

 

[mousescrapper]

I just had to post a link to my dear Dis friend's new thread here on the disABILITIES forums.

She made w/ the Boardmaker these AWESOME help cards for her son on the autism spectrum.

Unlike my son who can read very easily and reading is a strength and comfort, her son needed something a bit more geared toward his personal needs.

These cards are great help fo kids who have a lack of verbal skills or communication issues IMHO.

It is worth checking out:

DisMomAmy's picture help cards for touring WDW

 

[SueM in MN]

I just had to post a link to my dear Dis friend's new thread here on the disABILITIES forums.

She made w/ the Boardmaker these AWESOME help cards for her son on the autism spectrum.

Unlike my son who can read very easily and reading is a strength and comfort, her son needed something a bit more geared toward his personal needs.

These cards are great help fo kids who have a lack of verbal skills or communication issues IMHO.

It is worth checking out:

DisMomAmy's picture help cards for touring WDW

I agree.
And I thought it was so great that a link to her thread has joined the link to this thread in the disABILITIES FAQs thread (post #3 under Communication).

 

[buffettgirl]

I love your book! Absolutely love it. Just reading your text in your stories made me feel all nice and calm. I think I need to make a book for myself. No, I am not kidding. (maybe just little cheat sheets) because I tend to melt down a bit (ok a lot) in Disney. I have been looking for ideas for my equally melty 8 year old and came across this and so I think we're both going to get some sort of mini version of this. Love it!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Thanks Jules!!

 

[SueM in MN]

This trip the food menus and choices made him frustrated and confused, it took him several days to get back in this groove.

That reminded me of one thing.
We noticed that most of the counter service restaurants have pictures of the things on their menu. The pictures may or may not look like what you actually get. When we ate at The Land food court one evening, several people in our party got the kid's sweet and sour chicken. A few evenings later, we ordered the same thing and got something totally different. It still was called sweet and sour chicken, but in place of the peppers, carrots and onions that were in the picture and were in what we had before, we got broccoli.

What it made me think of was when my nephew who has Asperger's syndrome had visited us and we went out to a Mexican food restaurant. There were pictures of all the menu offerings and he chose one he thought he would like. When it came, it didn't look much like the picture. in order to get around that fact andd eat it, he ended up spending a lot of time cutting it up into tiny pieces so it didn't look anything like the picture. Then he was able to eat and said it was tasty.

 

[mousescrapper]

I love your book! Absolutely love it. Just reading your text in your stories made me feel all nice and calm. I think I need to make a book for myself. No, I am not kidding. (maybe just little cheat sheets) because I tend to melt down a bit (ok a lot) in Disney. I have been looking for ideas for my equally melty 8 year old and came across this and so I think we're both going to get some sort of mini version of this. Love it!

Your welcome....I get that way a little too....with spending months planning you just hope the outcome is what you desire and for everyone you are traveling w/ for some reason this trip I was a bit more relaxed maybe cause I only knew, booked and planned just 60 days out but I think it helped when Michael was having trouble....

Thanks Jules!!

and I love the nickname Jules!!!!

That reminded me of one thing.
We noticed that most of the counter service restaurants have pictures of the things on their menu. The pictures may or may not look like what you actually get. When we ate at The Land food court one evening, several people in our party got the kid's sweet and sour chicken. A few evenings later, we ordered the same thing and got something totally different. It still was called sweet and sour chicken, but in place of the peppers, carrots and onions that were in the picture and were in what we had before, we got broccoli.

What it made me think of was when my nephew who has Asperger's syndrome had visited us and we went out to a Mexican food restaurant. There were pictures of all the menu offerings and he chose one he thought he would like. When it came, it didn't look much like the picture. in order to get around that fact andd eat it, he ended up spending a lot of time cutting it up into tiny pieces so it didn't look anything like the picture. Then he was able to eat and said it was tasty.

I agree.....I know the pictures at ABC Comm don't quite match up either. It's definitely a good heads up for parents ordering for their kids based just on a picture or menu description. The places where you can see the food in advance like Tangerine Cafe is really nice!

 

[SueM in MN]

I have to tell you, I have searched high and low for good PECS pictures for the different parts of the park and they have been hard to find.

Christy

I have some part pictures that were gathered by a poster named Forevryoung.
Also, if you would like any of the pictures I used to make the Communication Boards found on this thread starting on post #15, I can put them into a Word document and email it to you.
You should be able to copy the pictures off the document and use them.

 

[TwasBrilling]

I have some part pictures that were gathered by a poster named Forevryoung.
Also, if you would like any of the pictures I used to make the Communication Boards found on this thread starting on post #15, I can put them into a Word document and email it to you.
You should be able to copy the pictures off the document and use them.

Is it possible to make a place/thread on the DIS that we can add/send pictures, PECS, etc, for people to use. There seems to be a big demand for them and it would save alot of email requests.

To OP, your work is just amazing. I plan on combining what you did and what DISMOMAMY did for my daughter. She seems to fit in between, so a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Gosh, I just love this Board

 

[newtowdw1]

You have done a wonderful thing.

I hope I don't step on anyone's toes, but would you be willing to post your idea on the family board too? Or link them over to this idea?

As a teacher, I know that kids, all kids, thrive under predictable circumstances. I create books similar (but not so wonderfully detailed) to yours for my two. Simply seeing a preliminary plan helps. Having a book of his/her OWN to pull out and study helps kids. Disney is overwhelming for everyone.

I could really get on a soap box about parents not communicating with their children, then wondering about the melt-downs. Or changing the rules midstream, and wondering about the meltdowns.

After taking savvy high school seniors to WDW, and observing their anxiety in new situations, and repeating how our days would go over and over and over again, I will never again feel that people of all ages do not need a visual aid to help them cope.

Bravo! Sorry to ramble.

 

[mousescrapper]

I have some part pictures that were gathered by a poster named Forevryoung.
Also, if you would like any of the pictures I used to make the Communication Boards found on this thread starting on post #15, I can put them into a Word document and email it to you.
You should be able to copy the pictures off the document and use them.

I'd be happy to share the picture files I gathered too. Right now they are in My Pictures folder in my computer...but I could create an online Photobucket album probably for people to acess? JAT

Is it possible to make a place/thread on the DIS that we can add/send pictures, PECS, etc, for people to use. There seems to be a big demand for them and it would save alot of email requests.

To OP, your work is just amazing. I plan on combining what you did and what DISMOMAMY did for my daughter. She seems to fit in between, so a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Gosh, I just love this Board

Happy to help! Hope she and you ahve a magical trip!

You have done a wonderful thing.

I hope I don't step on anyone's toes, but would you be willing to post your idea on the family board too? Or link them over to this idea?

I'd be glad too and don't be shy to remind posters of the Sticky FAQ thread here that SueM has put up including my thread and many others.

 

[PotteryGal]

It's been forever since I actually posted on the Dis, but this thread has brought me back. This is EXACTLY what I want to do for my son when we return to WDW this Thanksgiving. Your ideas are amazing and I am excited to create my own social story book.
My son is on the autistic spectrum but is higher functioning with continually increasing vocabulary and good eye contact. However, I feel that he will get even more out of our next trip if he has more of a hand in what he wants to do, than just following along. Thank you so much for lighting the way for the rest of us!

 

[christymarie]

I have some part pictures that were gathered by a poster named Forevryoung.
Also, if you would like any of the pictures I used to make the Communication Boards found on this thread starting on post #15, I can put them into a Word document and email it to you.
You should be able to copy the pictures off the document and use them.

I would have but I already found some different pictures and have sent them to DS school. They are great about making us PECS pictures, laminating them, and then putting velcro on them. I may take you up on it next time since yours look much better than mine, lol.

Thanks everyone, for sharing these ideas!

Christy

 

[mousescrapper]

It's been forever since I actually posted on the Dis, but this thread has brought me back. This is EXACTLY what I want to do for my son when we return to WDW this Thanksgiving. Your ideas are amazing and I am excited to create my own social story book.
My son is on the autistic spectrum but is higher functioning with continually increasing vocabulary and good eye contact. However, I feel that he will get even more out of our next trip if he has more of a hand in what he wants to do, than just following along. Thank you so much for lighting the way for the rest of us!

welcome back...glad to help and inspire some helpful ideas for you and your son!

 

[nevadadis]

I want to say thanks so much for your ideas! My son is nine and has epilepsy, sensory issues, cognitive delay, and a primary immune deficiency (CVID). Since I read your post I have been working on a book for him. I love your ideas! My husband showed me how to use the mailing labels and copy pictures to place on the lables. I will be by myself with my son for 8 days so anything that can help is great. Since my son is just starting to read, any text is not meaningful to him so I paired boardmaker software pictures with the picture on the label. I love your social story ideas as we use these stories too and I am deciding which ones to make. My ideas so far are "What I can do at the parks when my tube feeding is running" He eats but also has tube feedings twice a day. "Things I can do when I meet a character" and one about being on the plane. Thanks again for all your ideas!

 

[mousescrapper]

So once again our family is preparing to leave for Disney in just 2 weeks and I have made another new guidebook to help my son Nathan who is now 11 1/2.

As this will be his 4 trip to the World, he is older, can handle things differently and various areas that he struggles with while living with ADHD and Aspergers...I have created and designed a new book for him that will give him the information and reminders he needs to have a great trip!

This time the format is quite a bit smaller so he can carry it in his own bag. It is more orgnaized by theme vs a page or pocket per day.

It is made from a small tabbed chipboard album and I used Disney journal pages DISigned by Natatlie on the creative boards as my backgrounds.

Once I saved her pages. I added my own text and printed out each page.

There is an attraction GOAL sheet and CS dinning options for each of the 4 parks.

A page describing the BASIC routines for morning, afternoon, and eveinings.

An Itinerary page.

and some special pages that fit this trip and that pertain to the things he likes to do while we are at WDW.

* Pirate League

* KPM at World Showcase

* Pressed Pennies

* Trading Pins

Here are some pictures of the finished project:

As well here are images of many of the pages I used so you can read the text better....(sorry I apparently don't have saved images of the routine page)

The other new thing I created for Nathan this yr is his Autism awarness card/tag to hang on his pin trading lanyard. When going places other than school he wears an Autism awarness lanyard w a small (buisness card size) info card...but at WDW he feels confident and fine that people can "see"

the card is double sided...w/ a picture:

and some social reminders for himeself and helpful ino to other people (plus his pertinent info)


the last thing I am doing for him again this yr is creating some personal maps using the touringplans website template. I include info about the ride that he may need to know and other tidbit informations like Can he find this hidden Mickey or piece of Magic...

I hope this book and lanyard tag can help you and your family on your DWDW adventure

I will report back after our trip to let you know how we made out.

I thought I'd also share a food indentification card I made my youngest DD who is on a GF, Wheat, diary and egg free diet. She is turning 4 and really likes her card. The one side has pictures of foods she can eat offered by the parks (CS) and the back side has the info for me.

thanks for reading and comments, questions always welcomed too.

Mouse Scrapper (Scrappie, Julie)

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for sharing ( again and again). Very creative and looks like they will also be very helpful.

 

[Escape2Disney]

I haven't read all of the suggestions yet, but wanted to let you know how awesome this is! It'll be a great tool that gives him more power over his environment.

I do have two suggestions -

Since kids on the spectrum have such a hard time with the unexpected and you won't know all of the unexpected things that can happen, you may want to add a page for "Challenges I Conquered" or something to that effect. You can have special stickers that he can ask for if he's getting frustrated and is able to maintain. Even better - after putting the frustration sticker in the book, write what made him feel that way.

Also, for the "waiting" stickers, how about bringing a LOT of those. When in line, he could have one sticker to post for every 10 minutes of waiting. That way time brings a reward instead of a frustration.

I don't know if either of those would work for your son. My daughter has PDD and we did quite a bit of these things when she was younger. Books like yours are wonderful because they redirect the attention to something positive and rewarding.

 

[Escape2Disney]

Do you mind if I borrow your idea to make something for my DD? It'll be our first time at DW and that is stressing her quite a bit. She's used to DLR where she knows every nook and cranny.

Again - wonderful tool!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great resources Julie!!!

I especially love the idea of putting Nathan's helpful hints on the back of his lanyard tag! I'm stealing that idea!!