Aspergers Child suggestions?

[Born4Travel]

I will be traveling with aspy 7 year old. How well do the kids centers handle these types of cases? Anybody have real life experience?

 

Thanks:D

[NTmom]

Not very well, from our experience. My son would spend up to an hour in there but that was it. I had to give him a piece of paper to keep in his pocket that said "I am ready to go now, please call my parents." He would hand it to a counselor when he was ready. All the activities are very social and require lots of follow along type participation and would just not keep my child's attention. He would mostly wander aimlessly or sit and play jewels on the computer. The computers are kiddie computers and he was annoyed by that. Games required using keyboard keys to navigate rather than a mouse. Kinda tough. The counselors were all very nice but they had NO special training or really any knowledge about how to interact with ASD kids who have limited conversational skills. This was on the DREAM.

 

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[boulders]

I have a nephew with Asperger's. I would rate DCL as the worst choice of cruise lines for a child with Asperger's. As the pp mentioned, the kids clubs are very social. They are also very unstructured compared to other cruise lines. They are very busy, with lots of kids and noisy. (And we went in the off season) The counsellors were also very hands off compared to other cruise lines we've been on.

 

I would recommend Princess for an aspy 7 year old. Less noise, very structured (but also flexible to the child's needs). The counsellors were the best trained and experienced.

[BlancaNoir]

Have to agree that the kids clubs experience is very hard for an aspie. For our 10 year old aspie/HFA we have had to re-work expectations. We don't expect him to spend much time, if any, in the kids club. Once we make that mental adjustment things go much much better! There's a lot to do on a cruise ship! And, he is very happy to sit next to us with a book or iPad. He prefers that to the kids club. For our next cruise (disnet fantasy) much of our planning was how we could all have a great vacation, even if he doesn't go to the kids club. A balcony is important because it allows him and us to enjoy the ocean without the crowds or sensory overload. We chose concierge, even though it is crazy expensive, because of our son. They have iPads and nintendo rentals for free, and a library of board games. Also snacks and a happy hour. So even if we spend half the day in our cabin we can have a good time all together, and then brave the waterslides, activities, restaurants etc with our batteries fully charged.

[Marie51]

I don't know about Disney but we took a Royal Caribbean cruise in April with my autistic 5 yr old granddaughter. They were wonderful with her at the kids club. Also she was allowed to stay in her cabin for the muster drill with my daughter-in-law. For a special needs child I recommend RC.

[Born4Travel]

Thanks for the input. :)

[moki'smommy]

I will be traveling with aspy 7 year old. How well do the kids centers handle these types of cases? Anybody have real life experience?

 

Thanks:D

 

DCL makes it clear that they are unable to provide one on one supervision of any child for any reason. Unfortunately, due to an episode involving inappropriate "adult" behavior, adult aides are no longer permitted in the programming areas except during "open house" hours.

 

That said, what it amounts to is that the child can opt to participate in one of the group activities (typically 3-4 of these occur simultaneously targeted to different ages) or they may engage in "free play in any of the available areas. If the child is unable to select an activity for him/herself, he or she may well end up roaming the space. There will be little CM interaction beyond inviting the child to join the group or suggesting one of the solo activities available.