Episode 44: Traveling When Kids are Inflexible, Anxious or Neuro-Diverse with Dawn Barclay

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, DJ speaks with travel expert, Dawn Barclay about traveling with children who are anxious, inflexible or neuro-diverse. She shares strategies to prepare your child before traveling and tips to try and avoid the chaos. Listen in as Dawn shares advice from her Summer 2022 book release about how to find autism friendly venues and ways to create familiarity and similarity when you and your child are in a strange new place.Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. Starting as an agent with her parents’ firms, Barclay Travel Ltd and Barclay International Group Short-Term Apartment Rentals, she then branched out into travel trade reporting with senior or contributing editor positions at Travel Agent Magazine, Travel Life,Travel Market Report, and most recently, Insider Travel Report. She is a mother of two and resides in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. She also writes fiction as D.M. Barr and holds leadership roles in several writer organizations.TIMESTAMPS• [4:24] “Imagine being a young child going to the airport for the first time and having to wait in a long line for security, seeing adults around you acting oddly, people and packing their bags and removing articles of clothing before they end their belongings go through strange looking machines. All that combined with terrible lighting, lots of people and noise would create anxiety and a potential for meltdown in any child.”• [5:35] Dawn speaks about neurodiverse children being sensitive to different input while traveling, like fluorescent lights, noise and more.• [11:11] Dawn shares some advice about things you can plan for ahead of time to create a sense of familiarity to try and comfort your child when in a strange new place.• [15:23] “Bring noise canceling headphones, so that the child can just eliminate a lot of that exterior sound that might be upsetting to them.”Do you have tips to share for traveling with an inflexible, anxious or neuro-diverse child?  Tell us about it and tag us on Facebook or Instagram @littleheartsacademy!For more information on the Imperfect Heroes podcast, visit: https://www.imperfectheroespodcast.com/Connect with Us!DJ Stutz DJ Stutz: https://www.littleheartsacademyusa.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littleheartsacademy/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littleheartsacademy/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOpphCRklDJiFXdS76U0LSQGuest InformationDawn BarclayWebsite: http://www.travelingdifferent.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TravelingDiffFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TravelingDifferent/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnbarclay Support the showSupport the show.If you like what you hear, we would appreciate your support.  Every little bit helps.https://www.buzzsprout.com/1779847/support