Season 2 Episode #37 Dawn Barclay is Helping Neurodiverse Families See the World!

Send us Fan MailSeason 2 Episode #37 Dawn Barclay is coming from New York’s Hudson ValleyYou can find Dawn via her website travelingdifferent.com.About our guest, Dawn is an award winning author who has traveled the world.   Dawn was inspired by her parents who were also travel experts and has since written for various travel magazines.   Dawn is an accomplished author with works in fiction and most recently, her new nonfiction book – Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse. Traveling with children is always challenging, but for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and/or mood and attention and distraction disorders it can be especially intimidating. How should parents of children experiencing meltdowns deal with clueless and judgmental onlookers? What are the best methods to alleviate motion sickness when your child might already be on a cocktail of drugs? Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse answers these and many other questions parents may have when traveling with their children. Dawn, thanks for sharing your gift of hope and love of travel with families and children; thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients… Welcome to the Show! TOTD –  “The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.” Agnes Repplier In this episode:What was life like growing up?Benefits of TravelDefinition of CultureSteps toward get ready for the airport, plane, hotel…Little by little… getting ready to take a bigger step… WANT TO INCREASE PREDICTABILITYWings for Autism – program to help get child ready for travel…CATP Certified Autism Travel Professional 93% of special needs parents do not travel but would love to…Preparation – why is it so important in getting ready to travelDealing with Triggers…SMELLS…VISUAL, NOISE, …Evaluating Different Sites – hotels, camping…Choosing Child Centric Trips = build trips around specific interests…Certified Autism Centers – that are geared specifically for neurodiverse individuals – are there cities that are certified?Each person is different… importance of talking/researching suitable places for your needsLegacy Thanks for listening and enjoy the show!