Autism and Holiday Breaks: Designing a Vacation Activity Schedule

Extended breaks from a routine can be refreshing and rejuvenating
for many of us. That being the case, it is often comforting to fall
back into your own pattern of daily life. Some of those affected by
autism, though, have a very tough time adjusting to changes in their
schedules and their surroundings. Therefore, a typically reinforcing
vacation can spark numerous behavioral challenges and may leave you
wondering what happened!While it isn't possible to recreate an
individual's school or daily schedule during holiday breaks and longer
school absences, it is possible to help add a little more structure.
Rigidity, on your part, is not the goal here (it is a vacation after
all!) but most individuals with moderate to severe autism will often
choose to follow a short activity schedule when given the choice. A
short schedule such as this will most likely resemble what he/she is
using at school; and therefore ease their anxiety or frustration.
Unlike a school activity schedule, your vacation schedule can be
composed of mainly fun or relaxing 'activities' with a few educational
or chore associated items added as you see fit. An example of a
vacation activity schedule could look like this:10:00....
Watch
TV
Play Outside
Computer11:00...
Clean-up Room
Empty Laundry
Practice
Piano12:00 LunchNotice that there are choices when it comes to leisure
and chore/educational activities. Also, sometimes there aren't any
choices, such as at Lunch Time. Making sure that this schedule is
followed to a tee is not the goal here. It will add some structure to
their day and (very importantly) give you the ability to add
unsuspected activities like Going to Grandmother's House. These
unplanned events have the potential of intensifying a routine-break
anxiety flare-up. When these trips/events are added to the vacation
activity schedule in advance, it can help prepare the individual for
this change in their routine.Although it is a good goal to help
individuals with ASD become more flexible when it comes to following
(and not following) routines, these vacation schedules can really help
in the mean time. Many of us (myself included) use a written or
digital system to schedule our days, weeks or months. The digital era
now provides any number of devices to help in this area, from PDA's to
smart-phones, laptops, etc. My eyes were opened to this issue when I
first began teaching students with autism. After a relatively short
month and a half of summer vacation, I was preparing myself for a
somewhat challenging week of teaching. After all, my students most
likely haven't had many demands placed on them throughout the summer
and now I would be asking them to complete any number of challenging
activities. To my total surprise, most of my students seemed to enjoy
the fact that they could now continue their school routines and
behavior challenges were low! Again, it is important to add periodic
changes to routines that will help create more flexibility. Remember
to have fun and allow your son/daughter the ability to follow a
routine that will help them acclimate.