June 2007

Autism Society of ND

Summer Vacation 2007 Survey Results


Is your ASD child involved in any summer activities?	Response Percent	Response Count
What are you kidding? I can barely get him/her to leave the house.	27.3%	3
He/She participates in a few activities.	54.6%	6
She/He is involved in practically everything.	18.2%	2


Who will watch your ASD child this summer?	Response Percent	Response Count
We have a nanny who comes to our home.	27.3%	3
A parent stays home.	63.6%	7
A relative watches the child(ren) at our home.	18.2%	2
Childcare in a center.	0.0%	0
Childcare in someone else's home.	0.0%	0
Other (please specify)	0.0%	0


As parents of a child on the Autism Spectrum, is there anything different you do, in order to cope with Summer Vacation?	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	60.0%	6
No	40.0%	4

If you make special adjustments to encourage your child's success during vacations, please describe what you do. (example: create a visual schedule)

1.	My wife makes a really cool book that includes a schedule and details about every place we will be going. We also talk about everything we will be doing ahead of time so there are no surprises.	Thu, 6/28/07 11:11 AM
2.	Educate people around us. If we're going to visit family, we let them know about issues well in advance so it's not so foreign to them upon our arrival.	Mon, 6/25/07 7:50 PM
3.	As much in advance as possible we show pictures, videos, books or whatever visual aids to introduce the place where we will vacation and then talk about it and all that we will do to build his excitement and remove some of the worry.	Fri, 6/22/07 11:52 AM
4.	[We create a] monthly/daily calendar; try to make summer fun and not highly structured - after all, it is "summer vacation" and the son knows it. Minimize the surprise events; keep the mind engaged; try to set up "play" dates occasionally; maintain as much sameness in routine; maintain the normal daily expectations (brush teeth, take baths, go to church ....)	Thu, 6/21/07 6:53 AM
5.	What is a vacation? We barely have enough time to do what needs to be done. When we do something, we do what our child likes to do and work around that. Our time away revolves around what works best for our child.	Tue, 6/19/07 9:08 PM
6.	Travel by car - extended time to time to allow for breaks to sleep. So now driving all day and night. The Daily Routine is kept: eating at same time, sleeping at same time, etc. We travel with special food for the children, cooking supplies and a hot plate to allow for cooking in our hotels. We have yet to attempt traveling by air.	Tue, 5/29/07 5:50 AM
7.	Try to Keep same routine as much as possible	Tue, 5/22/07 1:11 PM
8.	We create a visual schedule (write on the markerboard) of the day's events. Practically everything has a contingency plan - what do we do in case of meltdown.	Tue, 5/15/07 7:14 PM

You will need the free Adobe Reader to open some files on this site.

To contact us, send email to

or call 701-858-4248.