Nliedel Posted May 19, 2007 #1 Share Posted May 19, 2007 I'm the mother of four boys, two special needs and am an avid cruiser. We're coming to the time when we will take our four year old on a cruise. He's autistic. I'd say moderate. Not incredibly verbal, but loves kid activities and behaves in a group, better than with us alone. At least that's what I've seen at school. He's a social guy who likes excitement, yes, not your typical autistic kid, but no autistic kid is typical. I want to cruise with him and don't want to leave him behind. I am an RCI loyalist, who is not willing to change horses, at this point. Do those parents of special needs kids have any thoughts or stories to share? I did take my now eight year old on a cruise when he was six. He LOVED AO and talks about it to this day. He too, is special needs, although a different set of them. I know the AO staff did well with him. He's quiet, though. My four year old is go, or no. Nothing in between. I cannot imagine keeping him with us, all day. He will be jealous of his AO brothers and want to spend time in Adventure Ocean. Thoughts, ideas? He eats everything and no, we're not bringing him to the dining room. Our MO is to eat at the late seating and get in-room sitting for the kids. They LOVE to eat pizza in the room and request the sitter. We like to cruise because it appeals to everyone and we have family time and alone time. We'll get connecting staterooms. That seems to work best for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted May 19, 2007 #2 Share Posted May 19, 2007 Oh geez. Before this month I would have been the first to say "Oh yeah! He will do GREAT in AO". But NOW after being on FOS with Gabriella (my very energetic, no attention span 3 year old) I have to say be warned. :( If you didn't see the posts about the strike system... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=551116 While I was on Freedom, I can't remember if you were one of the moms that responded to my post over at the RCCL board. That whole mess is here... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=546305 The entire time I was going through it all I could think of is "How would AO treat autistic children who might be unable to sit down and focus on craft after craft all session long" I know you love cruising and you love RCCL. I love the ships as well. I wish you and your son the best. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nliedel Posted May 19, 2007 Author #3 Share Posted May 19, 2007 Actually, was your nose itcing last week, cruisingmomma? We were talking about AO and what happened to you in the shutle to the hotel, before our Liberty Pre-Inaugeral. Not bad, just in general. I did read what happened to you and know about the strike system. I too had a kid with a strike, once. His own fault. They were playing hide and seek in the disco and he went in an off limits area. He'd been warned and elected not to listen. I was plenty mad at mine and, in my case, it was my sons fault, 100%. I AM NOT saying what happened to your daughter was her faut. Just saying that with mine, it was. I didn't respond to your post. Just reading it now. I think you got an anomaly. I've never had a moments issue with them before, and I have one real live wire, but with Hernie-Roo. I'm just concerned. Justifiably so. I think all autistic parents worry a lot about how our kids are going to be percieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted May 19, 2007 #4 Share Posted May 19, 2007 Actually, was your nose itcing last week, cruisingmomma? We were talking about AO and what happened to you in the shutle to the hotel, before our Liberty Pre-Inaugeral. Not bad, just in general. I did read what happened to you and know about the strike system. I too had a kid with a strike, once. His own fault. They were playing hide and seek in the disco and he went in an off limits area. He'd been warned and elected not to listen. I was plenty mad at mine and, in my case, it was my sons fault, 100%. I AM NOT saying what happened to your daughter was her faut. Just saying that with mine, it was. I didn't respond to your post. Just reading it now. I think you got an anomaly. I've never had a moments issue with them before, and I have one real live wire, but with Hernie-Roo. I'm just concerned. Justifiably so. I think all autistic parents worry a lot about how our kids are going to be percieved. Oh no, you all were talking about me. :eek: Just kidding. ;) I have an online moms group and we all travel together at least once a year (land based resorts). Four of the kids are autistic, to varying degrees. I understand how you can be concerned and I KNOW parents with autistic children have reported on this board having a wonderful experience with AO. Hopefully some of those moms will see this thread and respond. Best of luck! Have a great cruise! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nliedel Posted May 19, 2007 Author #5 Share Posted May 19, 2007 Yep, we were talking about you and poor Mamabean. Ugh! Because my son is non verbal, interstingly enough because of the same thing your daughter's had issues with, we are very worried about AO. I know with Steven (adopted and born with addiction issues and fetal alcohol syndrome) we warned them in advance and they were careful with him. I also callled RCI like fifty times. Anyone else? Thanks for your thoughts, btw. Very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VikkiGarcia Posted May 20, 2007 #6 Share Posted May 20, 2007 I have seen autistic children in AO before. Both times they were on 14 day sailings. I think the parents might have done this knowing that the numbers of children on board would be low. Panama Canal 23. Hawaii 60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casachic Posted May 20, 2007 #7 Share Posted May 20, 2007 nlidel...Sorry to go off topic but I just read your review of LOS. It was great...I really enjoyed it. We are going in two weeks and are so excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keylime359 Posted May 22, 2007 #8 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Hey guys! My DD is ausstic and she has been in AO several times as well as Camp Carnival. Camp was always fine. We let the staff know upfront and asked that if she wanted to be away rom the group to color or whatever that they respect that. She loved it! HOWEVER, the life boat drill is another story. She freaked! We could not calm her down. Thy finally let us skip it. Now, we let her know in advance and give her an ipod. Oneof the best things about crusing with her for us is the diet. She has sensory issues that make our head spin and food is a big one. On the cruise we get the chance to have her try new foods without feeling like we wasted money at a resteraunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted May 22, 2007 #9 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Hey guys!My DD is ausstic and she has been in AO several times as well as Camp Carnival. Camp was always fine. We let the staff know upfront and asked that if she wanted to be away rom the group to color or whatever that they respect that. She loved it! HOWEVER, the life boat drill is another story. She freaked! We could not calm her down. Thy finally let us skip it. Now, we let her know in advance and give her an ipod. Oneof the best things about crusing with her for us is the diet. She has sensory issues that make our head spin and food is a big one. On the cruise we get the chance to have her try new foods without feeling like we wasted money at a resteraunt. We got permission to leave the lifeboat drill too believe it or not. It was hot. The nice crew member came up to me and said that I could take her to an inside air conditioned area. :D I let my husband take her inside. They have never allowed us to do that before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nliedel Posted May 23, 2007 Author #10 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I would normally not even consider leaving the lifeboat drill, but with Hernie-Roo that might be a very good idea!!! THANK YOU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keylime359 Posted May 23, 2007 #11 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Have you every done social stories before? If you have never heard of it here is a quick rundown. You make a book with drawings showing what to expect. (In this case you would draw your famly in the cbin watching tv. Then draw a bell ringing and the following steps that will be taken. Draw and write what he can expect to hear, see and feel during the experience. Go over this several times and ask him to draw what he feels or is nrevous about. This has worked well for us in the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nliedel Posted May 28, 2007 Author #12 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Sorry I took so long to reply, I was in Vegas with some CC friends. Herne is four and non verbal. I could not do that with him. He is aware and interactive, but the concept of, "expectations" is not really a part of his makeup, yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty9 Posted May 28, 2007 #13 Share Posted May 28, 2007 As a former teacher of special needs children for 17 years, all I can advise is to give it a try and see how things work. I know that some of our autistic kids could handle the sensory overload that those kid's programs have, and some could not. Like you said, every autistic child is different. I would take him to the camp, get a feel for how the counselors are, and take it from there. Like kids, no two counselors are the same and you might get lucky and find a group that responds to your son very well. Good luck and happy cruising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare susieq76 Posted June 4, 2007 #14 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Hi. I'm new here but had to chime in. I have an hf autistic son- 5. He has been on Carnival twice and will be going again on June 30th. They have always been very understanding and helpful. I'll let you know how the fantasy goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseQueen13 Posted June 13, 2007 #15 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I would try it. My neice has aspbergers and loves a cruise. Just go w/ the expectation that he may or may not do well in the kids program. If you are ok w/ that - I think it will be fine. She went a few times but, spent most of her time w/ mom & dad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keylime359 Posted June 16, 2007 #16 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Just an update Back from FOS and DD had a greeat time. She did go off on her own quite a bit while in camp. Also, she loves to walk in circles and the h2o zone had a pool that did just that. She walked in circles for 2 hours at a clip in that pool on all sea days while hubby and I enjoyed our drink of the day in the deck chairs:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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