Travel and Holidays

For when holidays and travel disrupt routine and cause extended meltdowns or anxiety

Steps

  1. Create a visual itinerary showing each day of the trip
  2. Pack familiar comfort items: favourite pillow, bedtime toy, familiar food
  3. Maintain key routines even on holiday (same bedtime sequence, same wake-up ritual)
  4. Build in downtime every day. Don't over-schedule
  5. Prepare for the journey itself: sensory kit, snacks, entertainment, regular stops

What you need

Visual itinerary, comfort items from home, sensory travel kit

Why it works

Travel disrupts every anchor a neurodivergent child relies on — routine, environment, food, sleep patterns, and sensory familiarity. Maintaining key routines and bringing familiar items preserves enough predictability to prevent the total dysregulation that unfamiliar settings can trigger.

Age guidance

Relevant at all ages. Younger children need more familiar items from home; older children benefit from being involved in planning and having a visual itinerary.

Real-world example

A family packed their child's usual bedtime story, favourite pillow, and the same breakfast cereal. The hotel room was unfamiliar, but bedtime felt exactly the same. Their child slept on the first night — something that had never happened on previous holidays.

Troubleshooting

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