7 years ago today you closed your eyes for the last time, and the Lord Jesus said you have suffered enough come to me and I will take care of you. The gates of heaven was ready for you. R I.P DAD. Always in our thoughts.
The very first time I took Ryan on a airplane took around 12 months of planning i had no idea if he'd even go on a airplane, this is a young autistic man that experiences sensory overload due to sights sounds and even smells,this could result in him running off in the airport not getting on the plane or getting on the plane then experiencing overload, so I had to think of way of getting Ryan ready for the airport the airplane before we got there i wanted somewhere familiar to Ryan and close to home I rang around a few local airports explained what I was trying to do one airport said absolutely actually we have a onesite programme that works with special educational schools, Ryan's in his 20s? They replied not a problem so we spent the day there , we took a empty suitcase so Ryan could go through check in and security he even sat on a airplane, the day was a huge success, but now I wanted to get Ryan ready for the sounds the crowds the shops the lights of the airport and even the sound of the toilet on the airplane so I downloaded YouTube videos, not just any videos of any airports but of the airport we were flying from and too, and when the big day came, Ryan got on the airplane no problem at all, all my preparation and planning had helped, and on Friday is our 4th time going. As a father of a autistic child who is also autistic I was always told all the things that Ryan wouldn't do, nothing is impossible it just might take a little bit of planning to get there. The picture below is of Ryan waiting to go on a airplane for the very first time, I think the smile says it all.
I was asked by a parent how to help with picking, their autistic child likes the sensation of picking the peeling of the skin, so I said try PVA glue ( with supervision) put some pva glue on your child's fingers then they can peel it off with no damage to the skin, but we also want to identify triggers so keep a diary and keep a note of when your child is picking, additionally keep those fingers busy get blu tack or those little fridges or book shelves where they can put miniature items inside a fridge or arrange tiny books on a shelf, and the thing for me was when I was saying all this the tired exhausted parent who has been asking for help for a while had never been told any of this just been given phone numbers or links to websites all she needed was some support someone to hear her concerns, when she was given my number she was like here we go again, I give advice based on my own lived experiences, thats it ,I never consider myself a expert or a professional i always get embarrassed when I referred to as one, all I do is listen and come up with a solution based on and around the things that have worked for this very tired autistic Dad and father, because I know what it was like when nobody listened to me when i asked for help.