Consider helping your slow-to-adapt child succeed by staying in one place, if possible, and enjoying those surroundings. For example, rent a cottage for a week or two so you minimize changes and new experiences don’t come at him too fast. Or move no more than every 3-4 days to keep change at a minimum. Being by a lake or a pool may be a good way to keep your child happy for hours.

Camping is another nice family adventure and is a low-cost way to settle in and have some fun.

© Tino Hemmann - Fotolia.com

If you are planning a trip to a theme park, consider the following:

Spend one day there and the next at the pool. If that's not possible, give your overwhelmed child the break he needs. You will both be glad!

Photo of author with sister in Disney World.

Traveling with challenging children is no picnic. Many of our children spiral out of control at the thought of any change in routine. If you are planning a trip out of town, consider these ideas from one of my co-author's Mary Scribner:

Show your child pictures of where you’ll be staying and who you’ll be staying with. Talk about the things you’ll do and see.

Check out library books that describe the new places you’ll be seeing. Include children’s books on traveling by plane, train, etc.

For more travel strategies, visit our website.

Melody Keller, M.A. and Michelle Craske, Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles, are conducting a free on-line child anxiety study.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether anxious children between the ages of 6 – 12 y/o and their mothers can benefit from a Cognitive-Behavioral Skills-Based Program delivered over the Internet.

Eligible mothers and children are randomly assigned to one of two 12-week conditions: an Internet Program condition or a Waitlist condition. People placed in the waitlist condition will be given access to the internet program at the end of the study.

People from across the United States are welcome to join this study.

You do NOT need to come into the research lab. Everything will be conducted online or over the telephone. If you are interested in this study, please call (310) 206-1128 or send an email to: uclachildanxiety@gmail.com.

I'll be back to blogging later this week.

Cheers, Elizabeth

Photo by Mary Pohlmann

A friendly reminder to Breathe! Enjoy a moment of summer!

Photo by Mary Pohlmann

This month on the A Wild Ride Web site we focus on Labels. Mary Scribner offers some excellent strategies for dealing with our children's "labels." Mary also offers these resources:

Article on The Pitfalls of Labeling Children ‘Gifted and Talented’.

Interview with Mel Levine M.D. on labeling children

A collection of articles about the dangers of labeling a child.

A critical evaluation of the Labeling Theory of Mental Illness.

Do you know of other resources? Send them to Elizabeth.

I'ts not too late -- but don't delay. Check out these Web sites for summer camp recommendations:

Special Needs Camps lists camps for a number of special needs including Aspergers, Asthma, Learning Disabilities, Developmental Disabilities.

Children’s Hospital in Seattle prepared a booklet of Summer Camps and Programs for Children with Special Health Care Needs. You can download the booklet here.

Finding a Camp for Your Child with Special Needs is an excellent article on the KidsHealth web site.

As you make summer plans for your family, realize that you will need breaks from your child and parenting in general. School and or work may provide a “break” from parenting for you, but summer responsibilities may not.

Try one or more of these suggestions for a "sane" summer:

1. Make sure you build in time for yourself. Daily if possible.

2. Get away occasionally.

3. Hire a sitter or teen or trade child care time with other moms.

4. Ask Grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends to help. This creates an opportunity to build a special relationship between your child and another adult.

5. Consider a really good day care. There are small ones for kids who do better in limited "crowds."

6. Enroll your child in a summer sports or day camp program or class.

What we call summer “vacation” is right around the corner. If you’re like most parents with challenging children, “free” time for your child is a mixed blessing. Yes, it is a relief to stop badgering Bonnie to start her homework or endlessly encouraging Ethan to stop agonizing over his school performance. It’s time for a break – for everyone.

Though this easing up of school pressure seems like a lighter load, lack of structure, routines, and rituals can upset your child’s balance and put him at odds with his world … and you. Sometimes, the stress caused by changing routines results in a myriad of unpredictable behaviors that can be difficult for the whole family.

One way to minimize the stress of summer is to create a summer plan that works for your family. Here's how:

1. Hold a family meeting to discuss the summer.

2. Bring a basket filled with goodies; a blanket and cookies atop the living room rug works well.

3. Have everyone dream about what they’d like to do this summer. Brainstorm.

4. Make a list and then pick and choose what is realistic for everyone.

Visit our Web site for more of Mary's Summer Strategies.

Have summer ideas of your own to share with our readers? Send them to Mary.

Allowing for Unstructured Time

Just because a schedule is helpful to your child does not mean you have to do away with spontaneous activities altogether. Think of his school day; though the day is fairly routine, there is time planned for spontaneous activities. At recess, for example, he may have 30 minutes scheduled in, but he can choose from many activities within that timeframe. The same can be true of his summer routine. Plan some time each day where he can choose from a variety of activities. Perhaps he gets an hour or two after lunch to play; he may swim in a backyard pool, invite friends over, or have some computer time. You can use the same tactic when planning for regular outings; he may choose to visit Grandma, go to the park, or for a bike ride.

It may seem like a lot of work to create and then implement a summer schedule. But the rewards are immense. By front-loading your time now, you can have a more relaxing and enjoyable summer. Your days may not be stress-free, but they will run more smoothly. While your child’s lazy days of summer, may not look identical to the ones you enjoyed growing up, he will be enjoying some of the very same experiences you had. You are creating today, what he’ll want for his children tomorrow. And that is a wonderful way to spend the summer months ahead!

Plan for Changes in Routine

In real life, not everything can be scheduled. Things come up and changes in routine throw your child into a multitude of negative behaviors. Help him learn how to cope by giving him a visual cue. Use the schedule as a place he can look to for changes that might occur. Place a Velcro dot above each day of the week. Draw seven stick figure people on seven separate cards and put a Velcro dot on the back of each. Teach your child that if the stick person is right-side up, it means everything will be the same. But if the card upside-down, it means something is different about the day’s schedule. He will learn to ask you when he sees the cue, so you can explain. Perhaps the upside-down-day means he has a doctor appointment that day, or maybe he was invited to McDonalds for lunch. When given the time to process the change, he will begin to be able to better handle changes in routine.

If you’re like me, you probably have fond memories of summer vacation as a child. Maybe you played all day with your neighborhood friends. You went swimming at the city pool or played at the park for hours. And when you became a parent, you probably dreamed of providing the same thing for your child. But then you met your child. Carefree, unplanned days were not to be. In fact, as summer approaches each year, it brings with it a sense of panic. What will you do all day long with your challenging child? As much as you want to let your child be a child this summer, you know that isn’t what’s best for him. But there is a way to achieve a balance between what you want and what he needs. Your family can still experience those spontaneous activities that make summer so relaxing and fun, while also meeting the needs of your challenging child.

Create a Relaxed Schedule
Many children with disabilities are challenged by downtime. When the last bell of the school year rings, he knows things will change, and he doesn’t like it one bit. Or maybe he is looking forward to it, but you know from experience that by day two he’ll be driving you up a wall. This year instead of letting the days fall together as they may, create a schedule for your child.

Begin by cutting 3X5 index cards in half; write or illustrate a part of the day on each. For example, for breakfast, either write down the word breakfast or draw a picture of a cereal bowl to represent it. Think about what a typical summer day will be like and include a card for each activity. If you know that your child will have some special events, that don’t occur on a daily basis, use markers to draw a border around the card to give him a visual cue. Next, draw a graph on poster board; write the days of the week across the top and times of day down the side. Purchase self-adhesive Velcro squares at an office store; each set will include a soft side and a rough side. Stick one square on each square of the graph and the other half on the back of the schedule cards. When you finish, you will have a week-at-a-glance schedule for your child that can be changed when necessary.

Before school is out for the year, present the schedule to your child. Explain how you will use it. For younger children or children with limited understanding, you may want to have a jar labeled, “Finished!” beside the chart. When they have completed the activity, they simply pull the Velcro card off the chart and put it away in the finished jar. Older children, or those with a good grasp of schedules can simply use the chart as a reference.

For more Summer Strategies, visit the A Wild Ride Web site.

...but just barely. Life is a little overwhelming at the moment. But I promise to return to blogging as soon as I am able (not as soon as it calms down because then will never happen.)

Please return soon to the A Wild Ride Blog. In the meantime, enjoy all the great information and stories on the A Wild Ride Web site.

Cheers, Elizabeth

Photo by Mary Pohlmann

and the Autism Society of America.

Check out both sites for amazing resources.