Blog Posts Tagged Sensory Processing Challenges

How to Tackle Sensory Overload at Disney!

1/16/2017 • Cruises, Disneyland, Tips, Walt Disney World • It wasn’t until my oldest son, who is living with Fragile X, was almost 3 that I began to have a greater understanding of his sensory integration challenges.  Fragile X is the leading cause of inherited intellectual impairment and the leading known genetic cause of Autism. I was attending an education workshop, and I participated in an exercise that helped me understand what someone with Fragile X/Sensory integration challenges experiences. I began to view the world with a different perspective.  On our next trip to Walt Disney World, It was as if I was experiencing it for the first time.  Guests are immersed in their experience even before entering the gates.  Our senses are constantly bombarded.  As my son grew older, it was clear that the sensory input, at times, was too much.  If we wanted to continue to enjoy traveling to Disney destinations, we needed to come up with […]

Why We CHOOSE to Visit Walt Disney World with a Special Needs Child

10/12/2015 • Walt Disney World • I am a parent of a child born with Fragile X Syndrome.  My son has challenges in all aspects of his life, and easily becomes overwhelmed by his environment.  That can lead to difficulty with communication and the dreaded behavioral meltdown.   He was born with Disney loving parents who are determined to make our Disney trips a consistent part of our lives.  Are we nuts?  Perhaps.   I tend to think of my family as goal oriented, determined, hopeful, persistent and perhaps, at times, incredibly brave.   We were blessed with 2 additional  “typically developing” children.   We CHOOSE to live as “typical” of a family life as we possibly can.  Why would we knowingly bring a child who has such strong sensory (especially auditory) processing challenges to an environment with an overwhelming amount of input?  As I mentioned above, when we became engaged at Walt Disney World, and my fiance’ (husband now) […]