Adventure Vacation

Ok so it's obvious, this is a vacation full of action and activities. We have not been on many true adventure vacations as a family since our children have different ideas of what adventures are fun and of course this changes with age. When they are small it is harder to find balance with an adventure vacation because of the different skill levels they have ---both your typical and your autistic child will have different skill levels. We have a few adventure vacation ideas to share but not as many as the other two types of trip. For out top picks click here: Top Picks Adventure.

(Note: Regarding accommodations for an adventure vacation, we would recommend following the information on hotels etc found  in the Beach Vacations section.)

A skiing vacation would be considered an adventure vacation. We have done these but most often prefer to go to our own place to ski given the equipment involved. Of course this type of vacation isn't recommend unless you know for sure that either your autistic child can ski or will like to learn to ski. Learning the sport on vacation isn't recommended and can be a disaster (not to mention costly!). We have been skiing for a number of years at the same very modest mountain with our son. It's familiar and he enjoys it. It is at this time that he is probably ready for something larger but only with an adaptive ski program. You can find information on adaptive ski programs by clicking on Top Picks Adventure

Planning an adventure vacation requires a lot of soul searching...that is what can your child really do, or what is your autistic child really comfortable doing? Dude ranch? Horses? Hiking? Rafting?Skiing? Tricky but important to carefully evaluate how your day will look in an adventure vacation and what down time if any will your child have.

(Note: By the way we are firm believers in "down time" --over stimulating your autistic child is a formula for disaster. Be sure to include down time in all of your trips regardless of the type of trip.)

The adventure vacation almost always requires a facility that either specializes in adaptive programs for children with special needs or a facility that can accommodate your particular child's needs (for example 1:1 instruction). For more information on programs like this please go to our Travel Services Page and look for useful links.