View Full Version : How are your special needs kids during the holidays?
Do you have to make special plans to accommodate them? Do they handle the excitement and whirlwind of the season well?
Maia's okay as long as she knows what's going to be happening and when...if not, then all hell breaks loose.
But that applies to the rest of the year, too...so it's no different.
gr8mommy
11-28-2007, 09:44 AM
No differences here, either. We prepare well ahead for some things; we avoid telling them to far ahead for others (like fun outings, they obsess over 'when' and 'how long until'. Otherwise it is pretty normal.
I've noticed I'm a bit slower putting out all the house decorations this year, and things are a bit calmer, though. I might really scale back to just the basics--tree, creche, and stockings.
I am really starting to wish school didn't push christmas from halloween onwards now that jude is in fulltime class as he's now asking when, when, when, tomorrow, no? When constantly!
I shall be grateful for saturday when he can start with his advent calendar and have a visual reminder of when!
Jude deals well with excitment- he bounces off the walls 24-7 so the fact other people have more energy and enthusiasm at christmas really suits him, if anything i find people who don't usually have patience with him will go the extra mile at holiday time which is good!
I however am not looking forward to many of the family interactions we have to have, people who are quick to judge him, know nothing about him because they see him once a year and even when you tell them they chose to assume they know and Jude is Jude through poor parenting :rolleyes (which is aload of crap as he may be bouncy and emotional but he's not nasty like my sil's kids and none of them have any reason for it aside from personality so that irks me twice as much, Jude is a tad kooky and gets horrid assumptions made about him from fil who frankly has been itching for a hole to pick in us for over a decade where as sils kids are outright spiteful and malicious but the sun shines from their rears :rolleyes
Actually thinking on it I have more issues over Jude at Christmas than Jude himself has over it :giggle
Jejune
11-28-2007, 11:26 AM
Not a lot of special preparations, except to have exit plans at family gatherings. Liam actually does well at the holidays most of the time, and if he starts losing it, we can often calm him with a movie. He's very sensitive to stimuli, so the movie holds his attention and will keep him calm and sitting.
It can be a nightmare. Ross is already having panic attacks about how many sleeps until Christmas, he wants to know exactly what food I am doing and how much of it, how many presents he will get, who he will see, what time he is being picked up by his dad for Xmas dinner and the list goes on. He will have many intense PA as the weeks go on.