It can be tough to face the changes that holidays can bring when you are parenting tamariki and/or rangatahi who have a neurobehavioural disorder like FASD.
Others are looking forward to long days of reading, preparing kai, catching up with distant whanau and friends, travelling long distances and sleeping in. However, as caregivers and parents, we know that endless days with little structure or routine, and with the potential for multiple changes of plans can be super-triggering for those with FASD, whether young or old.
To add to stress levels, the symptoms of overwhelm can be alarming for whanau members and friends who do not understand this hidden brain-based physical disability, and may sometimes lay their judgement at your over-burdened feet!
• Click here to access a fantastic podcast episode from the wonderful Eileen Devine – 'Helping Extended Family Understand Your Neurodivergent Child' for suggestions on ways to manage the tricky dynamic of helping extended family gain awareness of brain-first parenting.
This downloadable booklet put together by our friends at NOFASD in Australia is fantastic. With advice on everything from leaving pets behind to travelling by plane, car, train or boat it's a one-stop shop for helping whānau to think ahead and plan for every eventuality. School camps are covered, too.
Click here to read or download and print.
You can buy a printed hardcopy of this book for $A7.50 here.
If your holiday plans will be taking you through busy, loud, stressful airports, it may be worthwhile to get a 'Hidden Disability' sunflower lanyard. Wearing one of these will let staff at over 300 participating airports around the world know that you or your tamaiti / child with FASD might need extra help, understanding, or just a bit more time.
If you're travelling throughout New Zealand, the airports at Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Invercargill, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Queenstown and Wellington have all adopted the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. Prior to your travel, you can request a free lanyard from the airport company via the links above, which you can collect at the airport info desk to keep and use on future trips.
Find out more here on the Air NZ website.
Find out more here on the global Hidden Disabilities website.
• IHC Media have an online platform for people to join weekly live events such as dance, art, yoga or drumming workshops, as well as downloadable colouring sheets and cooking videos for simple treats (look under the 'Browse' tab). A fantastic initiative.
Click here to check it out.
• Check out this great blog from NOFASD in Australia, with some strategies around creating a routine, downtimes, exercise and ongoing creative play.
• There's a fantastic crafts ideas page here with loads of ideas for kids of all ages, using items you're likely to have at home.
• Scavenger hunts! This page has a brilliant list of no less than 35 easy, printable scavenger hunt lists for kids – inside, outside, in nature, in the neighbourhood, bugs, colours, numbers... the list goes on.
These are universally applicable no matter what behaviours you are seeing.
Summarised by Anna Gundesen, our FASD Navigator in Tāmaki Makaurau, who has a teenager with FASD.
Click here for a downloadable A4 version of this pānui.
Click here for an expanded text version of this pānui.
Don't forget to go back to your FASD Handbook to refresh your skills on a regular basis.
Don't have your Handbook yet? When you become a member of FASD-CAN as a caregiver, you'll receive a hardcopy in the post for FREE. (If you're a professional, you can buy one online via the link above.)
On page 13, 27, 34, 62, 72 are some lists and graphics of accommodations and strategies that might be helpful to use with whānau members.
References used: Fascets NB Model, Brain First Parenting, Dr Mona Delahooke, Nate Sheets.
