Travel with autistic children - dawn barclay

EPISODE 53
Successful Travel with Autistic Children: A Discussion with Dawn Barclay

Play the Episode…

Show Notes

Traveling for vacations and for other purposes provides great opportunities for learning, for creating wonderful memories for families and for growing socially and emotionally. However, for autistic and neurodivergent children and adults, and their families, traveling can also present unique challenges. In this episode, we discuss challenges and many helpful strategies to support positive traveling experiences with Dawn Barclay, an expert on travel for families who have neurodivergent family members. 

“Traveling Different” Website

Dawn Barclay’s Website

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Featuring

d.m.-barr-headshot

DAWN BARCLAY

Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. She started as an agent with her parents’ firms, Barclay Travel Ltd and Barclay International Group Short-Term Apartment Rentals, and then branched out into travel trade reporting with senior or contributing editor positions at Travel Agent Magazine, Travel Life, Travel Market Report, and most recently, Insider Travel Report. She is a mother of two and resides in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. She is the author of “Traveling Different Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse”. She also writes fiction as D.M. Barr and holds leadership roles in several writer organizations.

…and Continue the Discussion

Do you have a book or podcast club? If so, you may use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this episode.

1) What are specific benefits of travel, even for families whose children may have more difficulties than neurotypical children?

 

2) Identify 2-3 of most common challenges families face when traveling with neurodivergent children and family members? What strategies may be helpful to address these specific challenges?

 

3) Please talk about how parents and family members may use special interests or enthusiasms to encourage travel. Are you familiar with this as helpful strategy, and if so, share some of your experiences.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Music

Matt Savage, courtesy of Savage Records

Matt Savage is an autistic jazz musician, composer, and bandleader. Matt has collaborated with jazz greats like Chick Corea, the Ellington All Stars, Chaka Khan, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Jason Moran, Arturo O’Farrill, John Pizzarelli, Joshua Redman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi. Donny McCaslin, and more. He has recorded more than a dozen records and graciously contributes the music for Uniquely Human.

Production and Sound Design

ELEVATEDSTUDIO

Uniquely Human: The Podcast is produced, engineered, and edited by Elevated Studio in Denver, Colorado. Owned and operated by co-host Dave Finch, Elevated Studio produces digital media assets and content strategies for the electronics, entertainment, and lifestyle industries.