Tips for Traveling with a Special Needs Child

Travelling with kids can be stressful enough – all those “are we there yet” questions – without the added stress of a family member with special needs.

These tips from the National Autism Network and other accessible travel experts will help make summer vacations more fun for everyone.

Many of these accessible travel tips are simply sensible advice when traveling with any very young child or with an older Grammie or Pops – or both.

Plan Ahead

Call ahead to the hotel or resort where you are staying and check for any special accommodations they make for children with special needs.

That includes booking you on a low floor if your child doesn’t like elevators, or a room equipped with wheelchair-accessible doors and bathrooms.

These rooms are close to the elevator, which is handy for any traveler who has trouble walking.

If you are attending an amusement park or theme park, such as Walt Disney World, make your first stop the guest services booth, to get a special needs pass for your child, and also take advantage of refrigeration services for any medication requiring it.

You may be asked for proof of ailment, so be sure to pack a physician’s note detailing your child’s disorder.

The website WDWHints offers tips on visiting Walt Disney World with a special needs child or adult, but the tips here apply to most theme parks.

Of course, be sure to pack items your child may need, like headphones to drown out large crowd noise, or special snacks to accommodate any specific diet needs, or are simply favorite snacks.

Take Sensory Breaks

It may help your child with autism, and your family as a whole, to build in mid-day breaks to wind down from the morning activities and to gear up for the night’s adventures.

Your child may get overwhelmed spending too much time with crowds and loud noises regardless of the coping strategies you implement.

A sensory break could be lunch in a quiet restaurant, or a picnic in a picturesque location.

Every Member of the Family

Remember, this is not just your vacation, it belongs to everybody. Provide everybody in the family with a variety of different types of destinations and activities to make them happy.

As a widowed single mother traveling with my young daughter and son, to keep the peace, I always gave “equal time” and “equal choice” for visiting attractions and choosing restaurants – First Ladies inaugural gowns for her and Revolutionary War uniforms for him, at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., pizza for him one night and sushi for her another.

Disabled Accessible Travel is an excellent website for destinations for challenged travelers of all types, including those on the autism spectrum and those in wheelchairs.

This AARP article lists tour operators which specialize in special needs travel.

Amtrak offers accessible travel services, including guidelines for manual and wheeled mobility devices.

Cruising with Autism

If your family is searching for adventure on the high seas, look into Autism on the Seas, which assists the cruise industry in providing cruise vacations for individuals and families’ with special needs, including Down Syndrome.

AOTS works with multiple cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean. Services are generally free.

Autism in Flight

Several airlines offer airplane simulations that allow your special needs child to experience aspect of flight without ever leaving the ground.

The TSA has specific information for passengers with special needs, with specifics such as for passengers who don’t like being touched, and exemptions for liquid medications.

Click here for the TSA information for passengers with Autism or intellectual disabilities.

Be sure to get the special TSA disability notification card that authorizes alternative screening methods which can be done in private.

This card is for any traveler of any age and any disability, and it’s FREE.

National Autism Network, better known as Autism Speaks offers comprehensive information and news related to Autism.

There is a specific page of travel advice, along with pages of information on nutrition, advice for grandparents, and much more.

And remember, many of these travel tips work, too, for travel with very young children without special needs, and older folk like grandparents.

This article was published originally in 2013 and is updated and republished regularly, including for 2025.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 25+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.