Thanksgiving is coming and as with any holiday while there's certainly the opportunity to sit back and relax with family, there's also some stress involved with getting ready. For autistic kids, starting to lay groundwork now about your Turkey Day plans is a good idea, especially if you will be traveling for the holiday. Here are some tips for getting ready for Thanksgiving (or any other major holiday) with children on the spectrum.

• If you will be traveling a long distance to get to your Thanksgiving destination, take a few minutes to sit down once a week or maybe even more often depending on your child and walk through a short social story detailing the steps that you'll be taking for your trip. Where possible, try to use pictures of the actual places you'll be going to help your child to be ready for the change in routine. If you have a behavioral specialist or mobile therapist working with your child, he/she may be able to help with putting together your Thanksgiving social story.
• If you will be flying with your autistic child for the first time, consider doing a practice run to the airport. Go walk around, point out the counters and the gates and explain what you'll be doing as travelers on the big day. You may also want to set up a practice 'security checkpoint' at home to get your child ready for taking off his/her shoes and having bags opened and so on.
• Call the airline that you'll be traveling on to ask about any support services they may have available for autistic kids or to request special boarding. Most airlines still allow families with young children to board ahead of the rest of the passengers, but often times this is not offered. You may be able to arrange a guaranteed 'pre-boarding' to allow you and your child to get settled in and minimize the possibility of meltdowns.
• If you will be driving a long distance and your child has sensory issues related to the car, start cleaning the car out now and try to minimize smells. Bring your child in on the cleaning act and ask him/her if the smell in the car is a problem and keep trying different things to get that 'car smell' down to a minimum before your travel day. Various deodorizing sprays may be useful, but a good shampooing of all of the interior can really help to avoid meltdowns related to overstimulated senses. We've found orange-scented, natural sprays to be helpful, but different children will respond to different sprays in different ways.
• If you're going to a large family gathering with relatives that your child hasn't met before, get out your family photo albums, or ask your family members to send you recent photos and put together a little photo book to introduce your child to the new people he/she will be meeting in person during your holiday so that the gathering is less overwhelming.
• If possible, call your host/hostess ahead of time to ask if a 'quiet area' that is safe for a child will be available for taking breaks from the social whirlwind of a large gathering. Also be sure to bring up any food sensitivities with those preparing the meal and if necessary, prepare an alternate plate to bring along with you for your child.