single parent wanting to travel with special needs kids

Thanks Mario,
it's great to know that although Australia is huge there's a great helpful supportive traveling community out there. Very encouraging to hear.

Hi Joe, Mel & kids,
the younger is the aspie and the older has Auditory Processing Disorder. The school has suspected it since grade 3 but neglected to tell me. 6 weeks ago she tried to take her own life. Lots of therapy, testing etc. and here we are about to homeschool as it seems to be the option for her. I have my little girl back. Being over the "school system" here in QLD, we have decided to travel and see where we end up. Beats sitting around in a house learning on paper when both my kids are visual learners.

Aspie's are unique wonderful human beings that tell it how it is and have many quirks and sensitivities. Traveling with him can be a nightmare on long trips hence my question to any one whom may have done the trip with one. As to camping versus caravan versus Motorhome, what was their experience.

I figure giving them the freedom to be "who they are" should help me to relax alittle and enjoy the journey too, hopefully without too much hard work or hassles on my own.

cheers
Sam Jess & Jem

i can see why you want to get "out" and i know exactly where you are coming from ................
Have you ever been away for any period of time with the kids, camping or staying in accom ???? will you be looking for work ..
Where do you live if i can ask, south qld or north .....
Are you prepaired for it financially, in saying that i dont want to scare you off as you can get "out" of it all with enough for the fuel and food to the next stop if you need to.... million dollars wont fix a kids, the right environment will as you now are thinking along with eh...
one thing i can say is that the smaller the school the more personal the care is, we have had the kids in schools at all the remote communitys we have been to, thought about other options, they are far better than bigger schools, kids are far more tolerent and understanding and will make certain other kids fit in, the what we call "local" kids, or aboriginal as some say, they are exceptionally more accepting of kids that arnt doing well at school, as or kids were, most dont have all the fancy toys and crap that city kids have and the "groupy" culture does not exist, our kids have not worn shoes for years to school and we try to make them at home, yeh right .......
I dont know what real advice i can give you other than to be careful and do EVERYTHING with the kids in mind, we have been to some places where the kids hated it and 4 months and we moved (1000ks) away, we now are at Doomadgee and it was supposed to be a "short" stay to help fix up a bussiness and continue to work up in the Cape, our kids are doing so well that we are starting to think we may be here for years, both kids have completely changed and it makes our life so much better now ...... guess one thing is to constantly have the "whatif's" look around and be prepaired for the worst just in case.... cheers joe

Hi Joe,
we live in Sth qld. We have traveled at times and as long as I don't push it I can survive the trip with most of my sanity (what's left of it) anyway.
We are prepared financially and we can't plan too much any way, we will just take each day as it comes and end up who knows where, just depends on the seasons when we set off.
I've settled on a motor home, best option for me as it's the least amount of work. If we find somewhere to explore of the beaten track then it's somewhere we can come back to when he's older and can handle more.

Sounds like you have found the magic formula for kids and we hope to find our magic too.

Cheers
Sam

WELL through experience I can tell you, you will get no help from the Queensland Education department if your child does not quite fit in, until you threaton legal action through duty of care and then all they want to do is get rid of your child out of the school.

Compulsory ? You don't need much of an excuse to not go to school in Qld , any half baked religion will get you an exemption , home schooling , distance ed , etc.

Hi Di,
SA ed sounds great, might be an option to look into when we get there. So very over QLD ed system. Very much behind the rest of the country, I really have an empathy for the poor teachers and wish them well in trying to catch up.

We will homeschool as we go along and all we can do is our best and if it's not good enough for anyone then they'll have to "build a bridge and get over it" . Life really is too short for red tape.

Thanks for your advice Di

Very true last line there Colin. When it is time to check out, it is better to regret a some things that you've done rather than a some things you didn't do.

Sammi and JJ, some times you'll think "What am I doing" but the rest of the time you'll think "How good is this, this is how life is meant to be". Go for it. Complete another chapter in life. The experience will be extremely rewarding, educational and life changing.

AB

Hi Colin,

thanks very much for your encouragement. I have no regrets in my life and certainly won't let my kids special needs be a deterrent to such a wonderful experience for us all. It certainly sounds like there's heaps of help out there if I ever get stuck or need advice so I'm not really alone.


Hi AB,

Most days I think "What am I doing" so being on the road will be a refreshing change from the humdrum of being in one place and the added bonus of no lawns to mow. That in it's self is life changing for me. hehehe

Hi Marc,

the traveling you have done with your Niece, was it camping, caravan or motor home. That's what I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of each versus 1 adult to do all the setting up required for each option and then the limited access some options have to more remote places and all the different equipment each option requires also.

How old was your niece when you first stared travelling?

Hi Sammi & JJ

We have always taken our niece when we travel, since she was very, very young, perhaps 7 months old from memory.

We live extrememly remote anyway, geographically about halfway between Broome and Alice Springs, so my niece has always been used to remote area living. Whenever we travel it has been with swags, as the areas we go to you would not get a caravan or trailer into.

In your circumstances, I would highly recomend a motor home, otherwise you will be doing nothing muich more than driving, and setting things up, then taking everything apart. Could you now consider taking a friend with you, or perhaps travelling in conjunction with others, whom would hopefully assist.

Cheers

Hi Marc,
traveling with others isn't really an option unless we met others along the way. A motor home was my 1st thought as reading all these forums about all the trouble and modifications etc that lots of people go through, I really don't need all those kinds of experiences (have had enough in life already) and would like the "least amount of hassles" experience that the motor home versus camping and towing a van can offer. So we might have to set up and ride a bike to the shops , & if we have a breakdown stay in other accommodation and miss some of the remote off the beaten track kind of places, this trip, but I think it would be a better option for me being on my own.

Thank you for your recommendation

Cheers
Sam

Hi Sam

As opposed to buying a motor4 homew and doing all the modifications, would it be worth a thought to hire one of those Britz or whatever company camper 4x4's for your trip. It wouldn't cost as much as buying a vehicle, and if problems occur, you can get the vehicle changed for a similar vehicle.

Just a thought

Cheers

Hi Marc,
certainly worth the thought .I'll look into costs for long term hire and weigh them up.

Cheers
Sam

Hi Sam

My wife and I have just had a look through a few different hire companies, and we were astonsihed that the off season prices were very reasonable, as is the pre booking costs when booking ahead.

The best I have seen when travelling around through the CSR and Tanami (which is the area I live in), were the Britz. I have no connection to the company at all, but I was very surprised at how well they are set up.

You wouldn't beed to do any modifications, other than perhaps any special nees, and I reckon the same would be with other companies. Those troopies with the high roof look like perfect for a mum and two little ones.

Cheers

Hi Marc,
it's great idea if you know how long you want to be away for and where you want to travel to. As we are just going to set off as soon as our house sells, and not sure (depending on the weather) as to which way we turn (left or right out of our driveway) and how long we are going for, it's not really a cheap alternative for us.
Thanks for the thought and option though. It might help out someone else reading this thread.

Cheers
Sam

Hi Sharna,


we are free as birds (thankfully so). One reason for the travel is to also teach my aspie that life is flexible and to help him to cope with constant change.

Che Sera Sera. That's my life's motto.

Cheers
Sam

Hi Rob,

thanks for your reply. Yes I figure if there's some sort of reward at the end of the drive then he'll cope pretty well. That has been another worry about how tolerant other travelers will be if he has a meltdown. I guess all I can do is give it a go and see how we fare.

Thanks
Sam