Kids on the autism spectrum as well as those without neurodevelopmental issues often feel not so enthusiastic when it comes to fasten their seatbelt, especially the one on the airplane.

And what does it mean in practice? That means that the families traveling with kids on the spectrum have much harder work to do as it might be a very challenging behavioral problem to overcome.

“please seat with your seat belts fastened….” becomes the command from a nightmare.

We experienced it in the worst of possible ways. Our non-verbal at that time child was screaming and crying desperately and there was no other way to keep him seated with his seatbelt fastened but to restrain his movements blocking his body. He cried so hard that at the end after the airplane landed and the lights were on again I saw his exhausted and full of red spots face.

We felt awful. We were surprised by his reaction and shocked because we were absolutely not expecting this kind of response. And we felt horribly guilty for not having foreseen what had happened.

After this harsh episode, we notice that when there is an issue like the one with the seatbelts on the plane, when well explained before and visually prepared, the fewer meltdowns we experience.

Next time we were well prepared and Achilles was so happy to be on the airplane again and ready to finally fasten his seatbelt. He really enjoyed the flight!

How is this even possible? We prepared him visually with an amazing USBORNE book from the First Experiences Collection!

You can also use an explanatory educational videos that you can find on YouTube platform or any similar.

VISUAL PREPARATION

Ingredients:

• “Going on a plane” by Anne Civardi – Usborne First Experiences Collection
• How to fasten your seatbelt on an airplane via YouTube

If you have a possibility to arrange a role-play sessions with some seatbelts and pretend to go on a plane for a short flight, it is also a great exercise that can considerably improve the approach to the problem in the real life situation.