Quick Checklist for Traveling with Your Special Needs Child

Traveling with a special needs child may not always be easy. Starting out with a packing check-list before taking off on your trip could be helpful. Christy Cross from the TravelingMom website points out the following:

It doesn’t matter if you are leaving for a few hours or a few days, if you have a special needs child preparation is key to a successful, enjoyable trip.

She also goes on to provide a nice checklist of items:

Phone numbers of doctors/pharmacy – an absolute necessity. Be sure you have accurate working numbers for your child’s medical team on hand in case a question or problem arises while you are traveling.

Medications – Bring enough quantity of your child’s daily medications to last the duration of your trip as well as a few extra doses just in case you drop, spill or lose a dose or your trip goes longer than expected. Give special consideration to including supplies needed to dispense and store the medications. My son takes a daily growth hormone injection that requires me to bring along alcohol swabs, syringes, and a cooler and ice to properly store the medication.

Specialized Medical Equipment - Especially important for those trips that are overnight or longer. As you prepare for your trip, think about the things you do daily to keep your child well. Do you take blood pressure readings once or twice a day? Test blood sugar levels? Weigh? If so bring all of the necessary equipment to do these things while on the road just as you would if you were at home. Because my son requires daily dialysis we carry a dialysis machine, fluid, tubing, dressing supplies, blood pressure machines, scales…you get the point!

Emergency Equipment – This could include anything from an inhaler, Epipen or a good thermometer and fever reducer–just in case!

Extras – This is of utmost importance if you are using supplies that are sterile and are difficult (or impossible to find at your local drug store). Bring extras! To err is human; to be prepared is a relief!

This could be helpful for your travels and of course it wouldn't hurt to include a reminder to bring your child's TapToTalk and the Nintendo DS charger on your trip. The portabilty of the TapToTalk is ideal for traveling. Let us know where you have traveled with your child's TapToTalk.


If you have a TapToTalk idea or story you'd like us to share with other TapToTalk users, please email us at blog@taptotalk.com.

The TapToTalk Team
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