Vacation to California | ADHD Information

Our 7 year old son responds really well to the poker chip system found in Barkley's book.  The basic summary is this:  Everything the child does right (not fighting with his sister, not interrupting, doing his homework) is worth chips.  Good attitude earns him extra chips.  All this happens immediately and gives him instant feedback on how he is doing.  So waiting patiently in line is one chip every 5 minutes.  He can use his chips to buy stuff (the rice pudding at the mexican place in Great Adventure in to die for!).  You establish beforehand (as much as possible) how much stuff costs (50 chips for toys within a certain range, 10 chips for a churro or popcorn) so on.  It's just a thought.  Give it a test run at home before launching it at the park, so he knows what he's in for.  The trick is to get the numbers right and making the rewards attainable but not too attainable, so I suggest reading Barkley's book.

In my experience, Disneyland is fun, fun, fun and just about every kid there is wound up so your ADHDer won't be standing out that much if at all.  Also, the FastPass feature makes it easy to got on the rides that normally have long lines (Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Roger Rabbit), so I advocate heavy usage of it.  Our son does pretty well there, especially if we buy him some kind of a small toy right as we're walking out of the park every day.  And if he wants something big (and semi-affordable) tell him he can earn it the next day as long as you're willing to buy it if he earns enough chips because he just might.

Just a thought... waiting in the long lines... a game that I play with my 2 kids... try to find something that starts with the letters.. A,B etc.. play I spy colors. 

I lived in Orlando for 14 yrs and went to the parks often... the cast members have pins that only the cast members get to trade with guess of the parks... you must trade pins with them... if you kids are interested in that ... go in ebay and buy several pins just to trade at very little money and trade with cast members.

Another thing that we do when we go somewhere... i make a list of things on a scavenger hunt... a goofy hat, Snow White... things that they can find while waiting in line of just walking around... see how many Mickey Mouse ears you spot... things like that.

Buy bottled water off Disney site and drink a bit out of it and then freeze the rest... that way during the day the ice will melt and keep the water cooler.  Snacks a must.

Get a map of the park and have one of your children be the tour guide and lead your group to where they want to go and then switch.

Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen.. hat, hat, hat.

Give your children disposable cameras... so they can take pictures of what they want.

Sorry if I went a little over board... have fun.  Disney can be and is very sensory over loading... now and then.. just take a break and people watch.  

Hi there.  I have been hanging around for about 6 months now just reading everyones posts.  My ds who is 5 was diagnosed ADHD about 8 months ago.  We started on 5 mg Adderall XR and within a week the doctor up'ed the dose to 10 mg.  My son was very angry on the Adderall so we switched to Focalin XR 10 mg about 2 months ago.  He also takes 1 mg Tenex around 3 pm and then Clonodine .1 before bed to help him get to sleep.  This has been working well so I think we might be okay on the meds for now.  My concern is we are going on vacation next week and I am sooooo afraid that we will have behavior issues while we are out of town.  We are staying with relatives in California and we are taking our ds - 5yrs & dd - 9yrs to Disneyland.  I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to keep the behavior running smooth with all the changes to our normal schedule.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

My biggest suggestion is to TAKE it SLOW. Do not try to do a lot and make sure there is lots of down time. Any kid, but especially our kids get so worked up with excess stimulation. Disney will be sensory overload.  They will have a blast, just dont expect too much from them .

Try to stay as close to your schedule and routine as you can. i.e. bath time, bed time routines....etc. etc. Bring some favorite things from home.

I took a 2 hr break in the middle of the day, kept water & snacks in my pack, went to bed early, and asked my son on the fly what rides he wanted to go on rather than having a schedule or much of a plan in the park.