Music Concert (Sudden Plan)

Today we saw some family friends, and they said about going to see Lady Gaga at our closest arena, The London 02. Now London is an extremely busy place, and on top of this, the concert will be really busy. I have just asked my daughter if she would like to go but she is concerned about how she will cope. She absolutely loves music but it's so busy, she can become distressed quickly. Our family friends know she is autistic, and her daughters are similar sensory wise but aren't diagnosed. I've said she can wear her ear defenders, but it's the business she will struggle with more.

We will have to get the train up to London, stay there overnight too. This is a huge trigger for her, the change, not being at home, but I know she loves going on the train.

I am going to ask my other daughter if she would like to come, and this may make it easier for my other daughter since they have such a close bond and will be together.

Is there anything you can think of to make this a whole lot easier, especially because of the sensory overload, change, and the anxiety. We will make her a social story and a plan. We have not yet booked tickets because we only got offered today, and I can't even remember when this concert is.

Thanks in advance

Parents

DormouseAtRest_25 6 days ago

I would suggest your Daughter wears a standard Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard (Staff and other people are likely to be aware of the scheme). You can sometimes obtain one for free from Customer Services of participating retailers such as Sainsbury's. The official scheme website is here:

https://hdsunflower.com/uk/shop/lanyard-packs.html?product_list_order=price

Maybe support the components of the journey as something of an interest project. If your Daughter likes the technical aspect of train travel - that could be one explore and learn activity, the architecture of the Hotel, the history or the environment of the Hotel, the engineering of the cable car, the construction of the O2 arena, the set design and job types involved in staging the performance ...to name but a few components of the total experience. A social story is a good idea (but being intrigued by and already familiar with some general knowledge relevant to the events of exposure can help self-sooth the person and enable worthwhile distraction conversation and interaction while in a "hurry up and wait" scenario which many may find anxiety inducing.

Personally, when travelling at distance to new venues,; I also find it helpful at home in advance: to use Google Street View to thoroughly explore the area. Then as I approach the area in the real World - I feel more at home as I have in my mind's eye "been there before".

I would encourage each member of your group to download the venue msp PDF onto their smartphone (so you don't need internet connection on the dsy).

As a travelling party: I would encourage, in advance, you all agree both s "if we want a break / food / drink rendezvous" location and, just in case, a "if something unforeseen happens rendezvous - away from the O2 Arena". In our Family, the latter location will be somewhere you can just walk to and wait (without the need to use any public transport).

It can be helpful to build in a couple of "decompression" staging posts. For example, arrive early for a stage of your journey and engineer a pause at the outlet of a familiar chain of coffee shops. Maybe re-visit somewhere familiar before or after somewhere new. I do that when planning to visit a busy museum (travel, then pause at a preferred coffee shop, visit the museum, then pause at a favourite art supplies shop, then travel).

Reply

DormouseAtRest_25 6 days ago

I would suggest your Daughter wears a standard Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard (Staff and other people are likely to be aware of the scheme). You can sometimes obtain one for free from Customer Services of participating retailers such as Sainsbury's. The official scheme website is here:

https://hdsunflower.com/uk/shop/lanyard-packs.html?product_list_order=price

Maybe support the components of the journey as something of an interest project. If your Daughter likes the technical aspect of train travel - that could be one explore and learn activity, the architecture of the Hotel, the history or the environment of the Hotel, the engineering of the cable car, the construction of the O2 arena, the set design and job types involved in staging the performance ...to name but a few components of the total experience. A social story is a good idea (but being intrigued by and already familiar with some general knowledge relevant to the events of exposure can help self-sooth the person and enable worthwhile distraction conversation and interaction while in a "hurry up and wait" scenario which many may find anxiety inducing.

Personally, when travelling at distance to new venues,; I also find it helpful at home in advance: to use Google Street View to thoroughly explore the area. Then as I approach the area in the real World - I feel more at home as I have in my mind's eye "been there before".

I would encourage each member of your group to download the venue msp PDF onto their smartphone (so you don't need internet connection on the dsy).

As a travelling party: I would encourage, in advance, you all agree both s "if we want a break / food / drink rendezvous" location and, just in case, a "if something unforeseen happens rendezvous - away from the O2 Arena". In our Family, the latter location will be somewhere you can just walk to and wait (without the need to use any public transport).

It can be helpful to build in a couple of "decompression" staging posts. For example, arrive early for a stage of your journey and engineer a pause at the outlet of a familiar chain of coffee shops. Maybe re-visit somewhere familiar before or after somewhere new. I do that when planning to visit a busy museum (travel, then pause at a preferred coffee shop, visit the museum, then pause at a favourite art supplies shop, then travel).

Children

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