Interview with Jenifer Breaux on Family Travel with children with disabilities

In this episode, Valerie interviews travel expert and special needs mom, Jenifer Breaux, who shares her insights on creating memorable, inclusive family travel experiences for children with neurodiverse needs. Jenifer provides valuable tips on planning vacations, selecting activities, and choosing accommodations to make travel more enjoyable and accessible for everyone.

Jenifer Breaux is a retired army veteran who served the United States all over the world. Through those experiences she gained a love of service and travel. Jenifer opened a franchise of Dream Vacations called JB Travel Pros, where she helps people travel the world with excitement, designing luxury experiences that bring her client's dreams to life. As the mother of two amazing young men who both are on the autism spectrum, Jenifer has become an advocate for families and caregivers of special needs children. 

Key Topics Covered:

1. Choosing the Right Travel Experiences:
   • Opt for inclusive activities like open-air trolleys, beach train rides, and dolphin swims.
   • Highlighted the importance of considering sensory preferences and selecting family-friendly activities that allow for shared enjoyment.
2. Navigating Cruise Travel with Special Needs:
   • Jenifer shares that some cruise lines, particularly Royal Caribbean, train staff to support children with autism and other disabilities.
   • Advises parents to communicate special needs in advance to ensure accommodations, such as priority boarding and accessible cabins.
3. Practical Tips for Managing Sensory Needs:
   • Jenifer suggests carrying familiar fidget toys and social stories to prepare children for new environments.
   • She recommends her free downloadable guide, The Ultimate Top 10 Travel Tips for Planning with Neurodiverse Children, available on her website IamJeniferBreaux.com, along with her book Travel is Possible for additional travel tips and resources.
4. Encouragement for Special Needs Parents:
   • Jenifer reminds parents to celebrate small daily wins and embrace the unique journey of raising resilient children. She encourages parents to see themselves and their children as “warriors” capable of handling life’s challenges with courage and joy.

Takeaway Message: Jenifer’s insights inspire parents to embrace intentional travel, plan for accommodations, and create lasting memories. She reinforces that with a bit of preparation and an open mind, family vacations can be accessible, fun, and inclusive for all.

Connect with Jenifer:

Website:  https://www.iamjeniferbreaux.com/about

@iamjeniferbreaux on IG, FB, Twitter, Pinterest

Live with Intention - Embrace the Journey.

Connect with me:

Valerie's Links: https://bit.ly/3RL0da2

Music Acknowledgement: Audio Coffee - Denys Kyshchuk

Editor: Scott Arbeau

Link for book: The S.H.I.N.E. Principle: The special needs mom's path to strength, hope and happiness by Valerie Arbeau

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CW18ZXGX (Canada)

https://a.co/d/03hFdZI4 (United States)

Learn more about your host at:
https://coachingwithvalerieanne.com/

Transcript

Yeah, and you can also ask for some rooms. One that doesn't have a lot of artwork on because that might be too much. They have rooms that are away from the pool. So you don't have that noise entering your room. So it truly is a little bit quieter, or maybe not near the beach again. So that's probably where a lot of people are attracted to. So you're gonna have a lot of noise or sometimes they have parties at night. I don't know if you notice that at your resort. But again, away from that place where they're going to have those parties at. So sometimes they have a little courtyard, but try to get a room away from that. So make those requests ahead of time, so they can accommodate you.

Hello, everyone. And welcome to this episode of Special Needs Moms, Circle of Strength. I'm excited that you're here because today I am going to be interviewing a lady called Jenifer Breaux. Jenifer is a retired with honors veteran who served the United States all over the world for almost three decades. Through those experiences, she gained a love of service and travel. Six years ago, she opened a franchise of dream vacations called JB Travel Pros, where she helps families travel the world with excitement. Her love for globe-trotting is something she shares with her family as well. And as the mother of two amazing young men who are both on the autism spectrum, Jenifer has become an advocate for families and caregivers of special needs children. Jenifer is an author. She's the author of Travel is Possible, How to Travel with Children with Special Needs, and is a contributor to two anthologies. And she's written numerous articles for several publications. So welcome, Jenifer.

 Thank you so much for that lovely introduction. Appreciate that.

 You're so welcome. It's so great to have you here.

Jenifer, I start my podcast episodes with the same question because I'm just curious about everyone. Tell us a unique thing about you.

Oh, what's unique. When it's related to travel, I've been on five different continents.  Also, the love of freedom. I ride motorcycles. So I yes, yes, I'm barely... I like to say I'm five three, although I'm not quite five three. But my love was on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. So it was like 800 pounds. But you get out there and you ride in the country and it's like freedom. You have air surrounding you and beautiful country scapes and I just loved it.

Wow, love it. Harley Davidson fan here. I'm not this is Jenifer, not me! I have not been riding motorcycles. I remember as a young child being on the back of my uncle's motorcycle. Yeah, I think at the time, I thought it was fun, but it didn't drive a passion for me to learn to ride myself. So how old were you when you started this?

So I was similar to you, my dad had a Harley. So I was riding on his like going to my softball games, he would, I would ride on his motorcycle. And then as an adult with no kids, this was before kids, my husband got his I was like, I was waiting to get more and more practice before I could ride on his and I was like, “No, what I just need is my own.’ So I went out and I'm not a I take a lot of thought before I do something, but I'm like, well, I'm just going to go down and get my own motorcycle. So that's what I did. And started riding. How old was I? Was I in my 30’s?  I think, when I started getting riding my own and doing the safety course and getting a lot of practice there and those bikes were small. If you have to do turns on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, you don't have a, you don't have a little small turn. Those bikes are big. But I loved it. I really loved it. And I learned how to ride out in Kansas and those areas where there's not a lot of traffic. And when you got kids, though, I started riding less and less because they don't come with a little car seat on there. So I had to give that up, you know, for the mom cars and car seats and yeah, less riding.

I remember feeling like I'd arrived as a mom when I had my minivan, my two kids and library cards. Don't ask me why! I arrived as a mom!

Yeah, no, I would never buy a minivan. That's not me. But we did. We did do the SUV. So my husband SUV’s and I have a sedan but I just couldn't do the minivan. I don't know what it was because I think it was because I have an aunt that's a year younger than me and, and a cousin and her car was always messy with like Cheerios and toys and like, oh, I can't do that. I just can't. I maybe I have OCD. I'm not sure. But I'm like, I can't have old Cheerios falling out of my car. So I do have a little OCD. I'm not sure.

All right. So Jen, tell us about your special needs mom journey.

So it started 16 years ago, actually, my children are adopted. And we didn't know it at the time. With my youngest, he was nine months old when we brought him home. And that time, the doctor told us on his exit physical that he was delayed. I'm like, what do you know, he's nine months old, like give me my baby I gotta go. So there was a little inkling. I mean, he didn't pull himself up in the crib until he was nine months old. But around 2 years, a little before three years, our son's daycare was where my husband worked. So he would be the main transporter. And he said, Jenifer, have you noticed that Jacob runs differently than other kids? And the signs were there definitely earlier, because we would get complaints by the home daycare provider. But we didn't know it first kid, not around other families with kids.

So our fight started beginning at three to try to get him diagnosed. And we did start getting him diagnosed with delays and speech delay and some cognitive delays. We started pushing for more, for an autism diagnosis. And it took two years,

Really?

Two years of fighting, of fighting. And wasn't until he had physical therapy and because they would tell us he's, he's delayed, but not delayed enough, because he's high functioning, right? So he's right at that borderline. But he had occupational therapy. And he had physical therapy through the school. And had an advocate in, on our team then within the school district, he was three.

She said, I think he needs to be in the special needs classroom. And then that's where it began and started turning around for us in that area. And then we just kept pushing and he saw a Developmental Delay Pediatric doctor. And then he finally came on board. But it was, it was pushing and pushing and two years, two year’s worth of fighting of anybody that would see us, anybody that wouldn't see us.

So then years later, we adopted our second, who was four and a half years old. And the teachers there when we brought him home, said, Oh, well, he seems happy. And he looks like he's looking in our eyes. And he was a classic case. He had already been diagnosed on the international scale of infantile autism. But when you bring him home, he has to be re-diagnosed in the US. So by that time, we were living in San Antonio. And like, Okay, I get it. So they placed him in a neurotypical pre K. And he just became the pet, they would put up his backpack for him, they would lead him to a spot on the carpet, they would… And so the teacher was very, very frustrated because she had 26 kids. Yeah.

So the doctor, she had a nurse practitioner that was the gatekeeper, and she wouldn't return my phone calls. So I remember going to the office and just sitting in the lobby. They knew me briefly for my other son, but she's like, we're like, Oh, we were we gave her your call. I'm like, Oh, no, no, I know it's not you. But she has to go to the bathroom sometime, or leave for home. And I'll just sit here. I brought work with me. I brought a book. I'll just sit here until she comes out. She finally did. And I got an appointment.

He is the next step towards getting diagnosed. When San Antonio at that base, they have a three-person panel. So one doctor can't be refuted. Well, that was backed up for like six months. Yeah, I'm leaving in May. I've already dropped my retirement paperwork. So I got to get through this. So he got him a microcephaly diagnosis. And that's how he got him it, which he did have microcephaly wasn't made up. But we found out he had a lot of other diagnoses, like visual impairment, he had a heart murmur, he had seizures came up, presented itself, like two months later after that appointment. So our little boy had a lot of other issues going on. And even after we moved, after that a lot more presented itself, but finally got him into the special, self-contained special education class. So where there was only nine kids and a teacher plus three aides or two aides. Okay, yeah. So one per three kids versus one with 26 kids.

So yeah. And since then it's been a fight, you know, to get him diagnosed and get him how… And when you move to Florida, the education system is quite different. If he can navigate his campus, he doesn't need physical therapy, even with the doctor's recommendation, they will override a doctor's note here in Florida.

Oh, yes, ma'am.

Okay, okay. Wow, Jenifer, it sounds like it's been quite the journey. So these two boys that you adopted, are they international adoption? Yes, they are. Okay. Yeah. And so kudos to you for taking that on. Because I know that's not for everyone. And I'm just blessed to know that there are people with big hearts still out there that are taking on these children. And even though you didn't know what you were taking on, you just rose to the occasion. And yes, the fight is real.

It is real. And even after you think you have everything down, you're surprised that you still have to continue things like when my son was in fourth grade, he wasn't getting a fair education, a fair and equal education. You think, Oh, it's good. And it's… but it's not, it is not okay. And it's not equal. And you're what you're accepting him sleeping on a desk. Or, because I feel like they can handle kids in this, in a self-contained classroom, or they can handle gifted, but they don't know what to do with the kids that are in between. They're not resourced for it, or they don't want to do a modified curriculum that are in a neurotypical classroom, you have to do a modified curriculum, you have to give them less, you have to maybe say things differently than what that is, or you have them in a self-contained classroom, and you pull them out. That's what Texas did. But in Florida, they do not do that. Okay, so things need to be looked at and different or you have to have choice options. And Florida does do that. So but it's a fight every way, every step of the way.

Yeah. Well, kudos to you that you have the resilience to do that. Because we do have to make sure we're taking care of ourselves to continue the fight. And as you mentioned already, Jenifer, it is ongoing, it doesn't stop.

No, it doesn't. Yeah, yeah, you have to. I don't know, have a shot of vitamin B. I don't do shots. But I'm just that's my like kryptonite. I don't do shots, but something.

Right. Which brings me to and we're not necessarily going down this journey. But just a reminder for our audience that self-care is huge, because it's a fight, we need to be taking care of ourselves so that we can be that advocate for our children. Because they need to have our voice because often they're not able to advocate for themselves. So we need to be taking care of ourselves so we can continue to be that voice. My children are 22 and 19. I still be that voice for them.

Right. I listened to a mom, she was a client of mine. And her son went from fifth grade to sixth grade. And they're like, Okay, in sixth grade, they need to advocate for themselves. So in, in the three months that they went from elementary school to middle school, now all of a sudden, a light switches on and they're advocating for themselves. That's not possible. It's not that you still have to help them as teachers, you have to help them and you have to understand that they're slowly going into that or they may never go into that. 

Right. And we're all progressing at different stages. So some kids might pick up on it fairly quickly. Other children, it's going to take time, they're going to need scaffolding, they're going to need help. They're going to know that there's somebody there to help them should they need the help, but you give them the wings to start trying. And then there's going to be as you say, some children it's going to take a long time and some children may never get to that place. But the audacity of that teacher to just say, well, he didn't ask for it, he didn't advocate for it himself. So he didn't get it. But it's on his education.

Our first trip with our youngest was not pleasant at all. In fact, it was a road trip. So at least we can control when we stopped. But we had to stop midway. We went to our hotel a couple beds. And he screamed for an hour and a half. Oh, well, until he fell asleep. And it was a nightmare. I can't sugarcoat that it was a nightmare. And then we got up the next morning, we got to do it all again. And, and we went to the next hotel. And then we were sharing a three-bedroom condo with my mom and a couple of my aunts and then us and they got to hear us be serenaded, if you will. But we learned that night that a few things that maybe a social story might help them like we talk about that when we move. Or we talk about that if a new school, we talk about that if it's something school related or liken we

what we did that when Jake, when we were moving across the country. Why don't we apply that to travel? 

So we did that.

We So I'm like, I would, so I just firstly got to listen to them. You have to be automatically you're included in that community. Regardless if you know that person or not, you automatically have, I feel an obligation to listen to that person. And it starts with listening to that person because we are the community, right? We are part of their community automatically. Unless you're cold hearted, we are that community. We've got to listen, we have that obligation to do that. 

Right. And I always felt that with education and parenting, it's teamwork.  

Yes!

It's not separate silos. This is teamwork where we work together for the benefit of the child. Each child has the right to an education to help them be the best possible. And so parents should be involved in that. And so it shouldn't be us against them. And I've mentioned this before, this needs to be teamwork collaboration. That's what we need to be doing is working together for the good of our children. 

I agree. 

Yeah. So, Jenifer, we talked in the introduction about you having a business of travel. And this is something that you have grown to love and do travel that is, you know, during your time working with, for the United States. Yeah. So I just love the fact that you had the opportunity to travel and you've taken this passion now to turn it into a business for you. But travel is possible for families of our community. And I know myself, I have one child that is totally dependent for all care. And then my other has invisible disabilities. So we're high on the autism spectrum, we have ADHD. And so travel, especially with our younger one was a production. So tell us about this. Tell us how you got involved.

So it is challenging. And even if they're high functioning, they still have I know my eldest, he's high functioning, but he has anxiety. He has ADHD. He is very conscious of the clock. And my youngest is low functioning, anxieties, severe ADHD. So it looks different for each child. But we love to travel. And our eldest was easy traveler, loved to try. I think because we went somewhere every month, we had our first child, right? So we wanted everybody to meet him or come to our house. So he was exposed to a lot of people, but in small numbers. Now I notice bothers him a lot more. But he will at least tell me that, okay, Mom, I'm ready to go. Okay, we can go.

did another road trip up to my mom's. But think about when even if it's familiar, because we've gone to my mom's several times, but it's still different from home. Yeah, so the bed is different. The pillow is different. The laundry detergent that's used is different. My mom's not a huge baker, but maybe she has a different candle that smells differently. So the smells are different. The beds a little lumpy or bumpy. You know, the fan makes a different sound also that the sights, the smells, they hear the sounds, she has maybe some cars that drive by, we don't. So that's not really going on. People are talking because we're talking to my mom a little bit more. So that's going on. So it's just different, even if it's a familiar location, like my mom's. So you have to take all of those considerations when you have, like I said, kids that have anxiety. Noah has severe ADHD. My mom has a light that you just touch it. So he keeps touching that because he's interested in that. And it distracts him a lot. So like, okay, this is the last time you can touch the light, you know, a little bit of warning up and time hacks, we use a clock a lot. We use count back numbers. Okay, 321. Because if you count up, you can keep counting. Yes, count down. Okay, then you're out. That's done.

I learned that from Mel, Mel Robbins. Yeah, I got to hear her speak and I have her book. So we apply those techniques to them. Stopping for breaks. What are some of their favorite things we would get out and chase a ball was I would say kicking the ball but it's for them they have no school awareness. So it's more like chasing the ball. So incorporating some things that they like to do old school games, old school songs that I used to sing around the campfire. Backseat Boogie, that's a game that we invented. So we play car karaoke, and the backseat boogie and we're dancing and then each person takes a verse or something like that. So we try to do the name plates of the cars, they are going too fast for them. They, they'd have to stay there for a little bit for them to, you know, kind of look at that. But we've tried to play some old school games, who stole the cookie that kind of game so it makes it entertaining in the car. Right?

Maybe coloring for a little bit. They're older now they're in their teens. So we're going to do some tech time. But I want them to be all the time on their tech. So maybe we might stop for ice cream but eat it in the car. So we're still driving but a little refreshment break. Right. Those are things that are going to help in the in the car.

Reviewing, like I said, the social story helps. Mm hmm.

Thank you, Jenifer. I appreciate that. And thank you for sharing those tips, which are easy to implement and easy to use. And so yes, I hope audience you're taking notes.

All right, I just want to just reference a time with my youngest. So as I mentioned ADHD, high functioning autism, and we had a family trip. So our oldest did not go, this is the one that has is total care. So she did not go with us to Jamaica but my family, that's where my heritage is from. My siblings, my mom, we were all meeting in Jamaica. And some of my family were actually, this was their first time going to Jamaica. So we were going all inclusive, which was great. But what was interesting for me when I got there, because I never really considered it, was the noise factor. My husband also has ADHD. And being in the massive dining area was too much, the entertainment in the evening, don't ask me why music had to be so loud, but that was too much for them. Yeah, I remember my child spending a lot of time in the hotel room, needing to recharge, even though they were meeting some of their cousins for the first time or not seen them again for the first time in a number of years. For some of them, it was just interesting, because I thought that they would be hanging out with their cousins all the time. But they needed to take the time to recharge. So I think that's one of the other things to think about with our children is what are their needs? And making sure that we're taking care of the needs for them to either recharge, to have some quiet time, to have some alone time, whatever it needs for them.

Yeah, and you can also ask for some rooms. One that doesn't have a lot of artwork on because that might be too much. They have rooms that are away from the pool. So you don't have that noise entering your room. So it truly is a little bit quieter, or maybe not near the beach again. So that's probably where a lot of people are attracted to. So you're gonna have a lot of noise or sometimes they have parties at night. I don't know if you notice that at your resort. But again, away from that place where they're going to have those parties at. So sometimes they have a little courtyard, but try to get a room away from that. So make those requests ahead of time, so they can accommodate you.

Right. Yeah, great points, Jenifer, great points to think about, which I didn't consider because I didn't really realize that it was going to be an issue for my family members. So my husband likes to be quiet on the beach, doesn't want to be by the pool where all the action is going on. So this is kind of becoming interesting as we're, you know, approaching a time hopefully where we'll be able to take more vacations because for us, we're just now coming into that time. Our oldest, as I mentioned, total care so we have flown with her, but we can have shorter flights. We have been to resorts that are wheelchair accessible.

We did go to Disney and so that was a great time for all when the children were younger. And so you know, we've been able to do that. But with our youngest just sort of now recognizing that we need to make sure you know, if we're taking them on vacation that we're taking into their needs. But now with my husband, it's like, so what kind of vacations are we going to be able to take? So these are considerations and conversations that him and I Right. 

Yeah, and these some resorts if they're big enough, now that's a pro and con, a big resort, but some of them do have quiet pools. So there's no music or very subtle music. But there's no, sometimes no kids. And since your eldest is now 19, they could be at the pool as well. So it's called a quiet pool. So you wouldn't have all of the parties, right? Exercise classes that are going on in the morning. I would recommend looking for that too. Because if you're taking kiddos like mine are teenagers, but there's no place for them. So we go early in the morning. So there's people that aren't, we get up, they're still up, I will tell you, I don't know if you know this with your kids meant if your kids are or were like this, or are still like this, but mine are up at 630 or seven, seven days a week, I cannot, listen, girl, I cannot seven days a week!

Oh, Jenifer Oh my goodness.

Now my eldest, he might go bed and take a nap until nine or something. But he'll get up, he'll eat his breakfast. And then he'll maybe go back to bed. But yeah, oh, we know of my severe ADHD. Noah, he's running, he gets up. And he's already running…that's us.

We're at the pool probably by nine. Nobody's out. There is no phone. There aren't exercise classes. And this last resort that I just tried, there were two pools. So there was a kid's pool. We didn't go to that one. We went to the other pool where it was more adults. So it didn't, they're not going to play with kids anyway. So there were more adults or teens. And that's where we were. So there wasn't any of the foaming, any of the classes, any of the music. There was very subtle music. Right. And so we could do our handstands and we could do our floaties. And they had kayaking in pone lane. So it was over there. But again, not not really loud or rowdy. Right. So when you're going to the resort, I would just say look for that. And again, your rooms where the room placement is. But you got to make your request early when you make your reservation.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that. That's some great points, some great tips. Thank you, Jenifer. So Jenifer, creating memories for your family is something that we need to be intentional about. Yes. Share how you go about being intentional for creating memories for your family.

Yeah, so I love thank you for that question. I love this because it is so important. We are all busy throughout the year, whether you have kids in school, and you're running them to sports. Now, maybe many of our kids don't play sports or they, I found a sports team here, it's called Buddy Ball. And so it's for kids of all abilities. So they will pitch to you until you get a hit. 

Wow. I love that.

Yes, and nobody's out. The kids might throw it or whatever. But you play and you everybody makes a run. Everybody makes a score. Everybody hits. So I love that. So you might have something like that. Or I know a studio that's a nonprofit. And you can take dance lessons from there. So look one, look for those in your community. But for being intentional, I try to find an excursion, like if we're on a cruise, I try to find an excursion that speaks to our kids and what they like. Now my eldest likes animals, I can't take my youngest on that. He won’t, it would be too distracting, he would probably be scared. But he likes trains, he likes trolleys.

So for example, we did Key West. I know that's in the US that's maybe eight-hour drive for us. It's too long. So we stopped there. And it was an open-air little trolley thing. It had like eight cars to it. So it wasn't small. But we all enjoyed it. We could be together and we enjoyed it. So that's an example of listening to what your kids enjoy doing something as a family. And we would like look at that, or what did he say or and those drivers, they have to take at least in the US I think, like a year, if you're in Jamaica, or if you are in any other country, they probably have to take two, three, maybe five years of training or tutelage under somebody, they are really going to know your facts. And I would just say, invest in somebody that's going to do the tour. You already have your hands full with your kids getting them there and making sure they have what they need and they're comfortable or a fidget with them. So just do that. Don't stress out over it. When we're in Cancun, we swam with the dolphins or rode a train and I think we're not St. Thomas, but one of the Virgin Islands, we rode a train. It was so fabulous.

Same with when we, I took my mom, so my kids could have a vacation with my mom, we went to the piano market now. So like on Christmas, we were playing cards, we took cards with us and had some kind of card game, I know probably because we all like Uno. And so it's not even just about the trip. It's in the in between moments too. So they'll remember playing Uno with their grandma. Yeah, they may not remember where it was, but they remember on a cruise ship, right? Playing Uno with grandma.

Love it. Love it. So just speaking about cruise ships, how accommodating have you found the cruise crew to dealing with children with disabilities?

Okay, so there's one cruise line that's fabulous.  The rest are slowly getting there, I will tell you, they're slowly getting there. Now I have had accommodations for beds, oxygen, wheelchairs, you can get all of those things on cruise ships, multiple cruise ships, I have, I have elder clients too. And they have COPD and they can't lie in a regular bed. So I have had success on multiple cruise lines for items like that beach wheelchairs, we can get those things. That's not an issue, those accommodations are easy. But for autism, one particular cruise line, I'll say Royal Caribbean, that their whole crew is trained not just in the teens camp or the kids camp, but their whole crew. You need to be forthcoming with that because let them know ahead of time, because we made sure of that and they made sure we could get walked off. We didn't have to stand in line. So it's not just your experience on the ship, but it's getting on and off the ship. Right. And more, more cruise lines are coming online with that too. But Royal Caribbean has been doing it longer. I know Jacob, he wanted to do the surf simulator. Yeah, not standing up, but he was laying down and he is verbal. But if he doesn't know you, and he doesn't trust you, he's not really going to talk to you. And so the guy thought that he didn't understand him. And he didn't speak English because he's Korean. I said he speaks English, he has autism. So he just said what to do in a different way. And it clicked with Jacob. And then he stayed with him till he was successful on the surf simulator.

Yeah, cool. Love it. Love it. Thank you so much for sharing that. And you know, the points that you've raised, Jenifer are things that probably most of us wouldn't really think about. Because as you mentioned, we have enough to be thinking about, the booking, the making sure we've, because it's usually the moms that are doing the packing, ensure we've got all the medications and the fidget toys and whatever else your child may need when they're going there. So just those little details, I think have opened up my mind to making a successful vacation. So thank you so much for sharing that. 

It's my pleasure. 

Jenifer, do you have anything else you'd like to share with our audience?

So I want to offer up a 2 things. I do have a free downloadable for families called The Ultimate Top 10 Travel Tips for Planning with Neurodiverse Children. You just have to sign up on my website---“ IamJeniferBreaux.com”.  I want to give that for free and there's also a packing list inside of that. So I want to yes, yes, yes. So I want to offer that up. The next thing is I wrote, I did write a book called Travel is Possible. And you can find that on Amazon, I think it's like seven or $8. It has some of these things, but it goes through type of travel modality. And it offers up a story that might be painful or silly for us. But it offers up tips for your family, it offers up the social story, and a list of fidgets that have been tried by my family. Okay, so the social story, I think alone is key for our families. 

Absolutely. 

And then and then fidgets. So I've done a lot of Amazon trial. And you know, they change. I don't know for you. But for me, they change. So I always keep it in a drawer as I'm headed out, so I can just change it up. So they might get bored with it one day and then try something new the next day. So every time we're going to church or out to a meal or I even added, I don't know if you do this, but these cards, Chick-fil-A used to give them out in their meals. And then I bought some from Amazon, but cards so we can keep a conversation going. So it's conversation with kids. And so I have to sift through because Noah, he's intellectually 4 so some of them is like, what's your favorite color? Or why is it your favorite color? You know, something like that.

Mm hmm. Cool. Thank you so much. So I just want to point out to our audience who are going to be going to your website, I encourage you to go there. Jenifer is spelled with just one N so J E N I F E R and Breaux is spelled B R E A U X. So Jenifer Breaux, IamJeniferbreaux.com. So yes, head on over there and pick up those tips that are tried, tested and true.

So Jenifer, you shared where we can find you on your website. Are there any other places we can find you?

Oh, my socials. Thank you for that. Yes, my socials. It's the same. IamJeniferBreaux. So I'm on Facebook, YouTube, I'm getting my YouTube channel up. So I hope to be operating. I have a few videos. And oh, Instagram, and Pinterest. I have a lot of ideas on places, like Peru, I just sent several people to Peru, and places I've been like Costa Rica.

So love it. Awesome. So Jenifer, before we conclude our conversation, and it's been a pleasure working with you today and chatting with you, I'd love to hear some words of encouragement from you to other moms and parents who are raising children with special needs. What message of hope?

You have to have hope. Listen, you're not alone. There are more and more of us every day. And I would like you to just know that you know, today might not be the brightest, but there was something positive today, either you got a smile from your child, you gave your son or daughter a smile and they smile back at you. Maybe your win today was that they gave you a thumbs up, or that they got on the bus today. And you got them off to school today. That's a win. Our wins look differently. But they are wins. They are wins. And don't judge yourself by your neighbors. I just ignore whatever the neighbors are doing because I don't really care. That's me. But I spent three decades in the military. So I don't care what they're doing. Your kids are warriors. And you are warriors. You're battle tested. And you're ready for anything. We've already done the things right? So your wins. You have a win every day. Your kids got up, they smiled, you smiled. Maybe they didn't smile, but you got them on the bus and you got them to school. And that's a win. It is a win and take your wins. You're a warrior.

Yes. No matter how big, no matter how small, celebrate them all. 

Yes. Oh, I love that. I love it.

Well, Jenifer, thank you so much for being here with us today. I so appreciate the tips that you shared with us. And I'm really hopeful that with this information that more parents will think about how they can make their vacations more sweet, more memorable, and be intentional about making it fun for everyone.

Thank you so much, Valerie, I just adore you. And I appreciate you having me on and giving me the opportunity.

No problem at all. It's been a pleasure. So audience, I want to remind you to:
Live with Intention and to Embrace the Journey.