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Preparing for school and religious holidays

School holidays and religious festivals can be a time of great celebration with family and friends gathering in homes or going away to mark the occasion. Whilst a time of joy and togetherness, these events can present challenges for autistic people.

Being away from school, or away from home and regular routines can be a source of anxiety. Where school days provide structure and routine, holidays and religious festivals are often a disruption to those structures.

In addition, religious festivals may come with different sounds, sights, smells and tastes that are out of the ordinary. For autistic people who have sensory processing challenges this can be difficult.

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When preparing for holidays, it’s important to keep the autistic individual in mind and think of ways to make the events as accessible as possible for them.

Preparing for a special occasion

There are a number of things that can be done ahead of events to support individuals. Starting preparations early is key, so you have time to explain clearly what is going to happen on the day and understand which elements might be more challenging and therefore need adjusting.

Visual timetables/calendars are a great tool to support with this. The visuals may include things like outings, timings, who they might see each day, what activities will be happening etc. This should be personal to the individual and can be as brief or detailed as is helpful. Download our visual story for an example of how you could structure this
Give time to process information. If sharing visual supports, introduce them early and keep revisiting them to help with understanding. If it helps, you could do a countdown of the days to help prepare
If helpful and where possible, allow for days of rest in between busy days and schedule breaks during busy days. These occasions can be overwhelming and tiring so adding in time for rest is important for emotional regulation
Educate or remind friends and family members of the individual’s needs and how to support them. If there are certain parts of the day that they will be using as a break or specific activities they won’t be taking part in, let people know so everyone knows in advance

Further resources

Going on holiday factsheet

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Visual resources factsheet

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Adjustments to make celebrations more inclusive

There are lots of small things that you can do to make celebrations more accessible for autistic people whilst ensuring they’re still as involved as they want to be.

Have a safe/quiet space for when they feel overwhelmed or tired. This could be another room, or just an area where they have their favourite toys or games
Have other food available. If the celebrations involve food that isn’t part of their regular diet, have some other food available in case they don’t want to try it
If you’re doing games or activities make them accessible so that everyone can join in together
Have a safe person(s) for them to go to for support
Make sure any sensory accommodations are available when needed e.g. ear defenders pr fidget spinners
If the individual is starting to become anxious or overwhelmed by a certain situation e.g. busy crowds or loud environments, give them time in their safe space and see if they want to return at a later time