Surviving Thanksgiving: Holiday Strategies for Outside-the-Box Kids

Thanksgiving can be a lot for any family. For outside-the-box kids, it can be a perfect storm. There’s travel and a disrupted schedule, a house full of people and noise, unfamiliar food on the table, relatives who expect hugs and conversation, and hours of sitting still. Then come the comments from family members who don’t understand why your child “can’t just behave.” It’s no wonder so many parents start dreading the holiday before it even arrives.

The good news is that most holiday meltdowns are predictable, which means many of them can be planned for. When you understand what’s going to push your child’s nervous system past its limit, you can build in the supports that help them, and you, get through the day with more ease and less damage control.

In this session, Jill Gitten Aloia, PhD, ABPP-CN, walks you through the most common Thanksgiving pressure points for outside-the-box kids and gives you a practical game plan for before, during, and after the holiday.

What we’ll cover:

After Dr. Jill’s talk, she’ll be joined by Lily Baiser, MS, OTR/L, for a live parent community Q&A. Bring your specific holiday scenarios, like the long car ride, the grandparent who pushes, or the cousin chaos, and Dr. Jill and Lily will help you plan for them.

You don’t have to make the holiday perfect. You just have to make it work for your family.