Practice Plane Rides for Autistic Children at Logan Airport

Have a child with special needs and not sure how plane travel would go? Now you can practice at Logan Airport.

Logan has been hosting Wings For Autism events at the airport since 2011 and have helped over 5,000 families prepare their children for air travel with real life experience.

The program is designed especially for families with autistic children who may get anxious or stressed about travel by plane.

Through Wings For Autism, families can come to events at Logan twice a year to practice going through airport security and boarding an airplane.

The dress rehearsal allows them to get boarding passes at the ticket counter, check their bags, get screened by TSA and then actually get on a plane, buckle in and see what the entire experience will be like.

That way when the time comes to really travel by air, the children know what to expect and are less likely to become overwhelmed by the experience.

Parents have been raving about the program for years, but as Logan points out it is also a great opportunity for staff at the airport to become more aware of children with special needs and how best to accommodate them when they are traveling.

A Wings For Austism event was recently held at Logan, but as MassPort public relations employee Michelle McDermott tells Fun 107, the next one will be in April 2019.

You can keep up-to-date on these Wings For Autism events by checking in at www.charlesrivercenter.org in February for the next event date reveal.