[momraine]

I am looking for fun places to take my 8 year old who is in a wheelchair. He has no legs and only one arm. Six flags we tried, but they won't let him on most of the rides. We tried bowling and he got bored. Mini golf was not very accessable. Many meuseum exibits, even in children's museums were hard for him to see from his chair. He is easily bored. I am thinking a zoo would be a good place, but where else?

[aMarylandfamily]

Knoebels Amusement Resort Site Map

Knoebels, located in rural Pennsylvania, is an amusement park but much simpler than those of the nature of Six Flags - along with admission being free it has a variety of rides/activities from simple to the thrillers - you can wander throughout the park with ease and get close enough to the rides (should your other kids want to ride some M can't but he will be able to communicate with them from the sidelines thus being part of it to a point). Most of the sections of the parl can be seen from any point - thus your kids can go on different rides at the same times and be monitored by you at all times - waiting lines are much better too!

The National Zoo is Washington DC, again with free admission, is absolutely amazing.

I love both and I'm the adult!

[momraine]

Those sound great, but a little far away. He totally hates watching other people do things he can't do. We can't afford to fly anywhere with six of us, and driving more than a few hours with all the kids makes us crazy. He has come a long way in his attitude, but he still whines when he is bored. His whining gets on the other kids nerves and then they are all fighting. Part of the problem is the age split in my kids. My high schooler is not interested in much that an 8 year old would like. My older three and dh have season tickets to six flags over Texas because a friend works there, but I did not bother for me and M since the time we took him he couldn't ride anything but the baby things and he hated it. So I am trying to find fun things for him and me this summer on the days they go.

[qs mom]

Do you have a water park? That should be ok, some body slides - they only require your body, and the others are usually ridden on a tube. And the lazy river is fun!

A hands on zoo would be fun too! Does he enjoy petting the animals? How about an aviary? Or butterly museum? Our zoo has a lorikeet landing - you can feed them a nectar from a cup. They will sit on your hand, head, arm, and got to town on that little up of nectar. The owner of my son's preschool, had a lorikeet sit on his shoulder and stick it's tongue in his ear! It was funny to watch - glad it wasn't me!

I visited a marine museum once that had a touch pool. Everything was as kid level. They could touch anemones, starfish, some other cool things I don't remember.

If you are ever in Rochester, NY you need to go to the Strong Museum of play. They have a grocery store, the kids can do everything - place grocer, cashier, stock shelves. Everything is kid size and level. They have Sesame Street. They have a craft area, reading area, classic toy museum, butterfly conservatory - that isn't very handicap accessible that I remember. But really most of the rest is, and it is fun!

I live in WNY, we have a sled hockey team for kids. l not sure if that would work in TX or with only 1 arm. Forgot about that!

We went to a caverns once. It was fun. The caverns weren't handicap accessible, but the kids got to do some 'mining'. I bought a big bag of rough, and they had to 'pan it for jewels'.

what is he interested in? Does he have a special interest - dinos?

[momraine]

We have tried water parks and they won't let him on the slides, cause he is too short. He is also too small for inner tubes. The only things he seems to like are TV, video games, legos (I wish legoland were closer) and dressing up in hero costumes and playing with anything that resembles a weopon (swords, guns, light sabers, etc) He does do challanger baseball in the spring.

[DPline]

I may be way off in left field here, and if so just ignore me, but since I saw this yesterday I have been wondering if he would enjoy attending wheelchair sporting events. (If there is anything within a reasonable distance from you.) We used to go to wheechair basketball games that someone my Mom worked with played in, and I know there are other sports - tennis, hockey, etc. I am wondering if you could find fencing or something like that since he is interested in weapons. I know you said that he hates watching things he can't do, but maybe seeing what he possibly could do would inspire him? (Not sure if any of those things he really could do, but maybe?)

[momraine]

We have tried to get him involved in some. He plays baseball on a special team. He can't do wheelchair basketball and has no interest in watching any sport. He gets cranky at football games and when I asked him about watching a wheelchair game he got mad and said no. I have not found any of the other sports around here. The one arm stops him from doing several, he can't drive his chair and hold anything because he has no lap and he has no second hand. There is a group that does camping and other sports things for people in wheelchairs, but when my husband took him he became obnoxious and had to be the center of attention and drove dh nuts. His natural personality is one that wants to always be the center of attention and combine that with his RAD, which gives him a need to be in control of all adults in area, he can be pretty annoying. I am hoping I can get dh or my oldest son when he gets his liscense to take him back to some of these. My health problems keep me from being able to do a lot of those camping things.

[crick]

What about the local theatre? If he likes dress up and "fight scenes" etc., and I know he has a flair for drama... Maybe he'd really take to being on stage and just being involved with the summer theatre company. If you don't have one, is there a Y or rec center that puts on plays etc.?

Another idea is to try some of the smaller museums/historical sites. We have taken 1-3 hour trips from home and googled everything in site around the general area we were going to. A lot of the historical sites and places are really interesting to my kids because it's so different than the mainstream stuff. Since they aren't that busy really and are run by people truly passionate about the history involved, they take a lot of time to answer all the questions and let the kids be interactive etc.

Hmm...this IS a challenging quest!

[momraine]

He doesn't like to watch plays. Last fall I wanted to put him in a children's theater, but he said he would only go if he could pick his part and if he could decide what to say on stage. At school he is in plays, but they have had to start giving him walk on parts only. If he is on stage when anyone else talks, he will start doing hand stands and other silly stuff to get the attention back on him. He also always is sure to change at least one word from the script. So now he only gets parts where he comes on, says a line and goes off. He is also not allowed to be backstage becuase he will sneak out onto stage to try to get the attention. A natural born ham with the Rad need for control makes for an interesting combination. Plus the fact that his pysicial differences attract attention anyway. He is getting better so maybe this summer we can try the theater camp. We don't have a communitee center or Y, the town is too small, but we have a small theater, that is actually where dh and I met.

[cecalo]

Do you think he'd like boating? Canoe rentals aren't too expensive. During the summer places will rent out boats, and you paddle/ float downriver. The outfitter will pick you and drive you back to your car. We have a sailboat. Although your DS couldn't sail by himself, he could still go out on the boat and help crew. Places that teach sailing may be able to adapt/ make opportunities for him.


Does he like sledding? Can you go down with him and pull him back up the hill? We pull our toddler back up, but she doesn't weigh that much. We also pull her in a sled on hiking trails in the winter.

[momraine]

He's been out in canoes and lasted about five minutes before he was bored. I do think he would love sledding, but we live in Texas so no snow. We did get involved in some outdoor stuff for the disabled, but he was still at a stage where he wanted all the adults attention and so it made it hard for everyone else to enjoy it. He is a lot better now, so we may try that again soon.

[Lylac]

I don't know how close you are to any of these, or if M would be interested.
Texas Travel Guide for Fun Family Vacations in Texas

It has a very impressive list of things to do, just don't know how accomodating they would be. Shoot I'd love to visit alot of them myself.

[momraine]

Thanks, I will look at the list. I think his problem is mostly that he is one age chronologically and cognatively (8) but emotionally he is more like 4, and his size is closer to that of a four year old too.

[athikers]

This summer we took Pixie to a place called "Bounce Depot". It had lots and lots of inflatable games, ball pits, mazes, etc. And there were a variety of sizes of equipment, so though he might have to be on some that was designed for slightly younger children... he might still have fun!

[sues250]

does he qualify for Special Olympics? They might have some ideas for sports he would like.