A clear, simple guide for families.
Part of the AISK — a free library of practical SEND guides · Read, share and print freely · sendexpertsathand.co.uk/aisk
The long break, music festivals, beaches and busy places — and how to make a holiday restful.
Three things that apply to everything in this guide
Ask who it’s for. Is this the thing your child will enjoy, or are you doing it because of what other people will think? Both answers are allowed, but asking changes what you decide.
Make it predictable. Show your child what is happening in whatever communication format they understand, and take their communication tools with you.
Tell people in advance, and get it in writing. Venues, hosts and organisers can almost never help on the day, but can usually help weeks ahead.
These are covered properly in our guide to days out and getting there.
A long break is wonderful for most families and genuinely difficult for some. It isn’t impossible — but it goes considerably better with warning, a plan, and a way out.
Six weeks is a long time, and the pressure to fill it is considerable. Timelines fill up with other people’s beach days, castles and theme parks, and it is easy to end the holidays feeling you didn’t do enough.
You almost certainly did. What most children with SEND need over a long break is not more activities but the right ratio of them — and what most families need is a holiday that doesn’t leave everyone more exhausted than they started.
So plan the downtime first, before the outings. Put it in deliberately, in the same way you would put in a trip. A quiet day after a busy one isn’t a wasted day; it is the thing that makes the busy day possible.
Six weeks is also a long time to go without the structure school provides. Keep some things identical while everything else changes — the same breakfast, the same bath time, the same Friday film. Familiar anchors cost nothing and give your child something to hold on to in a period where very little else looks the way it usually does.
It is also worth remembering that a holiday nearby is still a holiday. Long journeys and traffic cost more than families expect, and for many children the travelling is the hardest part of the whole week. Nobody photographs the recovery day. It is often the most important one in the week.
When you book, say what your child needs rather than naming a diagnosis — a quieter room, a room away from the lift, a fridge for medication, a kettle, or a ground floor. Hotels can rarely fix these on arrival but can often arrange them weeks ahead. Many families find self-catering easier than a hotel, and a washing machine is worth more than a sea view.
If bedwetting is a possibility, pack a mattress protector plus disposable bed mats and pull-up pants. They save both worry and, occasionally, a bill for a ruined mattress. For an older child who has outgrown children’s sizes, small adult incontinence products are widely available from pharmacies and supermarkets.
Portable blackout blinds — the sort that fix to the window with suction cups and fold away into a bag — are one of the cheapest and most effective things you can take. They deal with light summer evenings, early mornings and thin hotel curtains, and they make an unfamiliar room feel considerably more like home. Add whatever else your child’s sleep depends on: their own pillow or bedding, a familiar night light, white noise, ear defenders.
Music festivals are far more accessible than many families expect, but the provision is finite and the deadlines are real.
The usual process is that you buy your own ticket in the normal sale, and then apply to the festival’s access team using their application form. What is typically available:
Access application deadlines are often weeks or months before the event, and vary enormously between festivals — so apply as soon as you have tickets rather than waiting. Evidence requirements vary too; some accept a short statement of need, others ask for documentation, and an Access Card is frequently accepted.
The charity Attitude is Everything works with UK festivals on access and publishes ratings under its Live Events Access Charter — a useful way to judge how seriously an event takes this before you commit.
If your child would struggle to say their own name, or wouldn’t remember your phone number, plan for separation before it happens rather than after.
This guide is one of a series produced by SEND Experts at Hand to help families support their child with confidence. Its companions are days out and getting there and celebrations through the year. For advice tailored to your family, book a 1:1 advice session.
The Academy of Inclusive Skills and Knowledge is a free library of practical SEND guides, written by SEND Experts at Hand for families and the practitioners who work alongside them. No sign-up, nothing to pay.
Also in the AISK for families: plans, meetings and paperwork · starting school and other transitions · communication · regulation and behaviour · sleep · days out, holidays and celebrations · making sense of the SEND system
SEND Experts at Hand offers 1:1 advice sessions for families — assessments, meetings and funding panels, without the jargon. A free introductory telephone consultation is arranged by email.
sendexpertsathand.co.uk/contact
Independent SEND consultancy for education settings and families.
