Cave Tubing with a kid with Autism

[wendygrace]

Has anyone done a cave tubing trip with a child with Autism? Or does anyone know of any of the tour groups that have smaller groups and are a more relaxed approach. Thanks.

[Fourseventeen]

The tours are all pretty much the same as far as they all have to walk about 30 mins to enter the water and all the tours will be floating down the same river. X-stream cave tubing does small 14 person (max) per group. We had the smallest group of only 9 people on the river the time we were there last. All the tours offer life vests though they are not mandatory to wear. How old is your child though? I wouldnt take him/her if the child can easily slide through the center of an innertube...just my .02cents. The tour does seem pretty safe and the tour guide we had was always keeping an eye on all of us to make sure we were with the group and doing ok. He was even willing to hold on to a tube of a woman who was a little scared for the first part of the river trip.

[wendygrace]

He'll be 9 and dd will be just short of 8. Thanks for the info on max amount. I'll have to take a look at them. 30 minutes isn't too bad and by then, he should be able to hike 30 minutes without a problem (we're hiking a lot in cub scouts). Thanks so much.

[SingingPixie]

It's a hard question to answer, because you know your child and what his triggers are. I will say that there is an extended period in the dark (not pitch blackness because you will have head lamps) and there is no way to get out of the river once you're in a stretch of caves. If he's high-functioning and you're confident he will stay in his tube, he should be fine- but if he has a tendency to want to run or melt down in new situations, it might not be the safest place to have such a thing happen.