Autism and Vacations: How Wings for Autism Helps Illinois Families Take Flight with Confidence
A free airport rehearsal program is making autism and vacations a much easier mix for families across Chicagoland
For many families, booking a flight is the easy part. The hard part is everything that happens before takeoff: the crowded terminal, the unpredictable security line, the pressure to stay quiet and still in a boarding area full of strangers. For a child with autism, those unknowns can be enough to keep a family grounded entirely, even when a trip means seeing grandparents, attending a wedding, or simply taking a vacation like any other family.
Wings for Autism, a free program run by The Arc, a nonprofit advocacy and resource organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, lets families rehearse an entire airport routine, from check-in through boarding, without ever leaving the ground. Families in the Chicago area can access it directly at O’Hare International Airport. Organized locally by chapters of The Arc, the program gives families with autism a full airport rehearsal, from check-in through boarding, without ever leaving the ground, so vacations feel possible for every family.
What a Wings Event Actually Looks Like
During a Wings event, children and their families move through the same steps as any traveler. They check in and receive real boarding passes, pass through TSA screening, wait in the gate area, and board a parked aircraft, all with airport, airline, and TSA staff standing by to help. There is no flight and no pressure to get it right the first time. The point is repetition: giving a child the chance to move through an unfamiliar routine enough times that it stops feeling unfamiliar.
The program traces back to the Charles River Center in Massachusetts, which created Wings for Autism in partnership with the Massachusetts Port Authority1 . Since then, chapters of The Arc across the country, including here in Illinois, have adapted the model for their own local airports.
A Program with Chicagoland Roots
Families in the Chicago area do not have to look far for this kind of practice run. The Arc of Illinois has organized Wings for All events directly at O’Hare International Airport, held in the United terminal with airline and TSA staff on hand to walk families through every step. O’Hare has hosted similar rehearsals for years. Twice annually, American Airlines has partnered with Clearbrook, a Northern Illinois nonprofit serving thousands of people with disabilities, to run an Airport Experience and Mock Flight event for local families.
A rehearsal like this walks a family through the full sequence in advance: checking in, getting boarding passes, going through the metal detector and security screening, and finding the gate, all before the pressure of an actual departure is on the line. Practicing each of these steps ahead of time turns an unknown sequence into a familiar one, and gives families a clear sense of exactly which parts still need more practice before the real trip2 .
Why Rehearsal Matters for Autism and Vacations
Sensory sensitivity is common among people with autism, and travel environments tend to concentrate every trigger in one place: bright lighting, unpredictable noise, long waits, and a routine that looks nothing like an ordinary day. Programs like Wings for Autism address this the way many behavioral strategies do: by breaking a stressful, unfamiliar sequence into smaller steps a child can practice and master before the moment actually counts.
That approach lines up closely with the strategies our RBTs and BCBAs use every day, building comfort with new routines gradually, in a structured setting, before asking a child to handle the real thing. A morning at the airport, even one where nothing takes off, is its own kind of therapy session.
Bringing It Home for Westside Families
If airport anxiety has kept your family grounded, Wings for Autism can help get you off the ground. The Arc of Illinois periodically hosts events at O’Hare, and families can sign up for advance notice through The Arc’s national alert list as new dates are announced3 . Westside’s clinical team is also happy to talk through practice strategies you can use.
Want to talk through travel strategies for your child? Call Westside Children’s Therapy at 815-783-2544 or reach out through our contact form. If this post was helpful, consider sharing it with another family who might be planning their first flight.
Clinically verified by Morgan Pawula, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Westside Children’s Therapy
