HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — "Everyone Deserves to Travel". That's the name of a new book by Jenifer Breaux, a local woman who specializes in planning vacations for people with neurodivergent family members.
Breaux learned these lessons firsthand. She and her husband have two neurodiverse children and they've traveled quite a bit. Now, she's hoping to make travel possible for all families.
"And then a year and a half ago, I felt it from God," Breaux said. "I felt it in my heart that this is what I was meant to do."
After retiring from the military, Breaux turned to travel. She helped people plan dream vacations. But with two neurodiverse sons, travel for her own family was difficult.
"But it got better and it got easier and I learned from that," Breaux said.
So, she's sharing what she's learned with other families, for several reasons.
"We need that break. We need that mind break, but we also deserve to create memories with our families," Breaux said. "We deserve it too. They deserve it. Our families deserve it, our kiddos deserve it."
The planning starts with questions.
"What are their needs? What do they want to experience? What is important to them?" Breaux said.
Then she creates what she calls a social story.
"You have pictures of the resort. You have pictures of who's going with you on that. Then you leave lines in there that you could fill in of what he wants to take.," Breaux said. "Put a calendar in there. They're going to go by plane so let's put that in there."
She says the story then reads like a book and helps them prepare for the trip.
"So that he's (Breaux's son) not scared. He knows exactly what's going to happen," Breaux said.
Less anxiety means more fun for everyone.
"Then they can focus on creating memories together," Breaux said.