‘Wings for Autism’ helping families practice travel with their child with autism

Hundreds of families packed Logan Airport Saturday for the twice-annual Wings for Autism event.

“The program is designed for kids with autism or related disabilities to come and practice a trip to the airport,” said Jennifer Ryan, who founded the program in 2011 “We do every step of the process besides flying so kids can practice and parents can see things that might cause some anxiety for their child or what parts they need to maybe practice a little bit more.”

Ryan said 800 people were registered for Saturday’s event. Families check-in and are given a boarding pass, go through security, wait at the gate and board an actual airplane.

“I have parents in Puerto Rico, she has family in Thailand, so for us this is really helpful to acclimate him to just going through the process of going into the airport and sitting on the airplane,” said Yari Ayala, of Somerville, who attended the event with his wife and his son who has autism. “I think it’s really helped him. He’s done it like a champion a couple times.”

Wings for Autism events are held in April and November every year.

“Parents get to do this completely free of charge,” Ryan said. “The airlines, airport and everybody here is a volunteer, so that they can experience this without buying a $2,000 trip and then having it fail.” For more information on the program, click here.

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