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For many parents, sending a child to summer camp for the first time can be an overwhelming experience, for parents of children with special needs, that decision can be even more frightening.
Albany mother of 5-year-old triplets Jennifer Steuer says she is torn about the idea of sending her children to summer camp. Steuer, who writes the Triple Threat column for Parent Pages, says while she does feel her children would benefit from having the interaction outside of the home, she fears the unknown. Of her three children, her daughter, Olivia, has severe nut allergies and asthma and her son Benjamin has Sensory Integration Disorder, epilepsy, muscle problems requiring braces on both of his legs, ADHD, allergies and is lactose intolerant. The thought of sending them to a camp frightens her.
“What if they can’t handle him? Would anyone recognize his type of seizures? Olivia can’t be near a bird feeder because of her allergies. Would they know this?” she asks. “The more we think about it, the more panicked we get.”
Steuer says she has looked into camps before, but she just isn’t sure she could trust a facility to do right by her kids.
“You come across as sounding neurotic and insane, but when you think about it, this is my child’s life that these people have in their hands,” says Steuer.
Sheri Townsend agrees. “It can be really scary,” she says, speaking from experience.
Townsend’s son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age 2. When her son was 3 and other children his age were starting preschool, Townsend wanted him to have the same opportunities as the other children but in an environment where he would be safe and could learn from peers and gain skills and strategies a program made especially for children with special needs but in an environment where typical developing children were also learning beside him.
Her son became the inspiration behind the Spotted Zebra Learning Center, a year-round preschool and summer camp program in Albany, which Townsend opened eight years ago. Knowing first-hand both sides of the coin as the executive director of the Spotted Zebra and a mom to a child with special needs, Townsend stresses the importance of taking the time to research a center thoroughly before making any decisions.
“I think it’s really important that you find out what the capacity of the camp is to work with your child whether they have had some training, what their staff is made up of Without the proper training, their way of handling something could actually exacerbate a problem,” she says.
At the Spotted Zebra Learning Center, there are typically three professional staff members in a classroom of 12 children, says Townsend.
Kelly Brock, the Assistant Director at the OB2L (Overcoming Barriers to Learning) Center in Albany, agrees that proper training is an essential ingredient to a successful program. At OB2L the staff is made up of mainly specialized counselors.
“We hire strictly people who either have a bachelor’s in a related field or high-school teachers because of our academic component. The staff is not high-school students,” says Brock.
OB2L provides two different summer program for kids with cognitive and behavioral challenges including an Autism Spectrum Disorder Day Camp and Busy Bodies Day Camp for children with attention deficit disorders, learning disabilities and other needs that often result in academic, social and behavioral difficulties.
“When the kids are having challenges, we have staff who are able to sit down and help with redirection and get them back on track,” says Brock.
Shannon Cherry of Albany, registered her 7-year-old twin daughters for a second year with the OB2L summer program. Cherry’s daughters have autism. Cherry is thankful her daughters are able to experience summer camp, and the fact that they are happy makes it easy to bring them back each day.
“I think it’s important to have people who really understand the disability and how it manifests differently in people,” she says.
Cherry says her twins look identical, but their autism is very different.
“It’s great that they look at them as individuals,” she says.
Both the Spotted Zebra Learning Center and OB2L are integrated programs, which mean there are typically developing children and children with special needs learning side by side. This way of learning, says Townsend, can be beneficial because the children serve as role models for each other.
On the other hand, programs such as the Clover Patch Camp in Glenville for disabled children and the Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne for children with life-threatening illnesses are more specialized programs accepting only children with specific diagnoses.
Barbara Anslow of Clifton Park prefers to mix it up a bit for her 6-year-old daughter with Down syndrome. Anslow’s daughter Isabella attends a specialized summer camp through her school but also takes part in other programs where she is included in regular activities with typically developing children.
“Her school does the summer camp program, but I try to break it up and let her do programs at places like Tiny Tots too because it’s fun for her. She gets excited and it’s different,” says Anslow.
Anslow believes this approach gives her daughter the chance to experience different things.
Summer camp provides children the opportunity to interact with one another, helps increase confidence and independence, and offers children the chance to take part in unique activities and build long-lasting friendships.
Camps designed with special needs in mind, whether integrated or not, do all of the above and more. Some camps combine learning environments, giving kids with behavioral or learning issues the chance to develop or continue important skills during the summer, and other camps made specifically for children with physical disabilities provide opportunities they may have never had before.
“A lot of the kids that come up here have never seen a horse let alone ride one,” says Tara Bogucki, Admissions Director at the Double H Ranch. “Things like that are pretty amazing to see.”
The thought of finding the right camp for your special needs child can be overwhelming, so where to begin?
Kids with special needs have almost as many camp choices as typically developing children; you just need to know where to look. The American Camp Association (www.acacamps.org) has an online listing of special needs camps broken down by type, cost, length of stay, location and ages. Disability organizations such as the Center for Disability Services (www.cfdsny.org) or specific organizations such as Autism Society (www.albanyautism.org) or the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York (old.epilepsyfoundation.org) can provide local camp resources. And, don’t forget “word of mouth.” You’d be surprised how many children in the Capital District attend area integrated and special needs camps.
Before you begin your search, ask yourself the following questions:
What do you want your child to gain from the summer camp experience?
Camps such as the Clover Patch Camp for disabled children are strictly recreational. The camp aims to give kids a break from a regular routine, get them out in nature, give them a chance to make new friends and create memories. On the other hand, Clover Patch’s Camp Spectacular has more of a therapeutic component to it, gearing the program toward children with autism spectrum disorders and helping them develop socialization, team building and leadership skills.
Does your child do best with children with similar challenges, or would you like them to be integrated with typically developing children?
The decision of integration programs versus specialty camps is a personal one. Parents may feel more comfortable with their children in a special needs camp because they may believe the staff is more knowledgeable about particular medical needs that may arise, and the camp activities may be geared toward the physical, mental or social challenges of the child. Other parents may like the idea of their child learning alongside a typically developing child.
Once narrowed down, it’s time to dig a little deeper. Find out who is in charge and what is their philosophy? What is the staff made up of professionals, college or high school students? Is the staff trained to handle medical concerns? Is the environment friendly for diet restrictions? What is the staff-to-camper ratio? How does the center handle parent communication? It is also important to schedule a visit to experience the environment first-hand and talk with staff and other parents about the program and facility.
With careful research, children with special needs can reap the same benefits and create the same long-lasting camp memories as any other child.