Resources for summer camps?

lite-bright · February 2013

I'm starting to look at summer camps & therapies for DD1 for planning purposes and although Google is being pretty helpful, I'm wondering if there are any databases for searching states for that kind of thing?

Anyone have any suggestions?

lite-bright · February 2013

Auntie --

Thanks for the ideas.

I'm torn between looking at mainstream and something more therapy-based. We may try at least one of each and see how things go. She almost certainly will not qualify for ESY because she's not in danger of regression -- she didn't last year, and she's even farther along now. Last summer we did a sort of summer-preschool type thing at our rec center during the last month of the summer -- we've often had good luck with classes there, but this one, the staff was basically expecting to be babysitters doing crafts and had no clue how to handle non-typical kids. She did okay, but it was a rather unpleasant experience on my side and I'm still feeling a little burned. I think a better situation for both of us would be something where the staff has at least some kind of early childhood training, or at least are more proactive about working with DD1 vs. tolerating her. Which considering how a lot of camps are staffed, may mean we lean more toward something with professionals around.

Since she won't be receiving school services over the summer, I really want to beef up what we're doing privately for those few months. I'm hoping we can swing at least 2-3 weeks of camps plus more therapy visits. Every time we pass a horse, she mentions wanting to go riding again; so I'm looking at therapeutic riding, but DH thinks we should focus more on social skills-based activities if we're forking out the extra $$ for therapy-based camps, because that's her biggest area of deficit. I'd love to find something that involves birds -- you're right, she'd have a blast with that.

I'm finding, though, that five is still on the young side for a lot of options. Many camps in general have a minimum age of 6 and/or completed kindie, so I'm doing a lot of digging on what's available and likely to be a good fit and workable budget-wise. The prices on the autism-specific camps make my eyes bug out, but some of them there's a chance that we can use some FSA funds or possibly get partial reimbursement from insurance in order to swing one if we decide that's the option we want to pursue this summer.

d.f · February 2013

I been thinking about this too. I did a trial run single day camp at the Zoo on Monday. I emailed ahead of time and printed out the email to give to the staff at check- in. They were very receptive to SN. B had a blast. I think he charmed a few of the teenage girls and probably got a lot of their attention. Two of the teenage girls and one of the actual staff members separately told me he did great at pick up. I think we're going to do a week this summer. I was also thinking about the nature and science museum but the session I think he'd be most interested in (space) is already full.

I have the same feelings about the rec center camp. I'm still considering it because B really did enjoy it last year and still talks about it. Plus how cheap it is. I'm not sure I can handle the constant negative reports though and I'm afraid he'll pick up on it more this year.

Another mainstream in our area is Sunflower Farms. They're more expensive than some of the other programs. I haven't heard specifically about their camp programs but we visited last summer and B loved it.

I haven't started looking into ASD specific programs yet.

It's supposed to snow today. It feels odd planning out the summer.

AgrippaRidesAgain · February 2013

DS has had trouble at the rec center preschool like camps in the past, because here they are typically staffed by teenage girls under the direction of a single adult for all of the classrooms. It's rowdy, loud, and craft/water play based. DS hates getting wet, so the entire experience was kind of a bust.

I just discovered that the state park near our house has a Little Junior Ranger program for 4 to 6 year olds though. Th ey appear to have a real curriculum, and actual structure coupled with lots of outside time, so I think it will be a good fit. As DS likely won't have a diagnosis or IEP by then, and he DOES experience regression in the summer, I am going to talk to the program director/counselors about specific concerns and what has helped in the past.

Anyway, that is what we are thinking of for this summer. Maybe you could look for similar programs out there?

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