Welcome to my SMP website. Here you will find plans for an inclusive summer camp designed to help children and adolescents learn and reinforce social skills such as 
cooperation, communication, conversation and friendship skills. As a camp counselor I saw therapeutic potential in my experiences at a sleep away camp. Working as a special needs counselor, I often found myself reviewing social skills with my campers and helping through the friend making process. My goals in desgining this summer camp were to
maximize the therapeutic opportunities a summer camp presents
base my recommendations on a semester of research
to create an environment of inclusion, mastery and friendship
My research and camp design can be found throughout this website. A good place to start is by reading my research paper.
Background
- Even with frustrating therapy, some children are still not considered “normal” or “acceptable” by their peers.
- Social skills are a low priority in some therapies.
- Children with developmental disabilities may find themselves inexperienced with making and maintaining friends and peer relationships, or even being a contributing member of a group.
- Summer camps offer a unique opportunity for social, physical and developmental growth in a friendly and safe environment.
- Since 1885 summer camps have been taking children in to the wilderness for adventure, nature appreciation and environmental stewardship
- While summer camps may not be specifically designed to foster positive social relationships, friendships and cooperation are key in the functioning of the group as a whole.
I intend to design a therapeutic summer camp with the goals to promote positive social relationships and growth in an inclusive environment. Using friendships and constant, isolated group interaction to our advantage, children with and without disabilities will be encouraged to participate in new activities designed to promote positive self esteem, social development and physical development. The first aim of the summer camp is to provide a happy and positive summer experience. Secondly, the summer camp will incorporate therapies such as therapeutic horseback riding, sports, social skills training, creative projects and outdoor activities to reach each camper.
Click Here to download my research paper.
American Summer Camps
- Summer camps are an American invention of the late 1800s
- In 1861, Fredick and Abigail Gunn ran an all boys home school. They took the whole class on a two week camping trip that was so successful that they founded the Gunnery camp which continued the camping trip each summer for 12 years. This camp, which ran all boys’ camping trips, is the first recorded example of a children’s summer camp in the United States.
- Camp Dudley is the longest running summer camp in the United States today. Founded in 1885, this all-boys camp teaches responsibility, friendship and environmental stewardship.
- In 1910 the American Camping Association (ACA) was founded to create a standardized model of camps designed for youths, as camps in the United States grew in number, popularity and attendance. This organization was successful after its founding, and in 1948 the ACA adopted about 300 Standards which are the criteria on which accreditation is based. These standards are accepted as the only industry standards and are recognized by courts.
- Today summer camp in the United States usually consists of children ages 6 to 18 voluntarily leaving home for a time period during the summer months to spend time at a camp facility. There are over 12,000 summer camps in the United States today of which 7,000 are residential camps.
- The time frame of each camp session varies from a weekend stay-over popular with girl scouts, to one seven-day session to an all summer eight-week camp session. The longer sessions are held during summer when most American children have a break in their school schedules. The eight-week camp session is losing popularity for various reasons, including cost and the popularity of family travel during this time.
Including Children with Disabilities in a Summer Camp
When children with disabilities attend a summer camp, their family has a choice in the level of specialization that is devoted to camper disabilities in a camp. In a segregated summer camp, only certain disabilities and levels of functioning are allowed to attend camp.
A segregated camp also includes camp settings where only children of normal functioning are allowed to attend. These are rarely the case in the United States because most camps admit children with ADHD. The other option for summer camps for children with disabilities is an inclusive summer camp where children of all abilities attend and are accommodated to the same camp where everyone participates in the same activities in some way.
According to the Canadian Camping Association’s (CCA) Inclusion Training and Resource Manual (1995) inclusion in a camp setting includes admitting campers with disabilities, advertising to the public that the camp accepts children of all abilities, having trained and involved staff, valuing the individual abilities of each camper, and finally, including campers both physically and socially in all aspects of a camp setting”.
In a 1997 study, parents listed the benefits of children attending an inclusive camp as “learning about diversity, children learn about each other, increases in communication, learn socially appropriate behaviors, increases in self-esteem, development of friendships, and social skill development”
Current trends in the United States show a move towards inclusive camps and away from segregated camps.
There is no clear indication of when inclusive camps started, but there seems to be a shift that started in the 1980’s in America. There also appears to be no clear registry or list of all inclusive camps in the United States.
Special Needs of Children for Participating in Summer Camps
In addition to the regular needs of a child in a camp setting, children with disabilities have more requirements for a safe and fun camp experience
Self esteem – encouragement and sensitivity
Schedules & Routine – maintaining a clear and timely schedule
Homesickness – recognizing signs, keeping busy
Safety – adaptive equipment, clarifying rules, accessible buildings
Camp as a Therapeutic Setting
Adventure Therapy - using adventure and exploration in a safe environment as part of the therapeutic process. therapy is roughly as effective as conventional therapy with the same positive benefits seen from outdoor education as from traditional counseling individuals are presented with a perceived physical or emotional risk, and they must overcome this risk through appropriate actions. The benefits of adventure therapy are that the risk creates a positive behavioral change to overcome, and the individual can learn through debriefing how to apply what they have learned to daily situations in their own lives
Group therapy – treating two or more people together for a similar problem. Group members have similar therapeutic goals, and they all work together constructively to achieve that goal through free expression and sharing during meetings In a camp setting for instance, peers of the campers maintain the normal social rules, therefore a camper’s growth is appropriate outside of camp and in other peer settings as well. In a camp setting, a camper may see that a particular risk is overcome by someone they perceive as less physically capable, leading to improved belief in themselves related to the task.
Overall Benefits
Benefits of including a summer camp are numerous and overwhelmingly positive for children of all abilities who attend camp.
improve self esteem in children and adolescents, even in the long run
learn responsibility
improvement in depression and eating disorders
break for families leads to increased cooperation when they return
friendship & cooperativeness
