The beginning of Summer Camp

 I am so happy that we continue to stay open!  We were fortunate to stay open throughout the Pandemic which was a life saver for many of our parents.  As a parent of a son with Autism, I can tell you that closing down would not have been beneficial.  Learning online was not an option for most of our students and therefore let's just be THANKFUL that we were able to help out our families.

Camp started on the 28th of June and wow, what a great week we had.  We split our campers into age groups and skill levels.  Though you will never find 2 kids with ASD the same, we do try to keep kids that have similar skill sets with each other to ensure that groups can be run more easily.  Students that have higher needs, will be paired accordingly but we will always try to give them as much individual attention as they require to keep them motivated.

This year we made camp t-shirts for our kids using the Cricut!  Yes, in fact, we used Cricut Design Space to help us design what we wanted on our shirts, we purchased the iron on materials we required, cut them out and voila! Great shirts!  


Let's get on with it........ Camp is and should always be a lot of fun.  We keep it fun by breaking up the day in small periods to allow our students just enough time to practice skills before feeling like they are working too hard.  It is important to remember that your kids/campers should be reinforced often otherwise they may feel they are working too hard.  When I say fun, that doesn't mean not educational.  Most of our campers do not know that we are keeping their minds active while playing.  Here is an example of some activities that we may participate in....


Sample of our Schedule

9:00-9:15am            Campers arrive and go to their lockers
9:15-9:30am            Campers have found their rooms, put away their snacks and lunch bags and used the
                                bathroom.  At this time, we take part in "calendar" (morning calendar activities). We talk                                    about the weather, the days of the week, the season etc.
9:30-10:00am         Social Skills Daily Activity
10:00- 10:15am       Snack

10:20-11:15              Outside if weather permits. Physical Activity, team building
11:15- 12:00             Life Skills Activity
12:00-12:45             Lunch and Social Games
1:00-1:30pm             Activity
1:30-2:00pm            School Readiness 
2:00-2:15pm.           Snack
2:15-2:45pm           Journal Activity
2:45-3:00pm           Clean up


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