Preparing a neuro-divergent child for an overnight summer camp is a multifaceted endeavor that requires careful planning and collaboration among parents, clinicians, and camp staff. This preparation not only ensures the child’s comfort and safety but also maximizes the social-emotional benefits that camp experiences can offer. This article outlines best practices for preparing your child, delves into the social-emotional advantages of camp participation, and provides guidance on what to avoid saying, doing, or packing for camp.

Best Practices for Preparing Your Neuro-divergent Child to Be Successful at Camp

1. Research and Select an Appropriate Camp

Begin by identifying camps that specialize in or are experienced with neuro-divergent children, such as those with ADHD or who are twice-exceptional (2e). These camps often have tailored programs and trained staff to support your child’s unique needs. For instance, Camp Sequoia offers evidence-based strategies to enhance social skills in 2e children with ADHD.

2. Foster Social Skills Development

Prior to camp, engage your child in activities that promote social interactions. This can include role-playing common social scenarios, practicing conversation skills, and encouraging group participation. Such preparation can help your child navigate the social landscape of camp more effectively.

3. Establish a Routine

Camps often follow structured schedules. Acclimating your child to a similar routine at home can ease the transition. Implement consistent wake-up times, meal times, and activities to mirror the camp environment.

4. Communicate with Camp Staff

Provide detailed information about your child’s strengths, challenges, triggers, and effective coping strategies. This collaboration ensures that the staff is well-equipped to support your child. Ensure that the camp leadership is experienced and staffed appropriately to meet the needs of your child.

5. Visit the Camp in Advance

If possible, arrange an in-person or virtual visit to the camp before the session begins. Familiarizing your child with the setting can reduce anxiety and build excitement.

6. Pack Comfort Items

Allow your child to bring familiar items from home, such as a favorite stuffed animal or a familiar blanket. These items can provide comfort and a sense of security in the new environment. Many camps will have luggage shipped in advance of the start of camp so that camper spaces are set up ahead of time to make the camp environment more familiar.

Social-Emotional Benefits of Camp Experiences

Overnight summer camps offer a unique environment that fosters significant social-emotional growth, particularly for neuro-divergent children.

1. Development of Independence and Self-Esteem

Being away from home encourages children to make decisions independently, manage daily tasks, and navigate new social settings. These experiences can boost self-confidence and a sense of autonomy.

2. Enhancement of Social Skills

Camps provide structured, extracurricular activities where youth are engaged with friends and have adult emotional support. Psychologist Nansook Park has described these types of programs as being important to help youth flourish and have a higher life satisfaction rating.

3. Reduction of Anxiety

Engaging in new activities and forming friendships in a supportive camp environment can alleviate feelings of anxiety. A meta-analysis indicated that young people attending overnight summer camps self-reported lower levels of anxiety immediately after their camp stays.

4. Building Resilience and Coping Skills

Facing and overcoming challenges in a camp setting teaches resilience. Children learn to cope with setbacks, manage emotions, and adapt to new situations, skills that are invaluable throughout life.

Guidance on What to Avoid

To ensure a positive camp experience, it’s crucial to be mindful of certain actions and communications:

1. Avoid Overemphasis on Potential Challenges

While it’s important to prepare your child, focusing excessively on potential difficulties may heighten anxiety. Instead, highlight the exciting opportunities and positive aspects of camp.

2. Refrain from Last-Minute Changes

Sudden alterations in plans or routines can be unsettling. Maintain consistency in the lead-up to camp to provide a stable environment.

3. Do Not Pack Prohibited or Unnecessary Items

Ensure you adhere to the camp’s packing guidelines. Avoid sending items that are not allowed or that may distract or overwhelm your child.

4. Avoid Negative Language About Camp

Expressing doubts or negative feelings about the camp can influence your child’s perception. Maintain a positive and encouraging attitude to foster enthusiasm.

5. Do Not Overload with Activities Before Camp

Over-scheduling your child with preparatory activities can lead to burnout. Balance preparation with ample rest and relaxation time.

Conclusion

Preparing a neurodivergent child for an overnight summer camp involves thoughtful preparation, clear communication, and a focus on the child’s strengths and interests. By taking these steps, parents and professionals can help ensure that the camp experience is enriching, enjoyable, and conducive to significant social-emotional growth. Finding the right camp home for your child can be a transformative experience that transcends the summer.

–Brian Lux is the owner/director of Sequoia programs, which operates camps in PA and HI geared specifically to social and life skills development. His research-based approaches have been presented at the World Gifted Conference and the International Conference on ADHD.

Foodservice at Camp

What comes to mind when you think about ‘camp food’? Hotdogs and marshmallows roasting over a fire? Burgers on the grill? Perhaps even brown mush on a standard-issue cafeteria tray? How do camp dining options reflect the growing number of food allergies in Children (up 50% in recent years) When looking at finding an appropriate camp for your child, it is important to know that the foodservice offerings reflect the allergen needs of your child. Does the Camp have a ServeSafe food allergen certified staff member to coordinate allergy needs and concerns?

Kid- Friendly

“Broccoli? Gross!” Sound familiar in your home? As many parents are aware, it can sometimes be difficult to get a child to try new things, and many campers struggle with sensory aversions to specific foods. However, camp should help campers take a culinary adventure and try new things by making food fun and positively reinforcing adventurous food options: even if it’s just a bite of something new! If you haven’t heard of the Rainbow Challenge, campers strive to get (and try!) more colorful foods on their plates to win the challenge. Having regular snack times to accommodate campers whose medications sometimes make it difficult to eat on a regular meal schedule is an important kid-friendly consideration.

Hydration

Between basketball, gaga, archery, outdoor skills, soccer, and hot summer days, it is important that the summer program you choose has a hydration plan. This acknowledges that staying hydrated is vital for our active campers to stay happy and healthy while enjoying their summer experience. In addition to water coolers, and water bottles while out and about at their activities, what procedures are in place to make sure that kids are property hydrated at each meal. This helps with both hydration for the sake of replacing fluids, but also because many of the medications that kids take work better. Check out this research published by the NIH.

Healthy

Research shows that additives in junk food have the potential to negatively impact our campers and can exacerbate pre-existing conditions, so it is important that Dining Hall staff are camp collaborators to provide numerous healthy and nutritious options for campers during the summer. Having available plums, apples, oranges, and even mangoes regularly available, along with the open salad and soup bar can help kids make better food choices. When combined with protein-rich entrees, every meal provides well balanced dining experience. Interested in a sample camp menu that models this? This sample menu provides a key variety of offerings at camp. Variety is important in every diet, as studies have shown. With deli, salad bar, buffet options, breakfast spread, fruit selections, and grill line, every camper can get a balanced and nutritious meal during their summer experience to set them up for success well beyond the walls of the dining hall.

Special Diets

Have a camper with vegan, vegetarian, kosher, gluten-free, dairy-free, allergy-specific, or other dietary restricted diet? Be sure to communicate this with the Camp Director, Dining Hall supervisor and medical staff before enrolling in a camp to make sure that they are realistically set up for your child to be successful. Can you bring special food to accommodate dietary needs? Are there allergen alerts for common food allergens posted with all menu items? Can your child find a variety of options that meet their needs at each meal, or will specialized dietary needs lead to limited and repetitive choices? A good camp dining hall is prepared to accommodate dietary needs for all campers.

–Brian Lux and Reema Dixon

Brian is the owner/director of Camp Sequoia whose work has been presented at the World Gifted Conference. He is a licensed K-12 gifted educator dedicated to the whole person growth and support of exceptional populations. Details about his program can be found at www.camp-sequoia.com or by phone at 610-771-0111. Reema Dixon is the associate director at Camp Sequoia and the ServSafe Allergen liaison for camp.

Just as schools, public and private, publish staff to student ratios, many camps provide prospective families with these numbers as an indication of supervision over the summer. When looking at these numbers it is important to keep several key questions in mind. Sometimes foodservice, maintenance, custodial and grounds keeping staff are included in these ratios, and savvy parent will delve more deeply into the numbers.

While certainly schools, or camps, count upon and value the good work of these support staff, their level of training and direct involvement in the life of your child may be different from trained education or human service professionals whose primary role is student or camper interaction. In general there are 7 basic questions to ask to determine if the staff and staffing ratio reflects the “ground truth” of who will be working with your child.

1)What staff members are included in the staffing ratio? This means, “ Do the secretaries and nurses count? What about the laundry staff or the dining hall folks?

2)Does the program use junior staff (counselors in training, junior counselors etc.) and are they reflected in the supervision ratio? Are high school students used as supervision of your child? If so, what is the supervisory structure for these junior staff?

3)What is the average staff age? While this isn’t a perfect metric, it can certainly speak to the culture of a program. If the average staff age is under 21, the camp will certainly have a different level of life experience in working with kids than if the average staff age is closer to 30.

4)Are the supervisory staff all college graduates? How many of the leadership team work with the population served by the camp in a year-round capacity as teachers, social workers, counselors etc.? Do they hold or are they pursuing advanced degrees?

5)How long is staff training? What assessments are used to determine staff mastery before your child arrives? Does this training include certification in Crisis Prevention, First Aid etc.?

6)What is the ratio of staff applicants to staff hires? This will give you an indication both the desirability to work at a given camp as well as the competitiveness of these positions.

7)Are there multiple background checks for staff (including an FBI fingerprint check) as part of the routine staffing process? Most states require background checks, but it is important to know that all due diligence is being taking to maintain a safe community. Pennsylvania, for example, requires 3 background checks including an FBI fingerprint check on all staff working with kids at camps or schools.

Each camp situation and camper population is different, but knowing the right staff questions to ask will help you make the best decision as to where your child has the greatest potential for success. The time and effort spent in building a quality-trained staff is fundamental to setting our campers up for the ability to become their best selves.

–Brian Lux, Camp Sequoia

Brian is the director of Camp Sequoia whose work with exceptional populations has been twice presented at the World Gifted Conference. He is a Crisis Prevention Instructor and licensed educator who has spent the last two decades dedicated to training superior camp staff to make meaningful and profound differences in the lives of kids. Details about his resident camp program can be found at www.camp-sequoia.com or by email at office@camp-sequoia.com