Leslie McLeod
The last day of school is just two weeks away. Summer is almost here. For many children, this means it is time for summer camp. Summer camp is an exciting experience where youth participate in fun activities and meet new people. Summer camp is beneficial to all children, including those with special needs. This experience provides children with different opportunities to develop important life skills that are difficult to achieve in any other environment.
What are these opportunities? Let’s start with the life skills opportunities. To become a successful adult, a person needs skills in areas such as communication, collaboration, creativity, leadership, socialization, and problem-solving. These areas are fostered in the camp environment. Camp provides children with the opportunity to try new activities. When children are successful in these activities, they build self-esteem. Children are challenged and encouraged to grow every day. While camp can feel overwhelming for some (example: individuals with disabilities), many summer camps provide a camp experience with activities that are structured for their needs. This allows them to feel comfortable in a safe, fun and nurturing environment.
Another great opportunity is unplugging from technology. Today's children spend more than 7.5 hours a day engaged with technology. This decreases the chance of children engaging in hands-on activities and socializing with others. With most summer camps banning most technology, this gives children a break from electronics and gives them the opportunity to communicate face to face. At camp, there's plenty of time for play, which helps children with social and emotional development.
Summer camp also gives children the opportunity to “reinvent” themselves. Many children attend school year after year with the same peers. This can lead them to be labeled and be viewed differently than what they would prefer. While at summer camp, they meet different people in a different environment. Attending camp allows children to “find” themselves and become who they truly want to be. This allows individuals with cognitive or physical disabilities to overcome social obstacles and find fellowship with others, both with and without disabilities.
Along with confidence, summer camp also promotes independence. Being away from parents means that the child relies on themselves and other adults and peers. This allows the child to think independently, building their self-esteem. This may mean additional support staff for children with special needs. However, summer camp can broaden their worldview by exposing them to other people and activities. In fact, many times, these summer camps can also expose kids without special needs to special needs children, expanding their worldview, too.
Luckily, we have summer camps that are offered right here in Madison County. Madison County 4-H offers a variety of camps held at Camp Cherry Lake over the summer. Among those camps is 4-H BUDDY Camp.
4-H BUDDY Camp (Building Understanding of Diversity with Dynamic Youth) is a camp structured for the needs of kids with developmental disabilities. This year marks the fifth year of 4-H BUDDY camp. Because of the various needs of each child, parents are asked to attend. A.S.K. 4-H Club believes every kid should experience camp, regardless of their abilities and needs. Due to the high cost of sending both a parent and child, A.S.K. 4-H Club holds various fundraisers throughout the year to send local children with special needs to 4-H BUDDY camp for free. They are currently asking for donations and sponsors.
If you are interested in sponsoring a local child with special needs to go to camp, please contact me at ask4hclub@gmail.com for more details.