Autism Camp starts tomorrow

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Autism Camp starts tomorrow
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Sun, 07-23-2006 - 11:21am

And I am nervous. For the first time EVER Mike will be going to an activity like Camp without me. He has a 1:1 who is a special ed teacher that DH knows from his district. He says she is pretty good and typically works with more severely autistic kids. She has a nose ring which will likely go over well with Mike. It could go either way. Either he will think it is really interesting and cool or he will think it is very weird and not like her at all. His 1:1 at school has eyebrow rings and a motorcycle and he does well with her. Hopefully he does well and doesn't start to panic about going somewhere new or something I failed to prepare him for when we get there.

The 1:1 was supposed to call me yesterday about his behavior plan but never did. I did get an email from her with the schedule and I can write it up for Mike to prepare him. Crossing my fingers.

Each kid has thier own 1:1 and every day they go on field trips and swimming. It should be alot of fun for them. I hope it is a positive experience for him. Mike is going to 5th grade camp in the fall (with his teacher and aide) but other than these experiences I don't see him going to camp.

I did get a call from Cait's counselor. She should have a great time. Her own young woman to talk to nonstop for the week. Cait loves to talk to adults and if she has the sole attention of her own for a week she aught to really like that! We had to send in a form about the kids and part of it was what are thier interests and reinforcers. I just wrote "animals". So this lady asks what kind of animals..real, toys, stuffed. And I just told her "All of the above!" They are going to the zoo on friday. Cait will love that!

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Sun, 07-23-2006 - 9:15pm

I hope they have a great time. :)

Samantha

Samantha
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2003
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 11:39am

Let me know how your kids like it. Jason is going the 7th - 11th. He should enjoy it, but at the same time... he might feel too controlled with a 1:1 aide... he has never had one.

Katie

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 9:08pm

Mike loved it, Cait seemed to like it ok but not as thrilled. She says she liked it.

There was another counselor who was injured and is out for the week so they ended up grouping Cait and Mike together with one person. The 2 of them got along great today and kept migrating toward each other since they knew each other. They also were the 2 oldest in the group. Hopefully they keep it up. I was very glad to hear how well they did.

In hindsight I would likely sign up Cait for the teen camp or the Aspergers camp rather than the regular autism camp. Most of the kids were younger and boys (only one other young girl). She enjoyed hanging out with the counselor but I figured that would be the case anyway. The Asperger camp is thier first week back to school.

Isn't the 7-11 the teen week?

Mike had a great time and found a couple other boys he would enjoy hanging with. One had a bionicle and that really caught Mike's fancy. It was definitely worth it for him. Next year I will sign him up for this camp and Cait up for the other week.

Renee

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Registered: 02-20-2001
Tue, 07-25-2006 - 8:11am
I am glad they had a good day and hopefully the rest of the week will follow.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 07-25-2006 - 9:21am

Yup, poor Cait. One things she knows for sure is that she is a rare person. She is actually quite proud of it most of the time but sometimes she really misses having some girls around. We really know only 1 other girl in town that is truly AS and she is about 3 years older. Then there is Maryann's dd who we met once and she is also a few years older. The numbers for AS have boys outnumbering girls by about 10:1 so even more than the usual 4:1 with autism in general.

There is a girls teen social skills group neary by that I will sign her up for. She should like that.

Renee

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Registered: 08-22-2003
Tue, 07-25-2006 - 10:57am

Renee ~
The teen week is the following week - 14-18 and that is the Asperger's Week, but unfortunately I couldn't get him in that. I think that he will have fun no matter what... he likes camps. I did talk to the head counselor a couple of weeks ago telling her my concerns about him being with a 1:1... and she was all for just assessing the situation on the first day and seeing if instead of a 1:1, he can be almost a peer helper. He will more than likely the oldest one at 13. He is very self-sufficient and likes to help people. My mom took him with her when she took her kids from her class to Legoland because there was a kid in her class that was just diagnosed with Asperger's and he helped out alot. Surprising!

Hopefully he won't be too burned out from Boy Scout camp this week -- it is always nice for him to get away for a week. Scoutmaster was very proud of me this time -- he layed down the law on the last campout and told me NOT to help him pack. If he forgets something -- his fault not mine (he had told some of the younger scouts "Don't worry if you forget something on camping trips - the adults will always help you"... so we will see how it goes... hehehehe

Katie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 07-25-2006 - 12:50pm

Oh that is right. The teen week was thier first week of school and the aspergers week is the first full week of school. Bums me out!

I should have signed Cait up for the 9-14 yo group. She is 12 so the oldest of the 6-12 group this week. She is also quite tall so the other counselors thought she was a helper not a camper. She liked that ok.

We'll see how today goes. The drive is too darn long to SD for them. It took over an hour again today and by the time we got there Mike was off the deep end and the 2 of them were bugging the heck out of each other.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2003
Mon, 08-07-2006 - 5:03pm

Renee ~
Well, I dropped off Jason this morning at camp. He seemed a little concerned... maybe a little out of it. Could be because he had been up since 530am... he went into work with me until we had to leave. Someone said hi to him.. but I was talking to Meredith his aide, so I don't know who it was. This is the first time he has been around anyone with Autism, especially the more severe cases. I don't know if he will be ok with that, or if he will act out. I can't wait to talk to him about it today.

Katie

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-10-2006 - 5:14pm

Katie,

How did it go? I have been out of town since Monday and I have been wondering what your experience of the camp was. How the teen week was, etc.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2003
Thu, 08-10-2006 - 6:10pm
Oh boy Renee.... it has been an interesting week for Jason. He is having fun hanging out with Meredith and her boyfriend... but he says that he kind of stays by himself. He says that he is very nervous around the other kids... but remember he has never been around kids that severe. He has never been in a Special Ed class before in his life, so it is a little heartbreaking to see him tense up when he gets there.

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