The Nonprofit Leader's Guide by Boundless

12 - Leave the Crocs, Take the Sunscreen

• Boundless • Season 2 • Episode 7

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Camps are as synonymous with summer as fireworks and BBQs, but for people with I/DD or behavioral health challenges finding the right one isn't always a day at the beach. On today's episode, Kelli James (Boundless Jumpstart program leader), Dr. Emily Newton (clinical psychologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital's Center of Autism Spectrum Disorders), and Melissa Lawrence (program and clinical supervisor at Nationwide Children's Hospital's Center of Autism Spectrum Disorders) join host Scott Light to discuss how to find the summer program that's the perfect fit for your loved one. 

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Scott Light:

Welcome everyone to Well-Being a podcast brought to you by Boundless and made possible by a grant from the city of Worthington. Boundless is a nonprofit that provides residential support autism services, day programs, counseling and a whole lot more to children and adults. Our mission to build a world that realizes the boundless potential of all people. I'm your host, Scott L ight. Okay folks, we are just about there. We're just about to summer. Really quick, rapid fire to our guests. Kelli, your favorite thing about summer

Kelli James:

Hiking

Scott Light:

Melissa?

Melissa Lawrence:

Camping.

Scott Light:

Emily?

Emily Newton:

Playing outside with our daughter.

Scott Light:

Love that. All right now let me introduce you to the people behind the voices. You've just heard. Kelli James is the Jumpstart program leader here at boundless Kelli, welcome to you. Thank you. And we welcome back our friends from Nationwide Children's Hospital. Dr. Emily Newton is a clinical psychologist at the Center of Autism Spectrum Disorders at Nationwide Children's Emily, welcome back.

Emily Newton:

Thank you.

Scott Light:

Melisssa Lawrence is a program and clinical supervisor at that very same center. Melissa, hi to you. And welcome back.

Melissa Lawrence:

Thank you. Thanks for having us back.

Scott Light:

So a lot on tap this summer. I'm sure for all three of you. And for our listeners. We've got everything from hot weather, there's probably a family vacation or to plan for a lot of our listeners, and lots of free time for the kiddos. Let me repeat the last one a lot of free time for the kids. So this episode is about keeping them busy, entertained and yes, learning with summer camps and summer programs. Emily, why don't you start us off? So broad question here. What should parents look for in a summer camp or summer programs?

Emily Newton:

Sure. I think the first thing is one that fits your child's interest. So one that would be motivating to them, but also one where there's opportunities that can be adapted to your child's needs.

Scott Light:

Okay, Melissa?

Melissa Lawrence:

I have to agree with Emily interests. Number one, if the child's not going to be happy at a place, it's not going to be beneficial for anyone to be motivating. And then third, I would say to what works best for the family unit. So if it's not driving 45 minutes across town, or finding that perfect fit that will meet everyone's needs and family.

Scott Light:

Okay, Kelli?

Kelli James:

I agree with both of them, and also having the opportunities to be outside as a big one for the kids. So they're not stuck inside all day. And having a staffing ratio that meets their needs the best.

Scott Light:

Nationwide also has some really good lists on your on your website. Questions to ask about programs and camps, preparing for camps and things like that. Well, Melissa, what about that? What questions should our listeners be asking?

Melissa Lawrence:

I think when you think about your child, what matters most to them? So is it? What happens if there's a storm? Is there an inside opportunity for them? How much focus is going to be spent on structured versus unstructured time? And then even down to the necessities of my child has an allergy? How do you manage that or my child has a medication need? How would you manage that?

Scott Light:

Okay, Emily?

Emily Newton:

I think also asking the staff about inclusivity and programming are training that the staff are offered ahead of time, I think that can be really important.

Scott Light:

Kelli, what about questions?

Kelli James:

I definitely think that the families need to be asking about the activities that will be included in the program. And if they meet the specific needs of the child, for example, if they have a mental health condition that needs to be addressed, if they have the support there from the staff, if they've been, like Emily said trained in those procedures. Also, if there are special considerations such as medical needs, that's definitely something to take into consideration if the facilities have the means to accommodate their child.

Scott Light:

Kelli, let me follow up with you in this respect. Tell us more about the Jumpstart program. This is an eight-week therapeutic program for kids and adolescents, ranging in ages from five to 17. Again, this is really innovative here. This program that Boundless does tell us more about it.

Kelli James:

Sure. So our program, like you said is from five to 17. And it's broken up into two age groups. We have a group for ages five to 11. And then another group from ages 12 to 17. Each group is run by a licensed therapist or a qualified mental health specialist. And they're supported by behavior technicians, we keep our ratios really competitive where the staff has a ratio of one to four if we can, or two to eight, we only allow up to eight kids in each age group to make sure that we can meet the specific needs of each kid.

Scott Light:

That's really good. And this is only the second year of the program, right?

Kelli James:

Yes, that's correct.

Scott Light:

And it's very, very popular from what I understand.

Kelli James:

It is extremely popular Larry, we've had referrals from over 50 families starting in October. And as of April, we are full for our program.

Scott Light:

Wow, we're gonna come back and talk about Jumpstart. And that'll be threaded through our conversation here for sure. To prepare for this conversation, I read up on all kinds of camps and programs out there, and I was looking for some commonalities. And And here's one that, that I kind of put it in bold and my notes and Emily, Melissa certainly chime in here. A commonality that I really underscored is find a program that is a fit for your particular child. And Melissa, you hit on that just a minute or so ago. Can Can you expand on that a little bit?

Melissa Lawrence:

Yeah, absolutely. There are certain programs that are more outside and then other programs, there are more programs that are more athletically oriented than other programs. There are more programs that are like the Columbus Zoo has a great summer program. And theirs is a little bit more oriented and learning as well as fun and recreation. But finding what your child's desires are for their kind of recreation, or their time off from that structured educational setting that they have through the year would be important.

Scott Light:

Okay, Emily, what about finding that fit?

Emily Newton:

Yeah, I think one of the things that comes to mind is adaptations if your child has, like physical adaptations that are needed. And this topic is actually pretty near and dear to my heart, because a summer camp is why I got into this field. I was a buddy at 13, and a camp in Cincinnati for those with different disabilities. And that has always been something that's really stuck with me is the way that they made adaptations depending on what the child needs. So those physical adaptations, like Melissa said, if there's going to be time outside, are there ramps to certain places? Or if a child can't walk for long distances are their benches to stop and take a break?

Scott Light:

How do you bring this subject up? Especially if you have a child that's on the spectrum or in the I/DD community? How do you bring this up? In this sense? Do you leave it as an open ended question? Hey, what type of summer program would you like to explore this summer? Or do you phrase it as Here are four choices? What would you like to explore of the four? How do you broach that conversation?

Melissa Lawrence:

I think we do it both ways. Through our center at least, we have a list that we work with a lot of different organizations to compile that list out all of the different summer camps. So Boundless is actually one of the ones on our list. At Nationwide Children's Hospitals Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, we have three different summer camps that range in age from three to 20 for persons and adolescents and young adults and kids with autism and I/DD to be served. So there's different levels of interest. There's different programs that they can match. But then again, we work with programs that we know are getting the training and support that's needed, that both of the my other, the other guests here have talked about being so beneficial and necessary is finding that program that's going to have enough support to allow people with unique needs or unique learning opportunities to be successful in them.

Scott Light:

Kelli, can you jump in there?

Kelli James:

So when parents contact me, they do often have specific questions that they have about their children. And I'm able to answer their questions on what we are able to offer, we do have the space to be able to accommodate a lot of different needs of different children. And if they are unable to be served by our specific program, it is something that we take into consideration for the next year to ensure that we have the staff who could serve that child in the future.

Scott Light:

What about that choice conversation? Emily?

Emily Newton:

I think it's asking the parents what they're looking for. And so if a parent was asking me for recommendations for summer programming besides emailing Melissa and asking for help, because she has the biggest brain I know on this topic, I usually go with well, what are you looking for from your child? Or for your child? Is it about the hours because you know, being a working mom myself? If a camp was nine to 12? I'm not sure how I would stop my day to go pick them up. So is it hours? Is it activity? Do you have somebody who can go with them? So I think coming back to choices, what are you looking for first and then bringing opportunities to the table and allowing those parents to investigate and feel comfortable sending their child there.

Scott Light:

Not to bring back stress in any of our lives. But I want us to think about walking into a new classroom go back to when we all walked into a new cafeteria for the first time. That's stressful. And even though you know, summer vacation or summer camp is supposed to be fun. That first day, that first moment of walking in can be stressful, right? How do we bring down that anxiety that stress for our young ones?

Emily Newton:

I think having parents communicate ahead of time So, communicating to the staff how their child communicates if they're in a high stress situation, or if they're upset, not every child is able to verbally communicate those things, but also communicating with the staff about preferred items are motivating. So if their child isn't wanting to participate or is nervous, they could use a token economy like a token chart, or they could talk about what's coming up next to motivate their child. Staff don't know that intuitively about each and every child. So the more parents communicate upfront, it's not being too verbose or overdoing it, the more you communicate, the better success your child's going to have in those stressful situations.

Melissa Lawrence:

I also think that adding in meet and greets, the Columbus Jewish Center does a fantastic job of having an open house for their camps, which is wonderful, we kind of piggybacked on that we've been running our summer camps now for about 20 years. And we do that. So we have an open house where people get to come and see the camp, get to meet the teachers or the camp, instructors get to meet the other people in their groups. And it just really helps then for that first-day jitter, to say, "Hey, I recognize you" or get a number or exchange or something along the lines where you can line that up that way.

Kelli James:

I also think you can incorporate things like Emily was saying, as a precursor to the camps, such as social stories to prepare them for what they could expect at the camp. Also, when our kids will come to the camp, they'll be led through things using bit visual schedules, and expectations and being introduced in a very structured way with one another so that they know what to expect out of the camp.

Scott Light:

Let's come back to that meet and greet. That's really good. I just hadn't thought about a meet and greet kind of pre-camp, so to speak.

Melissa Lawrence:

Oh, it's wonderful. You get to pick up your T-shirt, you get your backpack, you get all the kind of cool knick-knacky things, you get an opportunity to see what the camp environment is going to be like. And it's just so settling for both the children and the parents to have that connection, to know who to contact, or who is my child going to be with. Because, Scott, a lot of times, the anxiety comes more from maybe the parents side of this is the first time my child is going here. Or it's something different than the school year of someone who I've built this trust with all year, and they're only going to be there for six weeks with them. So how do we work on that? And building that relationship?

Scott Light:

Melissa, you've led me right to my next theme, and

that is this:

How do we help parents deal with that stress of you know, saying goodbye to maybe a little one for the first time at a summer camp or summer program?

Emily Newton:

I think if parents know who they can communicate with, if they're nervous midway through camp, who is the administrative person that they could talk to asking, you know, Can I Can I watch them walk away? Or do I have to just do drop off from my car, whatever makes you as a parent feel comfortable? Ask an advocate for those things.

Scott Light:

Kelli, what about bringing down the stress level of mom and dad.

Kelli James:

Like Emily said, I think having that open communication and having a person that you can reach out to if you have any concerns is definitely important. And that's something that we stress with Jumpstart is that they do have my contact information that if they have any concerns, and also that they are having open communication regularly with the staff who are working directly with their kids is extremely important. And also just letting them know what we're working on at camp. So they have a better idea of what their day looks like. So they can follow up with their kids and say, Oh, what did you do today and have those open ended questions to really gauge how their day went and learn more about what they did at camp.

Scott Light:

Kelli, you also mentioned something else I want to come back to you were talking about being outside. There were some other commonalities that I found and in reading up if there are some programs out there spent outside, two things here, folks, tennis shoes, and sunscreen, so leave the crocs and the flip flops at home, right?

Kelli James:

Yeah, that's right. Yes.

Melissa Lawrence:

I definitely think leaving the crocs at home is a good one. We can ask my oldest about his ankle breaking experience with crocs at summer camp.

Scott Light:

Oh, boy.

Melissa Lawrence:

Yeah, not a good one. Um, but I think the sunscreen, I think making sure that they can hydrate. I know that a lot of children with autism may not prefer to drink water. So what's a drink that you can get them to drink? That will keep that hydration levels high. And then I also think about tailoring sunscreen, or re-application of sunscreen as needed is a good one.

Emily Newton:

So I read something recently that talked about focusing on your feet. And I think that goes beyond just the footwear. It's about being aware of your surroundings where you're walking, and that's something that parents can practice ahead of time. So typically, summer camps have different terrains if you will, then like a school hallway or the carpet at home. So practicing watching your feet or whatever verbiage you want to use, like look at the ground look around you is important. Ahead of entering into that summer camp,

Scott Light:

Nationwide Children's as is often the case, boy does the research for all of us, I was checking out your website and it says overall, the risk of injury at camps, it's low. And it really compares to similar youth activities out there, like sports or like playing at your, your neighborhood playground. As a matter of fact, injuries happen most often during scheduled camp activities that are supervised. What else should parents know about injury prevention?

Melissa Lawrence:

Well, I think you know, knowing your child, so if there are possibilities of allergens or insect bites might be an issue. Knowing about that, I think, knowing if your child is prone to kind of sinus headaches, or heat exhaustion, knowing that. And then I think working on a plan with your child and with your child's counselor or camp staff, to create a plan that's going to best meet their needs to avoid those things.

Emily Newton:

And I think this is where knowing what training the staff get can be really important. So if you know that the staff are CPR trained, or they all have first aid kits in their backpacks, that can be more reassuring to a parent than if not.

Kelli James:

and that is something to touch on is that our staff are all CPR and First Aid trained.

Scott Light:

Kelli, the Jumpstart summer program, it is very popular, but again, can only take so many people talk about that balance of exposing the program to a wider audience. But again, making sure that it's focused and making sure that it stays effective.

Kelli James:

We definitely want families to know about our programs so that they have the opportunity to contact us and enroll their child in the program, we really want to make sure that families who need that continuity of services. So we do advertise to the community with our fliers, but we also like to discuss it with our families who are currently enrolled in Boundless and again, provide that continuity of services for their children, we like to really focus again on that ratio of staff to children, where, if possible, it is one staff member to four children, up to two to eight children. And we really focus on the individual needs of the children. And so we do have our days split up additionally, where we focus on the mental and behavioral health during one session with the licensed social worker. And then we also have a focus on communication and social skills for another session.

Scott Light:

And jumpstart, it's already it's already full, right?

Kelli James:

Yes, it is full. As of April.

Scott Light:

You've got a waiting list out there.

Kelli James:

Yes, we do have a waiting list. And so I am still encouraging families to reach out to our intake department or to me directly to be put on that waiting list. Our schedule is also a full day from 9am to 4pm, Monday through Friday, and it is for a full eight weeks. I do encourage families if they're interested in our summer programming to reach out as soon as possible in the year. Because as as we see now, our numbers are really high and that the families are really wanting this service. And we wish we could take more kids. But we do want to want to make sure that our services remain individualized.

Scott Light:

Emily, Melissa, what do we need to know about the plethora of Nationwide Children's camps that are out there and all the programming at Nationwide Children's.

Melissa Lawrence:

So I'm going to talk just about our programs. Right now through our Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, we actually are not full. But unlike Boundless, we only offer half days and for five to six weeks. Our first one is our summer buddy camp program. It's for children aged three to 10. The unique concept with this one is that we partner children with autism, with typically developing peers so that there's a friendship factor that we really work on building and fostering. As part of that everyday camp experience. Taking the kind of instruction and the guidance away from adult support and putting it on that the next campus or camp arise. It's for kids 10 to 16. Again, we've got openings and that one that one takes place out in the New Albany area. And with that one, it's really focused on building recreation and leisure skills again for those young adolescent teenage years. So we do field trips with them. We take them into the community, we're building that communication and those more teen-type experiences for for young adults. And then our final camp through our center is called I work. It is a very unique experience. It happens July 5 through August 4, where they actually it's Tuesdays and Thursdays where they learn vocational experiences. And then they actually go into community and practice some so my favorite thing was a couple years ago was at a doggy daycare. So they learned all about the different jobs at a doggy daycare. And then the kids were able then on that they did it on different days before but on that Friday, they would go in and they would work in the doggy daycare. They also did it with Donatos pizza, and a couple of their great organizations that let her kids come in there for that vocational and that training experience, as well. And just job sample.

Scott Light:

That sounds really cool.

Melissa Lawrence:

Yeah, it's one that we're really proud of.

Scott Light:

Sign me up for the Donatos kitchen assignment.

Melissa Lawrence:

Oh, they got the free pizza. Oh, I know.

Scott Light:

Heck yeah. Pepperoni to the very edges.

Melissa Lawrence:

Yeah, that was our last experiment. They got a big pizza party at the end. So it was a great way to end. And that camp.

Scott Light:

Let's button up our conversation this way. I asked each of you rapid fire what you're looking forward to this summer. Melissa, remind me what do you say?

Melissa Lawrence:

Campaign?

Scott Light:

Where are you going?

Melissa Lawrence:

We're going down a Corolla. And we have a place on the beach that needs four wheel drive and wild horses come up to our campsite. So we're looking forward to it.

Scott Light:

Alright, that's really cool.

Melissa Lawrence:

Thank you.

Scott Light:

Kelli, can you top that one?

Kelli James:

No, I'm going hiking, not anywhere super exciting. But I love taking my dog to the metro parks.

Scott Light:

And we have outstanding metro parks, don't we? Yes. So fortunate. Good for you. That's awesome. Emily, remind me of your summer plans,

Emily Newton:

Doing things with our daughter. Oh, she has just found a true love for slides. She just turned two the slides and swings. So we're going to do a park extravaganza. Check out all the slides and swings a little girl can do.

Scott Light:

That's terrific. Well, let's hope it's a fun interactive learning and safe summer for everyone out there. Emily, Melissa, you're all veterans now. So come back anytime to our podcast and Kelli you have an open invite as well. Thank you all for joining us to our listeners. Thank you as well. And don't forget to our listeners you can be part of episodes to come email us your questions or comments at podcast at I am boundless.org This is the wellbeing podcast brought to you by boundless