Name of Camp: One In A Hundred
Type of Camp (Overnight/day): Day Location: Camp site is at 2737 Techny Rd., Northbrook, Illinois Tell us a little about your camp? The One In A Hundred summer camp was established in 2009 to help children who have challenges establishing and maintaining friendships and develop social language skills. Combining executive functioning skill development, Social Thinking® skills based on the work of Michelle Garcia Winner and drama experiences, our campers learn how to share experiences with their peers in the best context possible -- a real, vibrant community of friends. Our camp is for youth who have such diagnoses as:
What are some things that are unique to your camp? Each daily lesson is constructed with the camper's' specific strengths and challenges in mind. Each camper's IEP, neuropsychological evaluations and other therapeutic reports are carefully reviewed in order to develop a program that best meets their needs be it an activity that challenges our campers to explore ways to 'trust' a peer through role playing or dynamic activities such as swimming or recess activities, or ways that other campers can support their peers in structured activities such as Tae Kwon Do or Yoga. We provide weekly written goal updates that are measurable and correspond to identified IEP goals. At the end of the 5 weeks of the camp program, a progress report is provided along with specific therapeutic recommendation. Weekly one hour group parent meetings with each camper's clinical specialist and speech and language pathologist providing a review of overall goal/theme of the week and specific strategies that are introduced. Our 2:1 ratio provides a unique and individualized approach to addressing specific targeted goals. What is a typical day like for a camper? Campers arrive at 9:00 AM. They are facilitated by staff to organize their personal items for the day. This includes hanging up their backpack, unpacking their lunch and depending on their "camp job" of the day, help bring the lunches to store in the refrigerator. From 9 - 10 AM direct instruction is provided in the area of social pragmatic language: e.g. social thinking skill development, self-regulation skills such as Zones of Regulation, perspective taking. The instruction is provided in groups of 5 campers and 2 and/or 3 staff. Individual instruction is provided to specific campers regarding individual daily schedules, review of specific goals and review of previous day's achievements. At 10:00 AM snack is provided which is usually fruit or Smart Pop Popcorn. Swimming at the YMCA which is directly across the parking lot takes place twice weekly. Once weekly Tae Kwon do instructors and a Yoga instructor comes to camp to provide direct instruction to our campers. During that time, parent support group/review of goals is facilitated by each groups’ clinical specialist and speech and language pathologist. Cooking club is provided to each of the camp groups where they learn to prepare easy recipes while practicing executive functioning skills such as organizing, planning and execution. Twice weekly the campers participate in "clubs" of their choosing where they are able to interact with campers and staff outside of their specific group. Whether it be Art Club, Outdoor Games, Lego/STEM club the campers are able to practice the skills learned during the direct instruction sections of the camp day. Drama specialists are an integral part of our program. The campers work with the drama specialists in developing their own skits and plays. In this schema, campers practice non-verbal language skills such as tone of voice, body language, facial expressions, reciprocal engagement and cooperation. At the end of the summer, each camp group produces their own play which is then provided to the campers on their on DVD as a reminder of their fun summer. Once during the summer the entire camp embarks on a field trip to a local bowling alley. Such fun is enjoyed here while campers practice team spirit, cooperation, thinking about others and empathy for their peers. How many staff and campers do you host in the summer? 30 campers 17 staff What is the philosophy of your camp? All of our camp activities are designed to deepen and broaden executive functioning with each camper improving his/her own individual skills while sharing fun, activities and making new friends. Our camp philosophy is to individually meet the social pragmatic language and emotional needs of each of our campers in a dynamic, highly supported therapeutic research based program. Progress is charted and monitored in measurable terms by clearly defined goals. What are growing challenges for your camp? Three growing challenges –
What are some things your camp does really well?
How long has the camp been with ACA Illinois? 4 years How long has your camp been accredited? 2014 – Re-accredited in 2017. Why do you choose accreditation? Our initial reason for choosing accreditation was to demonstrate to the community that we are a camp with high program standards and that we are recognized by a national organization, the American Camping Association. Going through the process the first time we also realized an important second reason – to ensure that important systems are in place and clearly understood by everyone involved with our camp. |
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