Blog #511: Why Summer Camp is Essential to Maintaining a Routine for Neurodivergents?

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"Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the sunshine? Are you ready for the birds and bees, the apple trees, and a whole lot of wheeling around?"

- South Park Season 14, Episode 5 "Crippled Summer."

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With the temperatures getting warmer and with summer already in full swing despite not being officially summer, school will be letting out for the next few months and for many neurodivergent students, it is the end of a routine that they have had since August or September:

Get up

Eat Breakfast

Go to School

Learn Lessons

Go Home

Do Homework

Eat Dinner

Go to Bed

All of a sudden, they don't know how to process this sudden, yet expected yearly routine. If closing the book on one school year was one thing, the anticipation of the next school year is another. While most families will go on vacations or road trips to pass the time, there is an option that can help neurodivergent students maintain a routine that would have during the school year and that is summer camp.

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Take it from me, I did three tours of summer camp after 6th grade and 7th grade at Moses Brown School in Providence, RI and before my junior year of high school in Charlestown, RI. When I first was sent to summer camp, I didn't want to proceed with the idea because I had already gone through the school year and I needed to have a break mentally.

But there was a reason for me to go to summer camp and it wasn't just because of maintaining a routine. My folks and support system from Seekonk Public Schools wanted me to try and be socially interactive with others. This is because after all, you never know who you might run into at summer camp.

However, there is something else that I would come to later understand in life that my family had to make a living and being a pre-teen, I couldn't stay home by myself all day long. Now, I get that some of you reading this are pre-teens and say that you can take care of yourself.

But, before you say that summer camp is not for you, you have to understand the benefits of going in the first place: you are maintaining your routines from school and at the same time, you are freeing your parents or guardians to let them do their own thing such as going to a job that puts food on the table. Furthermore, in a sense, you are continuing your education at summer camp, just not in the traditional sense.

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It also helps to reassure the individual who is resistant to go that a close friend or group of friends are going as part of an effort to ease the tension. Remember again, summer camps enable to maintain not just social contact, but also existing friendships. But there is a challenge that comes with summer camp and that is on a daily basis there are large gatherings of fellow campers that can cause tension to build and lead to a sensory overload.

When I did two out of my three tours at Moses Brown, I remember we had large gatherings at snack time and again at the end of the day. I remember feeling anxious, but I had to mask my emotions because I had to go along with the flow. Much like with school assemblies, the individual can have an escape plan if needed to escape the large gatherings of campers. Perhaps there is a camp counselor specially trained to work with neurodivergent individuals and the school can work with that counselor to get the student the ability to do an early stage right exit.

Plus, it's also important to remember that large gatherings are recommended, but not mandated for everyone. If the student has a hard time being in a large crowd, they could get a head start on the next camp activity and wait for the rest of the campers and counselor (s) to arrive.

There was also school like assemblies at times that I also experienced at Moses Brown that I wish I could not have attended because of the overstimulation that came with it. I often wondered to myself, "what was I going to get out of these large gatherings at summer camps?" I mean an Improv group during my first tour, honestly I wished I was at the back door of Moses Brown's Alumni Hall so I could take sensory breaks if needed. Again, I had to mask my emotions so as to not spoil the atmosphere.

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But looking back on these experiences, I know for a fact that there summer camps are essential to neurodivergent individuals because there is also a mental health aspect for the individual. They don't have to do everything at a summer camp, but just getting out of the house and letting the parents or guardians make their daily living is successful enough.

If one camp isn't a success, then they can go to a tailor made summer camp geared towards other neurodivergent individuals, like I did before my junior year of high school. Building new and maintaining social connections is the main goal here more so than the activities and sometimes we need to let the negative thoughts holding us back to not let us hold us back from doing something that we will find essential later.

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh by Allan Sherman

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In conclusion, summer camp might be optional, but if a student needs to maintain his or her routine from school, then we can help them achieve that ongoing routine with some modifications that need to be in place otherwise. It may not always be perfect, but it doesn't hurt to at least try to attend a summer camp.

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Catch you all later!!