Summer Camp Option for Special Needs

Now that summer break is here and school's out (at least in my area), I've had to entertain summer options for my children. In addition to my 6-year-old RH CP son, I have a nearly 11-year-old NDA daughter to consider.

One of the things I've heard most from the parent support groups I'm involved with is that it's terribly hard to find quality child development care services in general, and exponentially more so when considering a special needs child.

I guess I'm at a slight advantage here, but wanted to share this information in case it might be helpful to parents in the future. The option I'm speaking of is Federal child care.

In my case, this happens to be on a military installation, but some exist in other locations around the country. Eligibility is often extended beyond Active Duty military personnel, such as Federal Civil Service, Non-Appropriated Fund, and even some contracted personnel who work for the interest of the government.

The best thing about Federal child care is their careful age divisions, their caregiver to child ratios (usually much lower), and the care itself. In a nationally accredited youth or child development center, if a child with special needs is enrolled into the facility, the attending teacher and associated staff automatically have to have training on how to care for that child. In addition, much more focus is placed on educational development. Parents receive written notifications of milestones met and advanced notification when a child is promoted to a new classroom.

I was amazed to see little 9- and 10-month olds sitting in their very own seats at their very own tables for breakfast. They feed themselves little finger-sized pieces of bananas and other natural foods (no artificially sweetened cereals or other foods are served at the centers- even on birthdays the kids eat muffins). All allergies are posted inside the classrooms and inside the kitchen. Special meals are brought to allergic kids on days when offending meals are to be served.

By very early toddlerhood, the children have small carafes or pitchers and are encouraged to pour and serve themselves. They are assisted if needed, and can have seconds from family-style group of bowls on the table.

Medicines are registered at the front desk along with mandatory prescriptions and are always administered on time.

A coordinator is available for Parent Involvement Group (PIG) meetings, usually near the end of the business day.

Parent-child bonding activities are sponsored every few weeks, such as kite flying, green eggs 'n ham (a reading breakfast activity), and outdoor picnics where mom and dad can visit. Of course, mom and dad can drop in at any time and view their child's room through a see-through window.

And if the child is a military dependent, there is usually an EI certified OT, PT and Speech Therapist who will visit the classroom for therapies. Mom and Dad can show up, but more importantly, if they get caught in a meeting, therapy still goes on, and parents get a report the same day.

I'd forgotten most of these details because my kids are now in school during the year, but for the summer, we enrolled them in a summer camp at a federal youth program. My kids and I are in awe at the sheer amount of planned activities available to them. We just finished week 1 and already, both have been swimming at least three days out of five, bowling , had gym and art activities, got enrolled in a kids online fitness tracker, signed up for several optional activities to participate in during the day, played board games, played with the fish, and taken an out of town field trip to a theme park. During free time, they have access to pool, ping pong and air hockey tables, a full court gym, and have outside organized soccer & other team building sports.

Fees for the day camp are the same as for the regular child development and youth care. They are subsidized by income, meaning the less you make, the less you pay.

I especially would stress to parents of special needs children who are getting inadequate care to look into the possibility of federal care. In the coming weeks, we will ask parents who have good experiences to help us list other resources for child care.