O H/ O D

[Dave]

OH/OD stands for Open Hearts Open Doors. The camp I work at participates in this program. Does your camp participate in this program, or a similar one?

For an idea of what our special needs program is like, you visit this page (http://katzjcc.org/camps/Special-Needs.asp).

It really is a great program. :thumbsup:

[speedx5xracer]

its a little harder to have the OH/OD policy with a sleepaway camp. my camp will not turn down any child that applies for admission granted there is room however we have a camp on a different site that is geared toward children with sever cases of ADD and ADHD as well as a few assorted problems. I am interested in finding out what your staff training prepares you for with some of these cases since i have had campers who had sever ADHD whose parents refused to medicate even after the camp medical staff suggested it. It was difficult since only minimal aspects of my training delt with these type of cases.

[Dave]

its a little harder to have the OH/OD policy with a sleepaway camp. my camp will not turn down any child that applies for admission granted there is room however we have a camp on a different site that is geared toward children with sever cases of ADD and ADHD as well as a few assorted problems. I am interested in finding out what your staff training prepares you for with some of these cases since i have had campers who had sever ADHD whose parents refused to medicate even after the camp medical staff suggested it. It was difficult since only minimal aspects of my training delt with these type of cases.
We don't really have too much training with handicapped children. But the senior counselors have to go to a seminar during one of the camp orientations a couple days before camp on autism. The senior counselor in my bunk this past summer couldn't make it that day, so I (being the second highest ranking in the bunk) went. It was very informative.

Campers in the OHOD program in our camp have advocates, who are basically private counselors for only that child. That does help the regular counselors in the bunk a lot. Advocates have to meet additional prerequisites to get that position, so they're trained to deal with general handicaps.

[collissimon]

I suppose it depends on the practicalities: it depends being in a mainstream camp in the first place.

Do the kids with disabilities profit from the experience? Does having their own private counsellor make them more likely to socialise with their peers however?

[Dave]

Well the only reason the advocates are there is to help out the regular counselors in the bunk because they may not (and usually aren't) trained as well to deal with handicapped children. And usually (but not always), the advocate knows the camper from another time. As an example, the advocate for the kid in our bunk last summer was his babysitter.

[KiwiCRB]

In the past my camp has had a program called Sunshine Sisters. It was set up so that the campers were the ones that got to interact with the special needs campers. It was offered for the oldest age group and was slightly longer than the rest of the sessions i think. They came out for a few days and learned about the different disabilities and conditions they would be working with and how to handle different situations. Then for the last 3 or so days of the session some girls with disabilities came out and the campers helped them have a good camp experience. I never did this so i'm not sure if thats exactly how it worked but i think that's the basis.

[Fleur]

My camp is similar to yours, Dave. Campers with special needs are included in a regular cabin group, but have a personal counsellor (who goes through specific pre-camp training for the position) to accompany them. Bus captains who have a special needs child on their route also meet with the special needs program co-ordinator during bus captain training to learn about their camper's needs.

[Dave]

My camp is similar to yours, Dave. Campers with special needs are included in a regular cabin group, but have a personal counsellor (who goes through specific pre-camp training for the position) to accompany them. Bus captains who have a special needs child on their route also meet with the special needs program co-ordinator during bus captain training to learn about their camper's needs.
Our camps seem to handle this the same way. The only difference is with the busses. On the bus at our camp, the lady in charge of OH/OD will ask one of the counselors (can be anyone) to sit with the kid and take care of him/her. There is extra money paid as well. I got this offer my first year at camp. I took the job. Unfortunately I was only on that bus for the first few days of camp, then my bus got switched. So I didn't really get to do much. My friend who worked at camp that same year also got to do this. The funny thing about this is that he has ADD, and the kid he was looking after also had ADD. I can only imagine an ADD counselor looking after an ADD kid. :eek:

[Flukie]

Our official stance is: "Girls with disabilities can join other girls their age for swimming, hiking, cookouts and other camp activities. Girls who have physical and/or developmental disabilities entering grades 1 through 12 in the fall, and are willing and moderately able to keep up with the daily camp program are welcome to join us."

We don't have enough staff to give one-on-one attention, nor are we trained. Council also wants background info on the girl and her disability to help the parents decide if one program or camp is better than another for her. If parents refuse to give that information (and we have had that happen), Council politely explains that without it, they cannot enroll the camper because they need to have a clear understanding of the child's abilities in order to ensure her safety at camp. However, girls that can participate in the activities (or modified activities) and are willing to come to camp, are more than welcomed.

[ncfanton]

One of the camps, Camp Joy, that I worked at last year was a camp just for adults, varying from the age 16 to our oldest being 97. we had about 100 campers and about 90 staff. We are in partnership with Rochester Rotary. the program runs for about one week. It is a residental camp. so its slightly like your program OH/OD.

[happy_camper]

If a child with a disability wants to come to our camp, it's kind of a case-by-case decision. They should call the director and speak with her about the disability and special requirements the child needs. While technically the camp is handicapped equipped, it would be horrible to manuever a wheelchair around camp (gravel roads, steep hills, etc.) So it's a decision between the parents and director about whether or not the disability is manageable at camp and whether or not the camper would enjoy their experience.

The other camp I work at is a special needs camp, so of course we accept people with disabilities :)