Summer camps provide children an opportunity for goal achievement, a sense of community, and development of self-concept. Toward that end, goal-directed camp activities revolve around teamwork, as well as improving coping skills and fostering intimate relationships (Carlson & Cook, 2007). However, campers may have cognitive-behavioral concerns — an inability to attend to activities, for example, or impulsiveness, decreased ability to cope with environmental demands such as sound, light, and tactile sensations, and decreased social awareness.

Camping Magazine recently spoke with Steve Silberman, New York Times best-selling author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, to discuss old attitudes, the changing definition of autism, and the beginning of a social movement aimed at ensuring that neurodivergent people have a seat at society’s the proverbial table.

Across the country, summer camps are an integral part of children’s traditional summer experiences. Unfortunately, the same may not be true for children with disabilities. Representing only 3 percent of campers in one study of overnight summer camps across the United States (Laszlo Strategies, 2013), children with disabilities, just like their peers, should have opportunities to gain positive physical, emotional, and social outcomes from an inclusive camp experience (Schleien, Miller, Walton, Roth, & Tobin, 2017).

Learn how to have an inclusive summer camp by providing physical inclusion, functional inclusion, and social inclusion.

Summer camp is a sacred community which, as a rule, has always been willing to find common ground in respecting and accommodating individual values and needs. The values and needs of campers with disabilities should not be an exception. The 24/7, joyous environment of summer camp builds identity, strengthens the community, and fosters leadership.