How to Find a Summer Camp for your Child with Special Needs
Are you looking for a summer camp for your child with special needs? Depending on your particular circumstances and location, you have numerous options and opportunities available for your child to enjoy a safe, fun and rewarding camp experience this year.
Let’s say you live in southern California and your child has autism, ADD, ADHD or another learning disability. How about signing them up for a surf camp or beach camp? Learning to surf is so much fun and can build self-confidence, esteem and lifelong water safety skills. Aloha Beach Camp in Los Angeles and Paskowitz Surf Camp in Orange County are two camps you might consider.
If your child has cancer, contact Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times. This program has an outstanding reputation and you can’t go wrong sending your child there. According to the camp’s website, Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times ‘provides cost-free, medically supported camps for children with cancer and their families’ and is dedicated to helping children with cancer recapture hope, enthusiasm, and love of life in a medically and psychologically safe environment created especially for them.
What if your child has special needs other than those discussed above? According to Theresa Torrone, a camp director in Los Angeles and a volunteer for the American Camp Association (ACA),’There is certainly a camp to serve them. Children with diabetes, cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, speech impairment, hearing impairments, blood disorders and almost any other special need can find a suitable summer camp where they’ll be safe, have fun, make new friends, have a rewarding summer experience and become the proverbial ‘happy camper.’
Torrone emphasizes that the volunteers who work for the ACA are caring, committed professionals who love sharing their knowledge and experience to help your child with special needs find the right camp for you.
She suggests visiting the ACA’s website at https://acacamps.com to conduct a free online search to find a camp to meet your needs, or calling ACA’s Indiana headquarters at 765-342-8456 for a free referral.
Last but not least, you might consider visiting a website called Very Special Camps (veryspecialcamps.com) for more information special needs summer camps and programs.
Eric D. Naftulin owns and operates Aloha Beach and Surf Camp, an aquatic sports summer camp for kids and teens ages 5 to 15 in Los Angeles, CA. Visit the camp’s website at https://alohabeachcamp.com
