Children who need extra help with their social thinking skills can have still wonderful memories of summer camp, create friendships, and gain self-confidence thanks to an innovative new program.




by Sabeena Ambrose

What should be a fairly easy and even a fun task when parenting children—choosing a summer residential camp for your son or daughter—can turn into a daunting activity if your child needs help developing social skills whether due to a learning disability, an Autism Spectrum Disorder such as Asperger's Syndrome, or an Attention-Deficit Disorder. But the good news for parents is there is more to choose from this year as the number of specialty camps grows each year.

One new choice available starting in summer 2010 is Camp Sequoia, a sleep-away summer camp located in Pennsylvania 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The new camp’s niche is to serve children who struggle with social skills.

A combination of hard work, academic study, experience as a school counselor, and a lifetime of camp experience have come together, says Camp Sequoia’s founder, Ryan Wexelblatt, M.S.S., in making his dream come true of providing an environment where boys and girls ages 8 through 18 can create friendships and develop their social thinking skills.

“Parents can be assured that this is a place where staff will ‘get’ the campers,” he explained. Camp Sequoia will benefit the needs of its campers, he said, because the staff is well-versed in dealing with issues related to learning disabilities and social learning.

Wexelblatt, until last year, was the founder and director of Hill Top Summer Camp in Bryn Mawr. That camp focused on the needs of children who were diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome, Non-Verbal Learning Disability or ADD/ADHD. “I’ve seen a lot of children with learning disabilities struggle socially,” he said.

Camp Sequoia campusCamp Sequoia will be located on the posh and safe campus of The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

“Kids learn best when having fun”

Wexelblatt bases his camp program on what he refers to as the “social thinking” model. “Kids learn best when they are having fun and are more active,” he says. “That’s why the activities are non-academic, and include sports such as swimming and martial arts, as well as music and wood shop. There will be weekly trips too.”

The model Camp Sequoia is based on was developed by a speech therapist, and Wexelblatt says he has seen first-hand its power to help children with social skill deficits develop self-awareness in social situations.

Traditional models of teaching social skills aren’t as successful in his experience, because they focus on teaching children to mimic socially appropriate behaviors rather than teaching them how their behavior is being perceived by their peers and how to adjust their behavior accordingly.

“Children who struggle with social awareness often do not pick up the routine social cues that neurotypical children pick up inherently,” says Wexelblatt.

The camp director presents an example of how activities at Camp Sequoia can help foster learning and create confidence.

"A camper may become argumentative with his teammates during a game because he's not getting the ball as much as he'd like or his teammates are not fitting into his rigid perception of the rules of the game.“ Wexelblatt explains. “We can help the both this child and the other children playing, understand better the need to be flexible and the importance of team work.

“Taking the child out of the realm of focusing on how he feels he’s been treated unfairly, and instead, teaching how his behavior effects his team mates and what he can do differently in the future—it really helps the socially challenged child learn how to look at the context of being a part of a group.”

This process, says Wexelblatt, requires real life experiences, not sitting around in a classroom discussing these things out of context. “Repetition is such an important factor. When you can engage children by helping them to have fun and teaching them in the moment, they are more likely to internalize what they've learned.”

The residential co-ed camp offers a choice of one-week, three-week or six-week sessions, and provides a wide variety of food options. Average cost per week is $1,000. These are the 2011 dates:

• New Camper Week: July 2-9
• Full Session: July 2-August 13
• First Session: July 2-23
• Second Session: July 23-August 13

For more information, check the camp’s website,, call 610-771-0111, or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Sabeena Ambrose frequently writes on a freelance basis especially about babies and parenting children. 

Photos courtesy of Camp Sequoia