Finding a Camp for Your Child with Special Needs WHEN IT COMES TO KIDS WITH DIFFERENT ABILITIES ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL By RONNIE KOENIG
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inding a summer camp for your child with special needs can be a tricky thing for parents to navigate. Most likely, your child is enrolled in the school’s ESY (Extended School Year) program. But once that ends, there’s the big question of what your kid will do for the rest of the summer. Depending on your child’s needs and abilities, it may be possible to enroll them in a traditional camp, or you may be looking for a camp that specifically caters to kids with different abilities. As the mom of a 10-year-old girl on the autism spectrum, we have looked at all different types of camps for our daughter. Since her diagnosis of autism at age 2, we have sought to
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give her as close to the same experiences as her neurotypical twin brother as possible. And while we have done activities specifically geared towards kids with special needs, we’ve never enrolled her in a special needs camp. One reason we haven’t chosen this option is proximity. While there are plenty of summer camps of all types and special interests available across New Jersey, the special needs camps are simply just not near where we live, and I couldn’t imagine driving or busing for more than an hour each way every day. The cost is another big factor—if you think regular summer camp is expensive, you'll likely pay a lot more for a special needs camp. Some camps offer scholarships, but if you don’t qualify,
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