Summer Camp

Having just arrived back in Wyoming after a 2-week stint at Mountain Therapy Camp, I realized that not everyone has a good idea of what it is I do there. Mountain Therapy Camp was created for children with disabilities, ranging from cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome, Autism, and a variety of genetic disorders, and typically ages 4 - 8. The camp was designed as a way for these children to receive a week of intensive therapies, as well as to provide them with some "normal" summer camp activities that they would otherwise never get to experience. At the same time, parents get the day off to attend seminars or take respite, and siblings go to a typical summer camp.

Each therapy team consists of 5 therapists, 5 children, and 2 volunteers. Generally there is a Speech Therapist, Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, and Music and Art Therapists, and occasionally behavioral therapists too. For 5 days, each child receives 5 hours of one-on-one therapy and 1 hour of an activity like canoeing or climbing. That means in one week each child receives 25-30 hours of therapy, something that might take them up 6 months or more to receive at public school, plus all their therapists at camp are working on the same exact 3-4 goals the entire time - that is rare in the world of therapy! Which also means that as an art therapist, I need to find ways to use art to help kids learn to speak, learn to walk, control behavior, and other not typically addressed through art kind of goals!

We have 6 sessions a day, which means I have a couple minutes between each kid to document notes, go to the bathroom, and set up for the next child who has completely different goals as to the one before. Snack and lunch are sessions, there are no "breaks." Amidst all the therapy, we also are either changing diapers or toilet-training children that can weigh up to 50 lbs and might not be able to assist at all. Phew! After therapy, the kids go back to their cabins with their parents, the therapists finish notes, take a break, and meet as a team before and after dinner to discuss the day's work and start putting together treatment books, sometimes for 3 - 5 hours per night. On the penultimate evening, we put together the books, which means this day is easily 12 hours long. The last day we have a regular therapy day in addition to 5 hours of meetings with parents to let them know about the work their child did, meaning another 12 hour day.

Does it work? Does it pay off? Last week we had two 5 year-old girls who were only speaking 2 word phrases start using full, correct sentences. A 5 year-old boy who had only taken 3 independent steps in his whole life took 28 steps the second day of therapy, and continued to walk independently through the week. One child participated beautifully in all the sporting activities her parents claimed she never, ever would. A lot can happen in a week!