Remember your summers as a child? Some meaningful experiences may be going on a long trip away with your families or swimming on a hot summer day at camp with friends. One thing’s for sure, those good old days were jammed pack with tons of new experiences, social opportunities and plenty of unwritten rules of communication.
For kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder, navigating the social world can be particularly challenging and creating opportunities for new experiences may be daunting. A couple of months ago, a few of us discussed an idea of possibly offering a little extra something this summer at our offices. The idea we came up with was to create a place where kids could safely encounter new peers and experience something fun with plenty of support at their fingertips. We buckled down and created six sessions of fun themes with activities and social opportunities embedded throughout. This would include hands-on activities using music, dance, visual arts and crafts, and a shared snack experience to promote an optimal social opportunity.
Fast forward to the present, we are officially done with week 2 of our Social Skills Summer Camp located at our La Canada office. So far, our program has been able to create and foster self-expression through music, dance, and visual arts to provide a positive shared social experience between peers. Cooperatively, the kids have been able to play a variety of different board games, sing and dance together, give each other compliments about the art they have created, and a huge feat for many of our clients— tolerating handling fresh fruits and vegetables!
During our camp, while the kids are creating new memories together, our parents have also been provided a safe place to socialize and share ideas. In these groups, parents were given our version of PINGO (Parent Involvement Nurtures Great Opportunities) to take home and work on throughout the week with their child. With the help of our BCBA interns guided by our Executive Director, Sally Torrens, we were able to create discussion about different ABA strategies, create conversations about which procedures and skills they are struggling with most, and what ABA techniques could be used to supplement what they are already doing with their child.
We are so thankful to all our families who bravely explored a new place together and are helping stretch their children’s curiosity this summer. At Inizio Interventions, we always enjoy working closely with our families.