For this week, we are going northwest to the coldest state in the United States! Grab your heaviest coat and hand warmers because we are going to Alaska. Adam’s Camps is located in Girdwood, AK which is a small sector in Anchorage. Adam’s Camp serves children and young adults with developmental disabilities. According to their website, “approximately 44% have autism spectrum disorders, 39% have Down Syndrome and 9% have cerebral palsy. The remainder have developmental delays due to other diagnoses or are individuals who remain undiagnosed. Many participants have more than one diagnosis”.
There are different camps within Adam’s Camp that are made for different ages and abilities. They have various therapy kids based on the age of the camper including Pathfinder, Pathblazer, and Adventure camps just to name a few. The cool thing about the therapy camps is that the campers can have therapy sessions with professionals such as speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, music & art therapy, and behavioral therapy. This is great for parents to pay one price for all the therapies, rather than planning times for appointments for each therapy. For the parent’s sake, the camp provides reports and comments about the camper’s progress and outcomes! Adam’s Camp also has sibling camp, where siblings of the campers' ages and older can hang out with their brother or sister at the camp for the duration of camp dates.
There are different locations in the United States including Colorado (where the main offices are), New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and outside of the U.S. in Northern Ireland. During this year, 2020, everywhere around the world has been impacted by COVID-19. Many organizations had to find ways to keep their campers and participants active and give them ways to keep their emotional, physical, mental, social and spiritual domain in tack while they are stuck at home.
I choose this video from Adam’s Camp because it shows how hardworking and dedicated the staff and founders are towards their campers and the camp. They knew many campers need routine and structure in their lives, so what did they do? They brought music and art therapy to the screens for a duration of the day to lighten the camper’s mood and provide happiness. During the hard time, they did exactly what their mission statement said they would!
“The mission of Adam’s Camp is to realize the potentials and develop the strengths of children and young adults by bringing together families with professionals and volunteers to collaboratively provide customized, intensive therapy, family support, and recreation in a camp environment.” -Adam's Camp website
Through the lense of a Therapeutic Recreation student, Adam’s Camp uses many aspects of TR interventions. On the website, they mentioned that they use Goal-Directed, Outcome-Based Therapy Programs: “Our carefully designed, intensive, multi-disciplinary therapy programs focus on each child’s strengths to provide goal-directed, outcome-based treatment. Synergy, focus and extensive time dedicated specifically to enhancing skills make this a unique and powerful intervention.” Not everything is labeled a therapeutic recreation intervention, but they perform many of the components and activities. Adam’s Camp built activities and programs to surround each camper and to better their quality of life.
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