Summer Camps for Children with Special Needs

Two months from now the school year will end and summer will be here.  You may be wondering where has the school year gone?  In addition to this question you are probably thinking, what can I do to keep my child happy and active.  One idea is to look into finding a summer camp for your child with special needs.  There are so many different summer camps opportunities for your child regardless of the severity of his or her special needs.  Summer camps can provide an opportunity for your child to develop new friendships, try new things, and participate in variety of sports as well as other types of activities.

Summer Camp Contacts
If your child and you are interested into identifying and investigating different summer camps in your community, now is the time to do so.  If you are not sure who to contact or where to start, you should talk with the following individuals/organizations: schools, churches, YMCA, YWCA, leisure/recreational department within your community, etc.   Listed below are some websites that may be of interest to help you pursue finding the right summer camp for your child with special needs:

• Kids Camps.com
  
• About. com
  
• Camps for Children with Special Needs
• Muscular Dystrophy Association 
  
• Easter Seals
  
• Camp Ronald McDonald's for Good Times
  
• My Summer Camps. com
  
• Summer Camps for Children with Disabilities 2007
  
• The Camp Resource for Families
  
• Google: Recreation/Camps for Children with Special Needs
  

As you can see there are a variety of summer camps for children with special needs that you can choose from.  It is important to do your research.  You will want to find out the type of services and activities that are provided to children with special needs, the staff to camper ratio, whether the program is a day program or overnight program (if so, for how many days), the type of training that the staff has undergone (especially the camp nurse), whether or not the camp is able to make accommodations or modifications so that your child can participate in, and most importantly have a way to contact other campers' parents to receive their input. There are a lot of things to consider and questions to answer, but after taking the time to do so it can result in a memorable experience for your child.