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Special Needs Camps Flourishing in the U.S.

Posted on: Tuesday, 15 April 2008, 10:55 CDT

Special camps designed to educate children with chronic diseases about their disorders may have a long lasting therapeutic effect.

These summer camps are a way for children to meet others with similar diseases and to learn about what causes their condition through hands on education.

Now research is proving that there is a reason that many children’s hospitals sponsor these special camps.

"How do you live well with a chronic condition? I believe in part, the power of being amongst your peers normalizes the experience," said Sandra Cushner-Weinstein, a social worker at Children's National Medical Center who founded the hospital's weeklong camps for five illnesses, and is studying the impact on campers.

Special needs camps began in the 1970s for children with cerebral palsy and cancer. They have now diversified to help children with diseases such as asthma, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, hemophilia and sickle cell anemia. Even camps founded to help children with diseases as rare as Tourette’s syndrome and neurofibromatosis are being offered.

"They have this zip-line there," 12-year-old Andrew Frascella of Rockville, Md., said about epilepsy camp . "It's really high above the trees. You get strapped on and go flying."

But even more importantly, these camps are allowing children to learn about their illnesses while being surrounded by a support group of campers who face the same issues. Also, the doctors and nurses are able to gain the children’s trust by helping them with the recreational aspects of camp life.

Cardiology nurse Betsy Adler says children born with heart defects often don't know exactly what's wrong with their hearts, so she brings about 20 cow hearts to Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Camp Joyful Hearts each year. The campers are able help open the cow hearts while cardiologists show them specific regions of the heart and explain the difficulties they face.

At Camp Great Rock outside Washington, D.C., Weinstein brings doctors and nurses together with epileptic children to role-play and learn how to deal with the reactions of others during a convulsion.

Joe Frascella, a government neuroscientist, said he recalls how his son became shy after he began having seizures at age 8. He said he was skeptical when Weinstein and her husband, Andrew's neurologist introduced the concept of camp for young Andrew.

"To say that after a week of these kids being in camp where it wasn't clear what magic they were spinning we would see a change?" he says.

However, Andrew was convinced after his first trip.

"You get to learn about each other, how you're not different from everyone," he said. Plus, "It was kind of special because not just anybody can go there."

Joe Frascella said his son came back from camp far less ashamed about his condition than before.

"It wasn't something he had to hide. ... That was tremendous," says Frascella.

Weinstein and a team of neurosurgeons who studied children at special camps found that the children grew steadily better in social interaction, with some improvements in how they communicate and handle responsibility.

Their findings were reported in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior last year.

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On the Net:

Children's National Medical Center

Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Camp Joyful Hearts

Epilepsy & Behavior

Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports

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