-06-01-05-    
Celebrate The Children - What The Camp Is All About
	- This camp is designed to benefit children with sensory processing, communication and social difficulties; ages 3-16. 
	- The camp operates 4 weeks in July from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Monday-Friday.
	- There are six classrooms to meet the needs of the different levels and ages of the children. 
	- Staff ratio is almost 1:1 in Pre-K. Older children are encouraged to be more independent as they are ready.
	- Some of the campers are typical peer models. Junior counselors increase the number of typical peers the children are 
	  exposed to.
	- I was hired as an 'aide', and I will be working with the older group of boys at the camp.  The job of an Aide is to help 
	  one-on-one with the children, as well as using Dr. Greenspan's model of learing (DIR), explained below, to create a 
	  better learning environment for all of the children.
	 	    
The following are the components included in camp: 
	- Developmental Individual Relationship-based Therapy (Greenspan)
	- All-day social skills development and peer interaction
	- Social and language IEP goals targeted 
	- All-day peer modeling/Facilitated play
	- Rhythm and timing(shared timing) development
	- Daily motor planning and sequencing activities
	- Emotions and Theory-of-mind development
	- Self esteem/Image enhancement 
	- Focus on abstract thinking, problem solving and independence
	- Speech and OT activities

	
Developmental, Individual, Relationship-Based Model (DIR)
   	 The basis of D.I.R., or the Greenspan/Wieder approach, is to help children with learning difficulties connect ideas and
develop a logical understanding of the world.  Dr. Greenspan states that teaching children to become independent thinkers enables 
them to do anything. The way to do that is to respect the child's interest while challenging her/him to become more logical and
better adept at abstract thinking. Often we focus on changing specific behaviors, or teaching very specific skills. Children may 
memorize these skills, but if they cannot "think on their feet." Their ability to use and generalize these skills will be limited.  
Children with developmental challenges often favor rote ways of thinking, but rote learning only compounds the problem. DIR uses 
emotional and motivating experience-based learning to improve social skills, language, independence, and to teach specific concepts 
and academics. Annually over 1,000 professionals and parents attend the DIR training course seminar given by Dr. Greenspan and 
Dr. Wieder in Washington, D.C.

	                                                                                    ~Information From www.celebratethechildren.org
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-6-13-05-
  *The Dates of the camp are July 12th-August 5th.  I am required to attend two training sessions, one on July 5th, and another 
on July 11th.  We are going to learn in more detail about the Greenspan Model, and a few other things that are nessicary when 
working with autistic children.  During my interview I asked if it was a camp for only Autistic Children and Monica Osgood (director 
of the camp) told me that the children covered a wide range of disorders, from autism, to asbergers syndrom, to severe MR.  
I am very excited to get into things, my next update will be after the July 5th Training session.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-07-05-05- (Hours Worked: 10am-4pm, Hours Logged: 6 hr, Total Hours To Date: 6 hr)
  *Today was the first day of training.  As soon as all the staff got to the school, we started with an activitie to make us more 
aware of what autism and other sensory motor disorders were like.  Monica Osgood, the camp director, had us draw a bird inside 
a cage on a piece of paper.  While we were drawing, a large amount of distractions were taking place, a vacuum was turned on, 
people were whistling and screaming, the lights were being turned on and off rapidly, balloons were being popped, confettie was 
thrown at us, and we kept being told to 'Hurry UP!'  It was very distracting, and after we were all done, we looked at each others 
pictures, as well as discussed what we felt as the activitie was being done. Some of the things that people said they felt like were 
as follows; distracted, anxious, 'felt like quitting', nervous, 'couldnt pay attention', and that they could not think of what to draw. 
 We were told that with the sensory problems an autistic child has, this is how it is for most of thier activities.  The next part of 
the activity was to once again draw the bird in the cage while being distracted, but this time the person telling us to go faster 
would give us more time, and that we would have a picture in front of us to look at while drawing, to help us better plan what we 
want to do.  This excersize showed us how an autistic child can function while using the Greenspan DIR model.  After the activity, 
we began to look at some packets and slide shows on how exactly we put the DIR model to use on the children.  The thing we 
focused on the most was Dr. Stanley Greenspan's Developmental Levels.  We were told that our job as AIDES was to help each child 
reach their 'goal' or preconcieved developmental level.  Before we start camp, and all during camp, each child is given a goal to 
which a counslor/aide wants to help them reach.  The goals are related to the levels Dr. Greenspan introduced, their are six levels 
that we focus on when dealing with these children;
  
  1. Shared Attention/Regulation and interest in the world.
  2. Engagement/Forming relationships.
  3. Two-way, purposeful interactions w/ gestures/Intentional two-way communication.
  4. Two-way, purposeful problem solving interactions/ Development of complex sense of self.
  5. Elaborating Ideas/Representational capacity and elaboration of symbolic thinking.
  6. Building bridges between ideas/Emtional Thinking.
  
We then went over how to effectively bring out these goals in autistic children.  We first discussed it through slides, then saw
examples in the form of video.  Many of the children we saw in the videos were children that will be attending the camp. 
The videos were examples of the basic principles targeted through Grennspan therapy.  I will list the principles below:
 
  1. Follow the child's lead.
  2. Join in at the child's developmental level and build on his/her natural interests.
  3. Open and close circles of communication.
  4. Create a play environment.
  5. Extend the circles of communication.
  6. Broaden the child's range of interactive experience.
  7. Tailor your interactions to the child's individual differences in auditory processing, visual/spatial processing, motor planning
	 and sequencing, and sensory modulation.  
  8. Simultaneously attempt to mobilize the six functional emotional developmental levels.

The Videos helped me get a grasp of what I am going to be doing this summer.  I learned that it is important to show alot of affect 
when dealing with these children to keep them involved and interested in the activitie which you are using to help them learn.  I can 
not wait to get some experience with these children.  I will meet some of them during the next training session, in the last hour of the 
training, they have an orientation in the classroom and i will have a chance to meet some of my children.  SPeaking of that, I asked 
tonight who i will be working with this summer, and was told that the older boys that attend the camp rarely get to have a male as 
an aide, because most of the males who work at the camp are JR counslors, and they only get to interact with the younger children. 
 So i am pretty sure i will be working with 10-16 year old boys! I am very excited.  

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-07-11-05- (Hours Worked: 10am-5pm, Hours Logged: 7 hr, Total Hours To Date: 13 hr)

Today was the second and final day of training, the camp officially starts tomorrow.  During this session we learned more about the 
Greenspan model for learning, which is known as 'floor time'.  This is the scheduled time each day that we are to work individually with 
each child on, trying to reach certain goals.  After each day, we are asked to fill out 'data' forms, which include information on how 
well we were able to reach the goals the teachers and directors set us out to reach.
 Next, we went over protocal and policy that was important to the camp, as well as both camper and employee saftey issues.  We 
covered a wide range of behavioral backrounds regaurding the children in our specific classroom.  There is 9 different classrooms with 
around 8 students in each room.  I am in classroom 7, which is for children in the upper primacy group. We discussed a typical day at
the camp, and recieved detailed schedules.  After we did all of this, we went into the classrooms with the staff and got to know each 
other.  After discussing each child a little bit, parents and children were able to come to see the camp and have a small orientation of 
thier own.  I was able to meet the child that i was assigned one-to-one duties.  His name is Jimmy, he is 11 years old, and although I 
did not have the oppurtunity to spend much time with him, I was able to get a feel for what my goals and expectations would be.  He 
is a quiet kid, who has some trouble being vocal and communicating.  He has learned to write very well, and would rather communicate 
through writing and drawing then talking.  He loves movies, and says lines from movies all the time.  The goals that i need to work on, 
as i see so far, are to help him with peer interactions, as well as working on his communication and language skills.  When a few of the 
children were in the room together, he had a lot of trouble getting involved with the other kids, he would just go do his own thing 
unless we forced him back into an activity.  I found out today that the kids in my room have all sorts of disorders.  I am not positive 
what Jimmy has yet, his files were not available tonight. I requested that the director would get me IEP's and case studies of all the 
children in my class room so that I could get a little better view of what I am experiencing.   I am both nervous and excited to get the 
camp started tomorrow, but im sure everything will work out just fine.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-07-12-05- (Hours Worked: 8am-1:30 pm, Hours Logged: 5 1/2 hr, Total Hours To Date: 18.5 hr)

Today was the first full day of camp.  I was a little overwhelmed at first, when all the children were getting off the bus and situated 
into thier classrooms.  We started off the day with some Yoga and Dancing to try to get the child regulated.  Once we calmed the 
children down and had them all circled together, we had a morning group excersize.  Today our morning group did a 'getting to know 
you' exersize where we stood in a circle and threw a ball to each other, whomever caught it had to say something about themselves 
as well as thier name.  We were able to keep the children's attention for a little while during this activity, but eventually they started 
to go off on their own.  Next we had a small snack time, then went right into Floor time.  Here I worked with Jimmy, the child i was 
assigned one-on-one duties with, and another camper named Micheal.  Micheal thinks that he is a Jr. Counsler, and helps with whatever 
he can, he has been in the program for a few years and has come a really long way.  I tried to engage Jimmy into playing with Micheal, 
but it was very difficult to entice anything other than some basic back and forth conversation between the two.  I did get Jimmy to play 
with me for a few minutes today, taking a pillow and slapping me in the head with it, and i would respond with a goofy face and shake
my head.  He continued to do it for a while then when i stepped out of the activity, he tried to pull me back into it.  I was impressed 
to see that he was being intentional.  After floor time we had art time and social skills time, where the children had a chance to problem 
solve and interact with their peers.  Finally we took the children outside to play in blow up pools and a few other outdoor activities. 
When 1:00pm came around, we started getting the children on the bus, and before i knew it, my first day was over.  I really hope that I 
am a little more comfortable as the days go on.  The other staff at the camp did a wonderful job at making me as comfortable as I could be today.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-07-15-05- (Hours Worked: varied by day, Hours Logged: 26 hr, Total Hours To Date: 44.5 hrs)

*I have really gotten used to the schedule of things.  I have been here for almost a full week and it is now practically second nature!  I 
am really excited to be under way with camp, the kids are amazing.  I have gotten to know most of the kids in my class better.  We are 
required to take Data on the kids each day, after the busses leave.  The data is a set of goals, which were produced by Monica Osgood, 
that we rate each day.  The goals are different for most of the children. Most of the kids have four or five goals, and we rate them 1-5.  
(1) Goal introduced (2) Full Promting needed (3) Some Prompting needed (4) Minimal Prompting needed (5) No Prompting needed/ Goal 
Mastered.  If Jimmy was giving me a difficult time and I had to continually prompt him to 'use his words' to get something he was trying to get,
then I would give him a lower rank.  I use this as an example because one of Jimmy's goals was to have 20+ Circles of Verbal Communication 
with an adult.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


-07-22-05- (Hours Worked: varied by day, Hours Logged: 27.5 hrs, Total Hours To Date: 71 hrs)

*I have notes on all the following dates.  I will enter the data and notes when i get a chance.  With two jobs and this
 internship, i really had no time to do it all on here.  I kept a journal each day as the kids left or did something i found
 spectacular.  I will enter the information from this journal and will have this completed by 8-22-05!
 *pools!!!Jimmy&ball, Justin&alarm, Josh&Alec, Daniel's Grandfather
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-07-29-05- (Hours Worked: varied by day, Hours Logged: 25 hrs, Total Hours To Date: 96 hrs)

Thursday was Movie Day at camp, it has been much to hot and humid to be outside.  The movie was a social situation opputunity
for the children in which the camp set up 'snack stands', which was to be run by the older campers.  The movie was played in 
the gymnasium, seats were set up, and the kids were all given 1.25$ in quarters to buy whatever they wanted.  I had some 
trouble helping Jimmy understand just what he needed to do in this situation.  He was used asking me for his snack, and us getting 
it together, with no further hassel.  The change startled him, Jimmy loves to eat, especially chewy candy, it is very sensory 
stimulating having deep presure in his jaw, so the chewy candy actually calms him down.  When he saw the tables set up, he simply
walked up and took the candy.  It took some time and effort to have Jimmy part with the money, but when he realized what he got 
in place of the money, his eyes lit up.  At this point, I am able to have Jimmy use his words much more frequently, he realizes that 
I will not give in, and the trust that has formed between the two of us enables him to use his words, trusting that I will respond how 
he wants.  Over the past few weeks I have really seen some development in most of my children.  I am quickly becoming a believer 
of Dr. Greenspan's system!  Today was the kids "Camp Carnival."  Jimmy's parents were at the carnival, as was alot of the childrens 
parents, so I was not enclined to situate to one or two students all day.  For a good portion of the day I was in the dunk booth.  It
was a great oppurtunity to meet some of the other campers, not just the ones in my group.  A bunch of them I have met between 
outside time and the afternoons when I helped them on the busses, but during the time I spent in the tank, alot of the kids got a 
chance to meet me and evidently, dunk me!  Today was a great oppurtunity to have the kids in our class work together, there was 
a number of activities to do at the carnival, and for all of them, they required more then one person.  I think today was one of my greatest
memories from camp thus far.
 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-08-03-05- (Hours Worked: varied by day, Hours Logged: 15 hrs, Total Hours To Date: 111 hrs)

  This week has been pretty hectic thus far.  I think that most of the children are feeling anxious due to the last
  days of camp approaching.  Today was a Talent show for the kids, it ran from 3pm-6pm after camp.  The parents
  of all the campers along with most of the staff sat as the audience while the children participated by singing, telling jokes,
  and dancing.  It was amazing to see how some of these kids overcame social fears and sang in front of the group.  I think 
  that if we tried this in the first week of camp, many of the kids would have shyed away, but after getting to know the staff 
  and other campers, the children felt very comforted and trusting.  I have learned of the past few weeks that Trust is a very 
  important part of getting these children to communicate.  I would have never believed that some of these kids had the abilities
  which they showed simply by looking at them or talking with them at the beginning of camp.  After forming a trusting relationship 
  with the child I was able to see that there was alot more in each child then what they often wore in the open.  Jimmy for 
  example, who really does not like to use language, could sit with me and answer questions that i asked him with virtually NO 
  prompting.  Some of the questions he answered with alot more complexity then i could ever imagine.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-08-05-05- (Hours Worked: varied by day, Hours Logged: 11 hrs, Total Hours To Date: 122 hrs)
   Today was the last day of camp.  We held circle time in the morning, but with the expectations and anxiety of the
   last day filling the room, it made it very difficult to keep the kids regulated.  At 11am we had a 'dance' party for the kids
   and encouraged them to have lots of peer involvement. Even on the last day of camp we were focusing on the goals, but it 
   became difficult to force the kids into any activity they did not want to do.  Yesterday, on Thursday, we had a class trip to 
   the Franklin Mines. I hadn't been there since I was a kid myself.  It was amazing to see the discipline that most of the kids had 
   during the class trip.  I expected a somewhat disorganized mess, but it ended up being a complete success.  One of the kids in my 
   room, Chris, who has some severe problems when it comes to entering social situations with other children, decided to come along 
   on the trip even after he had sulked all morning that we were 'making' him go.  He had such a good time and could not stop telling me
   of all the interesting stuff we saw, he also managed to have a full conversation with another child on the bus ride home, from 
   video games to the mine!  It was amazing to see the engagement from both Chris and Micheal, the boy he was talking to.  Micheal
   is one of my favorite students, even though were not supposed to have favorites, he just has a great personality.  He is the most
   disregulated child at the camp, practically impossible to keep focused.

	  Some good byes were difficult, I became pretty attatched to a few of the campers.  I loved the experience and am going 
	  to do some volenteering at the Celebrate the Children fall school program during breaks from Canisius! 

---> The experience I picked up at summer camp really made me see that this is what i am going to do with my life.  I loved
every single aspect of camp.  The kids were amazing, as much as they learned from me, I learned so much more from them.  
I am sure when I am well into my career I will look back at Celebrate the Children and find it to be what propelled me into 
the field.  Every day I left camp I left thinking of ways to make the children reach thier goals.  I left CTC with a whole new 
outlook on not only School Psychology, but on life as well.  Working with these children is completely humbling and makes me
so greatful.  I am going to volunteer at the camp this winter, and hopefully have time to come back as an Aide next year for the 
summer camp!