How This Neurodivergent Parent Picks a Summer Camp

Something I don’t talk about as often as maybe I could is that not only am I a huge fan of summer camps, I am also the parent of two kids who go to summer camp.  And not just any parent.  I am a parent with ADHD raising two kids whose neurodivergence sometimes gives us some special challenges when it comes to finding the right place for them.

So when we look for a camp for our kids, we REALLY look.  Like, deep in the website looking for your daily schedule and your behavior management philosophy looking.

Here are a few things that help.

1. Advertise what you have worked on!

If you are a camp that has done work surrounding supporting children with unique behavioral needs, advertise what changes you have made because of that work.  When I see a camp that has specific options for kids who might experience sensory overload in the dining hall, or during an all-camp game, I know they have done work surrounding sensory needs.

And I can reasonably assume that work will probably show up in other program areas too.

If you are making changes to your behavior management plan because you have been researching how to better support kids with all kinds of brains, don’t let those changes just be shared internally.

If you don’t let parents know about these new strategies, we won’t be able to use that information in our decision-making process about whether your camp is a good fit or not.

You did the work.  Tell us about it!

2. Think about how parents actually consume information.

I know, I know.  It is so frustrating that parents don’t read everything you put together.

And as a human with ADHD, even when I WANT to read something, it can feel nearly impossible unless it happens to be my current hyperfocus.  Which is rarely going to be your pickup protocol.

Thinking about how information is shared is essential.  What information do parents ACTUALLY need?  Where can you lower the word count?  Where can you add pictures?  What words can you bold to keep someone’s overloaded brain anchored to the next point you are trying to make?

Just to be clear… This isn’t about giving parents less information.  It is about making the important information easier to access.

3. Share what happens when counselors need extra support.

It is so important to know what system you have in place when counselors need help.  I do not expect your 18- to 22-year-old camp staff to know how to handle every situation my wild kid might throw at them.

Including, for example, mooning everyone one time because someone said she liked My Little Pony.  True story.  Shared with consent.

But I do want to know what support your staff have when they are out of their depth.  Do you have specialists who can step in to support emotional regulation needs?  What happens when a kid needs some one-on-one support and the cabin or group counselors are in the middle of teaching paddling safety?  Who helps when the situation needs more than one counselor can reasonably provide?

4. Know your limits.

Camps really want to welcome everyone.  I truly believe that.  But sometimes that means we are not always good at saying:  “We actually aren’t equipped for that yet.”

If that is the case, be honest with parents about your current support practices.  Tell them what you ARE doing.  And if they ask you about something you are not currently doing, ask yourself whether it is something you can easily add without tanking your staff’s capacity to the point of burnout, OR whether it is something you should thoughtfully work toward in subsequent years.

When a parent is asking about supportive practices, an honest answer is so much better than a stretch answer.

I would rather be a parent who gets a little upset because your camp doesn’t seem like the exact right fit than a parent who was told support protocols would be in place and then discovered they were not.  Because then my expectations are not met.  Your staff are put in a difficult position.  And most importantly, my kids have been placed in an environment where they had a low chance of success from the beginning.

Summing it up…

So if there is a theme here, I think it is this:

Be honest about what you can offer within your current capacity. Share that information with pride in ways that are actually consumable for parents. And always stay ready to learn more as campers’ needs continue to evolve and change.

Neurodivergent families are not necessarily looking for a camp that can do everything.  We are looking for a camp that knows what it can do, communicates clearly, supports its staff, and is honest about what it is still learning.  That gives us what we need to make a good decision.

And really, that is what I want most as a parent.  Just enough honest information to help us find the place where my kids have the best possible chance to thrive.