Summer Camp WIN

What a difference a day makes!

I took Eli back to camp today. I'd gotten so much feedback on my facebook posting from my amazing friends...all saying to give it another chance. So....

I drove him over to the camp, coaching him the whole drive on what I expected from him, and what the staff would expect from him. I reminded him to watch the other children to see what they were doing, if was unsure, and told him that if he needed a break, to just TELL them.

The assistant director greeted us and Eli took his shoes off himself, stowed them and took off like a rocket. Okay, bye honey! So much for separation anxiety, right? The assistant director and I chatted for a few minutes and I thanked her for offering to try and make it work for Eli. I also gave her a heads up on overload reaction and how to try and avoid it. I told her that he takes sensory breaks at school when situations arise that stress him. At school, he is allowed to sit in a beanbag chair and regroup. I suggested that if she or the staff noticed him becoming agitated, to just offer him a break!

I motored on back to the Mothership to hang mass amounts of laundry out to dry. Our dryer broke about a week ago and I am pronouncing it DOA. The entire time he was at camp, I had my phone nearby, just in case. My family will tell you that this is unusual. I am not a slave to the phone. I frequently forget where it is, whether it is charged, whatever. Not yesterday! I obsessively checked it all afternoon, but that call never came.

At around 4:00, I drove over to campus to pick him up, getting there about 15 minutes early so I could see for myself how it was going. I stowed my flipflops in a cubby by the door and went into the big room with all the kids, not immediately seeing Eli. One of the staff, a nice young woman, pointed him out to me, working on his journal. He was deep in conversation with a photographer taking pics as I approached. The photographer is a great kid who lived in Japan for a year, so Eli had lots of questions for him. I peeked at Eli's journal and saw that he was trying to copy the characters from artwork on the wall, and it looked pretty good!

The assigned kids for clean-up started swiffering the floor and I told Eli it was time to go. As I got up, the instructor for the camp approached me smiling, telling me that Eli had asked for a schedule of the day's activities at the beginning of the session. She typed up a schedule for him and showed it to me. Wow! What a great idea! At that point in time, I was so dang proud of my little one. It made perfect sense. He likes to know what's going on and what time it's happening, so this was really an amazing thing for him to come up with ALL ON HIS OWN. Dumb old mom didn't think of it--he did!

My hat's off to Japan House and its wonderful staff. They took on a challenge with my son and they made it work. To his credit, he made it work, as well.

Autism is a challenge at times. There are so many activities that my son cannot be a part of because of it. But as time passes, I am discovering that there are just as many activities that he CAN be a part of. No, he does not play regular Little League, but he has enjoyed playing baseball with the Challenger League. No, he can't take part in many summer camps, but there are many others available that will accommodate and accept him as the wonderful addition he can be.

Opportunities are out there. My take away from this entire experience is this---Don't give up the first time you stumble or fall. Get up and get going again, and most importantly, have some fun!