| Gene's Inclusion |
| Gene belongs to the Boys & Girls Club in Carlsbad as part of their Inclusion Program for Disabled Kids - run by Andre Walker. They have teenage volunteers that oversee the kids as they participate in the various activities at the club. Gene goes only on Thursday afternoons after school from 3:30-5pm and usually spends most of the time in the computer room or doing art. He has to wait his turn for use of the computer and enjoys watching the other kids playing their games. I watched one day to see how the operation worked and to see how the other kids treated Gene. I was very pleased to see that the supervisor kept good track of turn-taking and all the kids were well-behaved. When it was Gene's turn, the other kids were helpful, not bothersome. |
| Carlsbad Boys and Girls Club |
| 2001:Gene participated in a couple of Summer Camps this year. I found that the City of San Diego has an Inclusion Program that provides a one-on-one aide to assist with a developmentally-disabled child during his/her camping experience. The only catch is that it must be through one of the Rec Centers of San Diego City (not County). The closest San Diego city to us is Rancho Bernardo so I was able to find a nice day camp for introducing young kids to sports (which was exactly what I wanted!). It was called PeeWee Sports Camp; they worked on one sport each day - football, soccer, basketball, T-ball, track. Gene did well and his aide was very nice and helpful. The Inclusion Coordinator, Jessica, was extremely organized and involved. Gene also participated in a YMCA day camp which I was very excited about. It was a Sea World camp where they go to Sea World in the AM and go swimming in the PM -- how could we miss: whales and dolphins AND swimming!! I discussed the arrangements with the coordinator and he explained that they were equipted and experienced in handling autistic kids since so many are interested in marine mammals. As it got closer, I called again and was told that the counselor for his camp was very experienced with autism and everything would be okay - she was to call me ahead of time to discuss Gene. Well, no call and when I showed up, it was a different counselor with no experience...well, I of course had a stress attack, but it all turned out okay and it seemed that he did enjoy the experience. Rebecca participated in both camps and turned out to be a great resource for the counselors. They were very appreciative that she was there to be Gene's buddy, keep an eye on him and help translate his needs or behaviors. |
| Summer Camps |
| 2002: This summer there was a new program called Camp I Can (Camp Including Children with Autism Now) sponsored by the Mission Valley YMCA. It is partially funded by the San Diego Autism Society and the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation. It is similar to the other YMCA camps where the kids doing some outing / activity during the morning and then swimming in the afternoon. The nice thing here is that there is on Inclusion Coordinator and a one-on-one aide for each autistic child. This was particularly helpful this year since Gene needed to be kept on his diet and it was nice that someone would be watchful of that. I signed him up for the 1st week (7/29-8/2) since I assumed he would still be off-track at that time. Oh well. It was located at Missile Park in Kearny Mesa. This was a big hit for Gene! He really enjoyed it and he was paired with a great aide. Gene had the opportunity to try several new things (Ice Skating, Rock Climbing) in addition to participating in some activities he felt comfortable in (Chuck E Cheese, Pirate's Cove, Boomers) |
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| 2003: Gene is participating in a couple of Summer Camps this year. Unfortunately, there was a snafu with getting Gene into the Camp I Can program - 1) the camps were taking place while Gene would be back in school and I didn't want him to miss school 2) the price increased about 3 fold which caused me to hesitate 3) then the school district changed its schedule & by that time there was a waiting list for Camp I Can -- ack! I decided to try the YMCA Sea World camp again that Gene and Rebecca really enjoyed 2 yrs ago. They went to Sea World (for the entire day this time though) and got to see all the shows including the Cirque de Mer, Shamu, Dolphins, Sea Lions (Gene got a kick out of "Ace" getting knocked into the water by the sea lion!) as well as touching and seeing the animals up close. He had a one-on-one assigned to him who was great with Gene. The YMCA director told me that they are fully equipted now for children of all disabilities - their staff is trained for this -- seems to be one of their objectives to ensure these kids are included. Gene participated in a Surf Day (see pix) in San Onofre. This is part of the Surfers Healing non-profit organization. I got on a waiting list of sorts many months ago and continued to follow-up, so Gene got in! I had heard GREAT things about this group and, boy, everything was true! (Check out their website above -- very interesting article on their philosophy on why this therapy works). I also just received a call-back on Therapeutic Horseback Riding (see pix) from over 1 yr ago! For Ivey Ranch . At the time I had called before, they had stopped the program, but were planning to get it going again. We started up the program for a month, August 2. The first day was just going over safety |
| 2004: Once again, Gene is participating in a couple of Summer Camps this year. After the problems with getting Gene into the Camp I Can program last year, I made sure that I got all the paperwork in at the beginning of the first day(!), so we had first choice of dates. He completed that the end of July. They did a lot of swimming, Knotts Soak City, Boomers, Ice-skating, Park Play ... We have been very happy with the YMCA Sea World camp in the past years, so we did that again, this time with all 3 kids(!). Once again, it was a very positive experience. Gene is participating in a Surf Day (see pix) this time in San Diego. This is part of the Surfers Healing non-profit organization. Gene is continuing with the Therapeutic Horseback Riding at Ivey Ranch from last year. |
| 2005: Sticking with what works, Gene is participating in several Summer Camps this year. Camp I Can program worked well again last year, so I made sure that I got all the paperwork in early, so we had first choice of dates. We did YMCA Sea World camp again this time through the Ecke YMCA since it was discounted & had implemented aides for the disabled kids. Gene is participating in another Surf Day (see pix), too, again, in San Diego. This is part of the Surfers Healing non-profit organization. Gene has started up swimming again with UCP. |