Summer Program

Description:

Camp Confidence is a fun and unique place for children with special needs to learn valuable social skills. We teach children underlying skills they need to help them understand and acquire both basic and advanced social skills, using a total communication approach. Children with PDD/Autism and other developmental disabilities often lack social skills and therefore miss out on the enjoyment and value of a good friendship. Some of our students still need beginner social skills such as, eye-contact and how to greet other children. Some need special help even to be around other children or to learn the value of their peers. On the other hand, many of our students have undergone social skills therapy and learned rote skills, such as when a person says hello, they are able to say hello back, but have difficulty maintaining the conversation.

At Confidence Connection campers not only learn beginning social skills (Beginner Learner), but those ready (Advanced Learners) to also learn how to analyze why someone is saying hello in the first place, multiple responses s/he could use, and how to choose the most appropriate response based upon the person's non-verbal cues and inference of the message. In this sense, our campers learn to communicate more naturally and with more inherent understanding. Below are some of the goals and objectives targeted at Confidence Connection:

Beginner Learner Skills:

• Eye-contact
  

• Greetings
  

• Initiating conversation
  

• Topic maintenance
  

• Turn-taking
  

• Following directions
  

• Structured play
  

• Pretend play
  

• Accepting “no"
  

• Transitioning to activities
  
  

General Socialization & Communication

• Initiating, monitoring, maintaining, and disengaging from conversations
  

• Joining conversations or joining games already in progress
  

• Spontaneous greetings to adults and peers
  

• Using a combination of questions and comments when interacting with peers and adults
  

• Cooperation, compromise, and negotiation with peers and adults
  
  

Advanced Learner Skills:

• Practice Greetings
  

• Organization
  

• Cooperative Projects
  

• Meeting new people/initiating conversations (greetings)
  

• Group-play skills (i.e. structured games, turn-taking, etc.)
  

• Language development for social development
  

• Learning gestures, facial expressions and “figures of speech”
  

• How to make friends (what discourages and encourages friendship)
  

• Making play dates, planning play dates
  

• Maintaining conversations and initiating conversations
  

• General problem solving with peers/conflict resolution
  

• How to keep friends/how to play without bossing people
  

• Cooperating
  

• Negotiating
  

• Compromising
  

• Being flexible
  

• Identification of feelings such as others’ non-verbal cues and one’s own internal feelings.
  

• Labeling feelings and understanding a range of emotion. (happy vs. elated/annoyed vs. angry, etc.)
  

• Coping skills - what to do about what you feel - learn 5 different techniques
  

• What to do when other people are upset. What is an appropriate response?
  

• How do your feelings and attitudes impact other people (peers & adults)? How can you make other people feel upset or happy?
  

• Conflict resolution
  

• Reading Non-Verbal Cues
  

Eye contact

Facial expressions

Tone of voice

Posture

Assessment and Placement:

Prior to attending Confidence Connection each child will have a packet submitted by a parent or guardian that contains an application as well as, a copy of the child's recent IEP and any developmental or educational testing done within the past year. Assessment of the child's appropriateness for the program will be made mainly through the use of this packet and a phone conversation with the parents/guardians. In some cases the parent/guardian may be asked to bring in their child for a brief observation.

Once enrolled in the program each student will be assessed to determine what goals/objectives are best suited for the student. The ABLLS: Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills is an assessment, curriculum guide, and skills tracking system for children with developmental, cognitive, social and/or language delays. The ABBLS contains a task analysis of the many skills necessary to communicate successfully and to learn from everyday experiences. The purpose of this assessment is to help identify those language and other critical skills that are in need of intervention in order for a child to become more capable of learning. The ABBLS scores help to determine educational priorities, and to help with the selection of appropriate educational objectives for an individual child. 

Each student's first week of the summer program his/her lead therapist will screen them using the social and play components of the ABLLS. Based on that screening the therapist will develop individualized goals for each student.

2008 Camp Application

AVAILABLE NOW!!!

Parent Feedback and Training:

Once the student's goals are developed the parent will receive a copy of the goals. The lead therapist will be collecting data on each goal frequently during each session. Parents will receive weekly session notes summarizing how their child is performing and what his/her current strengths and weaknesses are. In addition, parents will receive weekly suggestions for generalizing their child's social/pragmatic goals outside-of the program. Parents are welcome to set-up a time to observe their child in a session and to meet with their child's lead therapist.

Additional Services:

• APE
  

• Music Therapy
  

• Speech/language groups
  

• 1:1 Speech Therapy*
  

• Behavior Consultation*
  

• ABA
  

*additional cost

Groupings

Students are grouped by both their age AND level of abilities. Higher level students may be with slightly older students. Lower level students may be with slightly younger students. All children are grouped so that they have appropriate peer models. Groups contain 4-5 children. Staffing is 2:1. All lead therapists are masters level teachers, speech and language pathologists and/or behavior consultants. All assistant therapists are typically undergrad students in the same fields as the above lead therapists.

"Typical" Peers

Confidence Connection does enroll typical peers in our summer program. Typical peers are usually siblings, friends or neighbors of the students. There is typically at least one typical peer per group each day. There is no charge for enrollment of typical peers. Openings are limited. Please contact Confidence Connection for more information.

Confidence Connection

Additional Information:

• Session runs July 7th-August 15th, M-F, from 2:30-4:30pm. There is only ONE session for the 2008 season.
  

• Regular Admittance due June 30th
  

• Part-time students are not accepted
  

• Ages 3-13
  

• Sessions are held at the Center located at 188 Needham Street, Newton, MA