Facilitating Social Interactions in a Community Summer Camp Setting for Children with Autism

Abstract

This article describes a program developed to support the participation of children with autism in a full-inclusion summer day camp program with their typically developing peers. The goal of the program was to support the children in inclusive summer recreational settings and specifically target their social development with typically developing peers. The program contained the following elements: recruiting appropriate aides, providing the aides with ongoing training and support, creating individualized social and behavioral goals for the campers, developing interventions that were contextually appropriate to the camp settings, and communicating with the families during their participation in the program. This article discusses the relevant child, family, agency, and community issues relevant to the implementation of this program.