Learning Together Through Activity

Camp Sunrise is based on the principle of education through experience. Our camp will feature theme-based activities that are educational for all enrolled campers. The social skills trainings are educational for children with autism and their typically developing peers. To this end, we will provide ample opportunity to develop friendships through fun and interesting events and activities.

Special Education Students

At Camp Sunrise, children with unique learning styles will be partnered with their same-age peers. They benefit from observing and interacting with these peers, particularly when these interactions are facilitated by experienced professionals. While playing with peers, children acquire many interrelated skills that are necessary for attaining social competence and forming meaningful friendships. They learn to communicate effectively, solve problems, negotiate and compromise, understand the feelings and perspectives of others and work out emotional conflicts. Particularly within a social-pretend framework, children practice and assimilate these skills while exercising their imaginative potential. Considering play's social, cultural and developmental significance, enhancing opportunities for children with autism to become competent in play with peers is of prime importance.

What We do at Camp Sunrise

A typical day will include playing soccer, an outing to the ice cream shop, or a trip to the local library. In the community, our focus will be to increase appropriate behaviors and to improve community skills as a whole. During the first week, we will assess each child's appropriateness in the community and measure their current community skills. From this assessment we will create individualized community goals that will be of focus throughout the 6-week period.