volunteering at summer camp for autistic kids

[amar314]

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Hi everyone, I'm thinking of volunteering at a summer camp for children with autism (I'm going to the center soon to see everything). Any experiences or tips, I've never worked with kids with autism, they're 2-11 yrs old?

Thanks 🙂

 

[Hobakie]

I work at a school for children with neurological differences with autism spectrum disorder being one of the main differences. I would say remember that autism is a spectrum disorder.

1) Many of the children aren't going to be on the same page as far as communication and comprehension and you kind of have to tailor yourself to fit your needs. If you know a child has only a few words they are able to say make a fun and creative way of communicating, try speaking without words or maybe they can write etc.

2) patience is key. When your frustrated which you will be , breathe calm yourself down. I think this is also important because children with autism have trouble putting themselves in the other persons shoes meaning they don't always pick up the signals that you are frustrated with them. By pausing and exaggerating my breathing I found that I calmed down and the children would realize that I was upset or that they should calm down a bit.

3) have fun. Even though it's a camp for autistic kids they aren't your patients and you're not their doctor. The purpose of camps like these is to make the children feel comfortable and safe. A lot of the kids will help you out with that just through their daily actions. The kids at my school are some of the sweetest and funniest little bugs I know.

4) everything that you need to know comes with actual doing. I can only tell you so much but you honestly need direct experience to full understand the level of work and commitment that would be needed to help the children reach their full potential

And good luck I'm sure you'll be a great volunteer also excuse any grammar/spelling errors I'm feeling a bit lazy 😉

 

[DokterMom]

Good points from @Hobakie. I'd also like to add a few:

1. On communication - Learn to speak in short, positively-phrased sentences. "Walking feet!" is much easier for a communication-challenged child to process than "Don't Run!" The negative in the second sentence requires an additional layer of cognitive processing that can be difficult for many.
2. Yes, patience is critical. In addition to deep breathing to calm yourself, teach the children deep-breathing and other techniques to calm themselves. This is an area that can be exceptionally difficult for AS kids, and learning and practicing socially-acceptable self-calming techniques (so other than rocking, stimming, etc.) is a valuable life skill. For kids who are more verbal, teach them to say "I'm upset! I need a minute". That will help them so much in life...
3. Be direct. Kids with AS issues are generally very weak at picking up social cues, so if - no when - they say or do something inappropriate, tell them! Tell them kindly but directly what was wrong and what is right. Have them practice the right way, and compliment them on it. Point out the social cue directly and explicitly. Teach them to identify it -- smiles, frowns, looking away, shifting weight from foot to foot, raised eyebrows, folded arms.

Thank you for doing this. These kids need you, and you will gain much more than you realize if you keep your eyes and hearty open.

 

[toastytoes]

Don't be afraid to ask for help! Many children have specific care needs and have different triggers/ways of calming down if triggered. At first when working with them, you don't know everything about them yet, so don't be scared to admit you're still learning 🙂
Good luck and have fun! I've been working and volunteering with kids with severe disabilities for a few years now and it is by far my most meaningful experiences on my amcas app!

 

[amar314]

Awesome, thank you all so much! I'll be sure to use all these tactics, I'm going to the camp tomorrow to check things out!

 

[DokterMom]

Awesome, thank you all so much! I'll be sure to use all these tactics, I'm going to the camp tomorrow to check things out!

Do please report back!

 

[amar314]

Went great everyone! The kids were all very sweet and usually followed orders, honestly not so different from any other kids as I had expected. The camp is also very therapy focused so it was nice seeing physical therapists and OTs at work. I'll be helping out 3x a week 🙂

 

[DokterMom]

Went great everyone! The kids were all very sweet and usually followed orders, honestly not so different from any other kids as I had expected. The camp is also very therapy focused so it was nice seeing physical therapists and OTs at work. I'll be helping out 3x a week 🙂

You'll find most AS kids tend to be very strict rule followers. 🙄 They tend to crave structure and use rules to try to understand social situations. You're likely to run into more problems from the kids who observe a rule being broken and can't cope with it, more so than from the kid actually breaking a rule...