Farmington, Maine — The Autism Society of Maine, together with the University of Maine in Farmington, annually holds an autism summer camp for youngsters with autism aged five to 15 years old.
The camp, which started in 2002, offers two weeks of fun activities for adolescents, and another two weeks for the younger children.
Some participants in the annual summer camp travel all the way from Sumner, Portland, and Winthrop.
The camp aims to help children have fun and relax a little, with the organizers knowing that most, if not all, of the participants normally go through a grueling 50 weeks of therapy each year.
The autism summer camp is a chance for children with autism to take a break and get involved in fun camping activities.
Each camp participant is paired with an advanced psychology student from the university who is currently enrolled for a summer course at the time of the activity, who serves as a counselor.
Although the camp’s facilities are capable of accommodating up to twelve campers for each session, organizers are only able to take in a maximum of seven participants for each session due to the fact that not many counselors are readily available in the summer to help facilitate the camping activities.
The organizers, however, are trying to get students from other universities to join the camp as counselors.
Autism summer camp was also created to help families caring for children with autism relax and find time for themselves.
The camp is held annually in three places— Bangor, Biddeford, and in Farmington— and is supported by Autism Walks.
Source: Ann Bryant: sunjournal.com: Autism camp provides fun for campers, experience for counselors