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Hey folks, long time no see! I worked this summer at a YMCA Camp....enjoyed it overall, as frustrating and tiring as it got to be sometimes. I was the "Teen Adventure" Day camp counselor, where myself (and a co-counselor, female, 3 of whom I went through before they found a permanent replacement) and I were in charge of 12-18 kids, aged 11-16 (12-15 was the program requirement but 1 or 2 exceptions were made). About 5 or 6 of those kids were brought by the Pa. Counseling Services (PCS), and a TSS (Therapeutic Support Staff) counselor was there to assist me, mainly with those PCS kids but helped me keep the kids in line (and they needed it)
One of the kids in my group, we'll call him M., was only 14, but 4' tall and almost everything about him made him appear like a 7 year old. He spoke very well, using big words in the process, aside from his speech delivery issues (he had Aspergers).
Part of his problem included an obsession with nature. Being at camp, he would try to run off and fiddle with trees and branches and leaves, and pick up sticks, rocks and leaves and carry them. But we had to stop him from doing so, as he would not focus on where he was going or listen to directions given by us counselors.
His obsession with nature also caused him to want to sit out of all activities and just sit and sand the sticks he collects. Since we wanted to treat all kids equally (if we let him sit out, we'd have to let the others) we made him participate or sent him to the director. He would have meltdowns where he'd swing at the counselors, cuss us out, etc..
Our group had an overnight campout once a week. The PCS kids could not attend as their TSS was only there during the day. (they were heavily medicated and personally I was apprehensive about having them there overnight without an untrained person there) and they understood (although we started letting PCS kids stay the night, those who we believed could handle it). But his mother got angry about it, and yelled "you mean I have to deal with him on thursday nights now??!?" to which I told the directors but they didn't think anything should/could be done about it.
We had a meeting with his mother (myself and the TSS) to discuss his poor behavior and not listening to us and his mother told us verbatim that "well, we only medicate him the moment we pick him up, and he's fine at home!" well, duh! leave us to do the dirty work, eh?
After about four weeks, he was finally kicked out of camp for many different reasons, mainly for his climbing a 10' tall brush pile and refusing to get down, jeopardizing his own safety and the safety of anyone who tried to get him out (if i climbed it, i'd fall thru) So how does his mother react?
Yells at us that she'll go crazy if she has to deal with him and begs us to take him back. Kept calling for a few weeks until finally giving up. Thank god
More camp stories on the way!
One of the kids in my group, we'll call him M., was only 14, but 4' tall and almost everything about him made him appear like a 7 year old. He spoke very well, using big words in the process, aside from his speech delivery issues (he had Aspergers).
Part of his problem included an obsession with nature. Being at camp, he would try to run off and fiddle with trees and branches and leaves, and pick up sticks, rocks and leaves and carry them. But we had to stop him from doing so, as he would not focus on where he was going or listen to directions given by us counselors.
His obsession with nature also caused him to want to sit out of all activities and just sit and sand the sticks he collects. Since we wanted to treat all kids equally (if we let him sit out, we'd have to let the others) we made him participate or sent him to the director. He would have meltdowns where he'd swing at the counselors, cuss us out, etc..
Our group had an overnight campout once a week. The PCS kids could not attend as their TSS was only there during the day. (they were heavily medicated and personally I was apprehensive about having them there overnight without an untrained person there) and they understood (although we started letting PCS kids stay the night, those who we believed could handle it). But his mother got angry about it, and yelled "you mean I have to deal with him on thursday nights now??!?" to which I told the directors but they didn't think anything should/could be done about it.
We had a meeting with his mother (myself and the TSS) to discuss his poor behavior and not listening to us and his mother told us verbatim that "well, we only medicate him the moment we pick him up, and he's fine at home!" well, duh! leave us to do the dirty work, eh?
After about four weeks, he was finally kicked out of camp for many different reasons, mainly for his climbing a 10' tall brush pile and refusing to get down, jeopardizing his own safety and the safety of anyone who tried to get him out (if i climbed it, i'd fall thru) So how does his mother react?
Yells at us that she'll go crazy if she has to deal with him and begs us to take him back. Kept calling for a few weeks until finally giving up. Thank god
More camp stories on the way!