What To Do During Summer Months?

Keeping typical children busy during the summer is a large and difficult task. Doing the same with a special needs or a child affected by autism is even MORE DIFFICULT AND A DAUNTING TASK! Much needs to be considered and reviewed to meet the child’s unique needs, capabilities, and interests all the while keeping them busy and pushing them towards their annual goals.

Keeping child affected by autism busy during the long summer months can be overwhelming. Parents should address some suggestions before selecting a summer program. These areas include:

  • What are the necessary services after school or summer school ends to maintain and develop skills?
  • Does your child regress without some sort of intervention or activity?
  • What activities does your child enjoy that will also help reach his/her current IEP goals?
  • What is the right combination of seasonal activities and therapy hours to help your child maintain and achieve necessary skills?
  • Is the team considering any alternative therapies during the summer break? (i.e. Fast 4Word, Listening Therapies, etc.)
  • What does your current specialist or services team recommend for your child?
  • What can my child tolerate in number of hours and in content for the summer day?
  • What age group should I put my child in? (Selecting a group based on your child’s developmental age versus chronological age should be reviewed with the professionals that work with your child.)

It is important to also review outdoor activities as it may be too hot for your child. Consider weather and location as part of your decision process.

Here are some ideas for you to consider:

1) There are over 20 California based and outside California camps listed on TACA's Resources.

Also check www.talkautism.org and the link EXPERT FIND, click on your state and select the search “CAMPS”

2) Now what to do about regression during summer? The way I can relate is by explaining the options we reviewed for our son for your review:

  • Camps & Community centers: We signed Jeff up for a camp with an aide for three days a week through the entire summer excluding planned vacation times. He would go from 9am-2pm and still do speech, OT and some afternoon ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) sessions.
    • Another idea would be a preschool sign up, or a “Kindercare” preschool and elementary school aged daycare for social activities, or organize and set up with your local community center for activities or play groups – with an aide (as needed.)
  • School curriculum preload: books like “What Every ____ Grader Should Know” Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles has preschool thru high school grades books and workbooks supporting that years curriculum. Each summer we prep and introduce the abstract content for the upcoming school year.
  • Doing the alternative and augmentative therapies such as:

Typical these activities would easily take up 2 to 3 hours each day Monday – Friday. These have a significant cost for these activities so reviewing at your IEP or health insurance reimbursement options is important.

  • Get caught up on all those appointments! Schedule your doctor, dentist, audiologist, vision and all those follow up biomedical appointments during summer. It is a great time to get those medical tests and assessments you have been putting off and to try the new biomedical interventions during the summer for careful monitoring and coordination with your doctor.
  • Outings: A great book: Activities for Children in Southern California demonstrates hundreds of options right in your backyard. I would open the book and pick an activity by flipping the pages, pointing to a page with my eyes closed. Then off we would go. It was great to keep my son flexible and not get stuck in a rut, including me the mom! Some of the activities were total dudes, but many were great fun and I am glad we went.
  • Thru your local universities and museums they often offer programs for school aged children that are fun and educational. Given your child’s unique needs, their ability to work with or without aides and the program content (i.e. hand’s on, lectured based, or visually oriented, etc.) these make a wonderful alternative to consider.
  • And they all time favorite – PRAY FOR SCHOOL TO START SOON !!!!!

3) Getting the IEP in place with these activities is a very important first step. Have your independent assessments in place with recommendations for your child. The minimal consideration should be at least having an aide, afternoon ABA and other services such as Speech and OT to continue on to prevent regression.

- The key is having your specialists indicate in writing how long your kid can go without structure to prevent regression. And of course some time off from the day to day drill is a good idea. The amount of “down time” is what needs to be determined by child.

  • Some choose school based summer school and a very light August and a very light Holiday break during December as a negotiating point to curb a childs regression.

I hope this provides some base ideas for your review and your child’s professional team for a fun filled, non-regressive summer!

Note: Please do not misconstrue this as advice for replacement to the necessary therapy hours your child needs! It is also recommend to contact your special education attorney regarding the necessary steps to take in getting the summer activities itemized in your IEP.