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Camp Sensation Summer Day Camp
Sensory exploration
camp was more than a touchy, feely experience
for the 11 campers attending this summer day
camp program at Camp ClapHans at the J. D. McCarty
Center in Norman. It was about exploring touch,
sight, sound and smells and the camper's response
to these sensory stimuli.
According to Maria
Greenfield, director of occupational therapy
at the McCarty Center and camp director of Camp
Sensation, we all have sensory issues. "The
difference is in how we cope and respond to
the sensory stimulus", Greenfield explained.
"Kids with severe sensory issues lack the
coping skills to respond to the stimulus. For
example, a person might be sensitive to bright
light. If your coping system were developed
you would simply turn the light off or pull
down the window shades to reduce the brightness.
If you're coping skills are not developed you'll
have a fight or flight response to the stimulus
that makes you uncomfortable or possibly feel
out of control," Greenfield said.
The purpose of the
weeklong Camp Sensation was to expose kids to
a variety of sensory experiences in a safe and
controlled environment to teach them acceptable
ways to cope and respond. "The kids have
to experience it in order to learn from it,"
Greenfield said.
Greenfield describes
a child with sensory issues as being on an emotional
staircase. At the bottom of the stair case the
child is not stimulated, non-responsive and
not ready to learn. At the top of the staircase
a child is over stimulated and not coping or
responding well to the stimulation and not ready
to learn. Many children stay at the top of the
stairs ready to step off the edge. The ideal
position for the child is the middle of the
staircase. It gives them the flexibility to
move up and down the steps without going over
the edge as they learn to cope with the sensory
stimuli that affects them.
"It's like a horse
that spooks in place," said Greenfield.
"They may jump a little bit in place, but
they won't run off with you if they've learned
to cope and respond appropriately to sensory
stimulation.
When a child is in the
middle of their emotional staircase Greenfield
says this is the place where they are most attentive
and ready to learn.
Some of the weeks activities
aimed at stimulating the camper's senses included:
planting flowers, making paper-mache coconuts,
finger painting, building sand castles, flying
kites, playing with play-doh, taste testing
various kinds of foods, playing with water and
water balloons, treasure hunting, playing in
a pool of pasta, shaving cream fights and sponge
races.
"Kids with sensory
issues don't out grow them," explained
Greenfield, "but they can learn to cope
and be functional. To us, being functional means
being able to cope with a sensory stimulation
independently without any prompting or coaching.
The whole point of our camp is to get kids started
in the direction of being able to cope and function
independently."
Camp Sensation was the
second in a series of five summer day camp programs
scheduled at the J. D. McCarty Center. The next
two camp sessions will be Camp Friendship. They
are scheduled for June 25 thru 29 and July 9
thru 13. Camp Friendship will focus on improving
social skills, integrating peer interaction,
teamwork, winning and losing, and manners.
The last camp session
for this summer will be Bits & Bytes Computer
Camp. This camp is scheduled for July 23 thru
27 and will focus on basic computer skills.
The J. D. McCarty Center
is Oklahoma's center of excellence in the care
and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities. Founded in 1946, the McCarty Center
only treated one thing…cerebral palsy.
Today, the McCarty Center has treated more than
70 different diagnoses in the developmental
disability category.
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