Summer Camp Fun
As parents we are responsible for making sure that our kids have great experiences. During the school year the school teachers enrich their lives through mental stimulation and activities. The issue for many parents is the summer time. The children are out of school and have all of heir days free. The issue is that most parents do not have the time off from work and must be out of the home for the majority of the day. The greatest way to combat your children being left alone to be babied by the television and the video games is to send them to summer camp. Summer camps are a good thing for the children and the parents alike. The parents are able to go to work without having to worry about their children being stuck at home getting dumber by the minute and children do not have to worry about being bored to tears and watching the same talk shows every day.
There are all types of children in the world. Some children enjoy sports and others enjoy crafts and others enjoy totally different things. The summer camps that are available to choose from are just as diverse as the children that attend them. For the kids that love sports there are sports specialty summer camps. When I was a child one of the camps that I went to was soccer camp. I spent the whole day everyday playing the game that I loved. My brother on the other hand loved hockey so when summer camp time rolled around he went to a hockey camp. My other brother loved music and playing instruments. Every year he attended a musical camp. We are just one example of how summer camps can bend to fit all types of children in all walks of life.
Summer camps teach children some very valuable skills in addition to the sports and the like. Children learn to adapt to an environment that is unusual for them. They are used to their teachers and the fellow students that they have grown up with and they are familiar with the rules they deal with day in and day out. Going to a summer camp with new adults and new kids allows them to see how the world changes and how they must adjust their behavior and line of thinking to fit it to their new surroundings.
Summer camp is a valuable experience on many accounts. If you are a parent and are considering letting you child stay home and do nothing over the summer consider letting them know about summer camp. You may find that your child is ready and willing to learn and experience new things at the summer camp of their choice.
For more information about Summer Camp or to check into Teen Summercamps or Traditional Summercamps.
Summer Program For High School Students
Summer programs for high school students are meant to motivate high school students who are preparing to start their college career and will benefit from participating in various interesting and challenging subjects. The programs help the participants to develop their talents in a variety of liberal arts subjects including creative writing, humanities, arts, science, history, geography, animation, dance, music, visual arts, video, and theater. A challenging summer program for high school students helps them to increase their chances of getting into a good college.
The duration of the summer programs varies from two to five weeks. Most summer programs are designed so the students have the opportunity to explore the topics in depth, work at a challenging pace, and nurture new skills while learning topics that students of their age often do not have the chance to practice. In short, by attending summer programs students can build better communication skills, leadership qualities, increase self-confidence, gain essential international experience, and improve their global awareness. International summer programs for high school students are also offered by some organizations that take the students on an intensely moving educational journey of cultural exploration and discovery.
As there are several summer programs offered for high school students, selecting the right program is an arduous task. It is vital to get the students’ opinion regarding the summer program they would like to attend. Consulting the school counselor is one of the best options available. The Internet is a rich resource to locate customized summer programs arranged by various schools, universities, colleges and organizations. The program schedule, expenses involved, and the topics covered are all provided in detail.
Learning in the Limelight at a Georgia Summer Camp
You won’t hear 12 year old movie directors mentioned at the Academy Awards – yet. But given some time, these talented students just might make it big.
Hundreds of 7-17 year olds applied their talents in a weeklong film production course at iD Tech Camps at a Georgia summer camp on the Emory University campus the past few summers. By the end of the week, each student team created inspiring movies with special effects using cutting-edge technology, including lighting kits and green screens from Photoflex®, Canon® camcorders, Apple Final Cut Pro® editing software, and Adobe After Effects® special effects software.
“With the skills they learn in one week, these up-and-coming student directors could be ready for an internship in the movie industry,” said Kevin Painchaud, owner of an award-winning Hollywood-based movie production company and 7th year lead digital video instructor for iD Tech Camps . “The equipment and software they use is exactly what my production company uses. What wonderful exposure to receive at such a young age. One of the things that makes many of their movies so powerful is their use of lighting and special effects to evoke mood,” says Painchaud. “With the use of the Photoflex professional lighting equipment, the students’ work was elevated to the next level.”
Students used the Photoflex FlexDrop™ green screen to superimpose backgrounds, including purely digital fabrications made from Adobe After Effects. With the Photoflex LiteDisc™ reflectors, students could also easily control the sunlight when filming outside.
“We learned a lot about cinematography and special effects,” one student said. “In one scene my crew and I used the green screen to add a ghostly figure that enters a room through a closed door to pursue the main character.”
While many Emory students were “on location” at the Emory campus in Georgia, another iD Tech student, Brittany, and her group filmed the short movie “Subject #14″ while attending the same program at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. A chilling tale of descent into madness, “Subject #14″ won the program’s nationwide competition for Best Drama.
“We created amazing lighting effects!” Brittany said. “It was really cool. We could make the actors look brighter or darker depending on what we wanted.”
These up-and-coming movie directors quickly discovered that this technique reduced shadows and created a diffused lighting effect. To open up the room and make it brighter, Brittany’s crew adjusted a Photoflex Digital Lighting Kit so that its SilverDome™ softbox and Starlite™ light pointed toward the ceiling.
By the end the weeklong course, the digital media students gain confidence and leadership skills. Many of them say they look forward to pursuing careers in the movie industry. Getting started in Hollywood may be a challenge, but with the experience these iD Tech Camp students have gained, their journey has already begun.
Summer Camp for Any Age
Whether your child is still in preschool, or if they are in their high school years, you can find a summer camp which will fit their needs and provide them with a summer filled with good memories. If you went to summer camp as a child, you may or may not have fond memories of your time there. But you will find that today, there are many more camp choices for your children-not only with the activities that the summer camp offers, but also the length and age of the participants.
The first thing that you should really think about when choosing a camp for your child is the age and maturity level of your child. Most children that are younger than 9 years old are not old enough for a sleep-away camp yet. They may be able to handle one or two nights away, but longer than that could be difficult. After age nine, the summer camp length can gradually increase to anywhere from a week to a few weeks. In order to prepare your child for their first experience sleeping away from home at summer camp, you may want to have them spend a night or two with a close friend or relative.
The next thing that you will need to decide is what type of camp. You may be in an area which offers a summer camp program through the city and school district which offer a wide selection of activities. You may also be able to find music, drama, sports, or computer camps that are only day camps. A sleep away camp may have a focus on anything from horsemanship, to surfboarding, to weight loss. You can find a lot of information about different camps by looking on the internet.
Before your child attends any camp you will need to do some very intensive questioning and research. You should find out what a daily schedule looks like, how free time is spent, what the menu is, and what the ratio of staff to campers is. You will also need to find out what kind of medical training and facilities the camp offers and what the emergency notification procedures are. Ask how you will be able to contact your child. You may even want to find someone who has had a child at that particular camp and ask them questions. Give your child a lifetime of memories from camp.
Overnight Summer Camps: A Wonderful American Tradition!
There are lots of wonderful summer experiences for kids and teens to partake in. Sending your kid to overnight camp is one of the most popular choices. For many, including myself as a kid, spending time each summer away at camp created a fun and exciting adventure away from home. Camp, especially longer program stays of 3 weeks or more, provides a true bonding experience among campers, counselors, directors and staff. Returning each summer reunites kids with some great friends and creates the opportunity to have fun learning new sports and activities. More than that, overnight camps have special traditions, each one different, but always something special that builds the camping spirit and community. My summer camp memories of color war breaking out, and camp sing downs are good examples of that.
Today’s overnight camps run the gamut. Traditional summer camps, like the one I went to for 9 summers in Upstate NY, have a wide range of sports and activities, everything from waterskiing, horseback riding to arts and crafts, tennis, swimming, adventure activities and much more. (Traditional camps are known for having lots of activities) Specialty camps, another type of camp, typically focus on a particular interest, sport or theme. Some examples include: equestrian, soccer, dance, adventure, mountain biking, performing arts, baseball, music, and computer camps. There are also special needs overnight camps for physically and emotionally challenged children and teens.
Camps, especially private ones, can be very expensive. Back in 2011, privately run camps cost between $800 and $1600 per week while specialty camps cost between $500 and $1000. Non- profit camps, such as those run by a youth group or agency, cost between $300 and $800 per week. And by and large, the most popular camp stays are 1 week and those of shorter duration than a full 8 week overnight camp. Specialty camps like baseball camp, golf camp or basketball camp often run 1 week or less and are designed to help your child learn and improve skills and have fun. This is also true of other specialty camps. Of course, each camp is different, and program choices run the gamut. If you are looking, consider first learning more about camp options available. Some factors to consider include: location, budget and type.
Camps for Adolescents and Teens
Behavior Outdoor intervention programs have been growing in popularity and variety tremendously for the past 10 years. Terms like boot camps, outdoor behavior programs, wilderness programs, wilderness camps, and wilderness boot camps are being used by programs without clear distinction, definition or meaning. Programs are essentially free to call themselves whatever they want. Parent’s understanding of these programs is becoming distorted and uncertain. Parents looking for an unrealistic quick fix to their adolescent’s or teen’s behaviors, especially over the summer months, usually choose and search on the Internet for what are known as troubled teen camps.
There are two types of adolescent and teen camps: boot camps and summer or wilderness camps. They usually last from 21 days to 3 months, and while adolescents may shows signs of improvement for days or even weeks after coming home, they most often revert back to old behaviors after the temporary fear of authority disappears.
Boot Camp programs trace their origins to the juvenile justice system where they were created as an alternative to juvenile hall and youth authority camps.
Adolescents participated in military-like training programs, usually against their will or as a “persuaded” voluntary alternative to the youth authority system. The Boot Camp was embraced and funded by county and state criminal justice systems. As the boot camp appeal and demand grew, boot camps were next used as an intervention for teens that were getting into trouble at home and at school and those who were coming to the attention of local law enforcement. In the two to four years I have noticed a few boot camps claiming to treat adolescents with behavioral, emotional and psychological problems. Boot camps are military-style facilities that use discipline, fear of authority, military exercises, and rigorous physical training to transform a troubled teen into a “good soldier” who follows rules. Unfortunately, most boot camps do not address underlying behavioral or emotional problems.
When boot camps left their structural buildings and entered the outdoors they changed their identity to “wilderness boot camps”.
Boot camps have always had some attractiveness to parents and the juvenile justice system.
Wilderness boot camps not only retained the boot camp appeal but this blending of program concepts advanced their market appeal by incorporating the “healing power of the wilderness”.
However, at this point the wilderness boot camp became a new entity that had very little in common with a wilderness therapy program. In my experience wilderness therapy programs and a wilderness boot camp are separate and opposing treatment models.
Without experiential therapy which has proven to profoundly affect teens with issues such as ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, learning differences, obesity, or behavioral problems, long-term effectiveness is very limited.
The behavioral and psychological philosophy of a boot camp needs to be understood and appreciated by any parent considering this intervention.
Boot camps are designed to quickly achieve compliance, control, and obedience to authority. The tools employed include subjecting people to severe physical hardship as well as emotional and psychological trauma that is intended to strengthen resolve under pressure and break opposition and defiance. Boot camps use psychological punishment including aggressive gesturing and challenges, bullying, intimidation, threats, and verbal abuse.
Positive behavior is rewarded and unwanted behavior is punished. Physical punishment might include corporal punishment, depravation, and isolation, loss of privileges, exhausting exercise, and work details. Adolescents in many programs are hazed in a manner that is now (supposedly) forbidden in a military boot camp.
Whatever you might think about corporal punishment, these approaches have been shown to produce quick changes in outward behavior.
Teens invariably change their behavior in some way when the alternative is frightening or painful. However, the consequences of severe punishment can also include long term psychological and behavioral problems.
When parents do chose to send their troubled adolescent to a boot camp, the best chance for long-term success is to follow it with a residential therapeutic treatment program. In my opinion, wilderness camps are seen as a much better option to boot camps, especially for children with ADD or ADHD. Adolescents and teens with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often benefit highly from wilderness programs.
Why is this? The need for focused attention on challenging tasks in a controlled group setting allows ADD kids to hone not only their skills of concentration, but their social skills. The group experience, when facilitated by experienced counselors, allows ADHD kids to learn how to better interpret feedback from their peers and adjust their behavior appropriately. Parents of kids with ADHD know that schedules and structure help these adolescents and teens thrive. Instead of the aggressive approach that boot camps tend to use, wilderness camps are offer emotional growth and self-esteem components while also working with the teen on their particular behaviors while in a safe outdoor program with trained wilderness staff and therapists. They remove city, inner-city, rural and urban distractions so troubled adolescents and teens can reconnect and accept responsibility for their choices.
The assurances and integrity of services offered by wilderness programs does vary a great deal. Some programs are licensed and regulated as outdoor treatment and wilderness programs. Others are state regulated as chemical dependency and mental health treatment programs.
Wilderness camps are year round and some include an academic component.
Their focus is not on academics; however, the adolescent can earn credits that can be applied, which is especially important for those who have fallen behind during the school year.
Wilderness therapy, in the purest form, is a positive growth experience where adolescents and teens face natural challenges and adversities that are designed to be therapeutic in nature. Adolescents are not merely thrown into the wilderness and made to suffer hardships.
They are removed from their environment, encouraged, challenged and given every opportunity to succeed.
Wilderness therapy programming is overseen by licensed medical and mental health professionals who have experience and training in experiential education, behaviorism as well as group and interpersonal therapy.
The wilderness is seen as a place of safety. It is a place where they can look at their life and consider what they were doing, what they were thinking, how that made them feel, what they want and what they are willing to do to make that happen.
The wilderness is a place to take action where initiative is naturally rewarding. Adolescents begin to change naturally when they are removed from environments filled with harmful and negative influences and triggering events that produce reckless, self-defeating, or self-destructive behavior. They enter the wilderness on a journey of self-discovery. When teens become involved in routines that are logical and necessary in nature, the natural result is to help each other, communicate, develop relationships, reveal their problems, face the consequences of their behavior and discover their hidden potential.
They discover their true feelings as well as more realistic hopes and dreams. It is a time of discovery, reflection, and building new skills.
Rather than become angry, annoyed, irritated, outraged or mad, adolescents become assertive, self-assured, and self-confident.
Instead of hiding their feelings, they ask for help and talk to people they trust. Instead of rushing around, they learn to listen to others and be patient. In those moments when they are alone watching a sunrise or sunset (and not spending hours on the Internet or watching TV), adolescents discover their true self. When they are frightened and scared of their feelings, they become brave and courageous instead of wounded souls. Parents who have teens heading down the “wrong path” will often see dramatic changes in their teen’s attitude, behavior, and motivation after a therapeutic wilderness camp or other alternative summer camp. Wilderness camps are temporary, with three to four months being the longest, so the best chance for long-term success is to follow it with a residential treatment program. This will supplement and reinforce the treatment adolescents and teens receive at camp. The best wilderness and summer camps have a high ratio of field instructors or counselors to students. This makes the experience the most rewarding, because no student can be “lost in the crowd.”
Safety needs to be your top consideration when you evaluate programs on your own.
Ask the right questions – and many questions – before sending your adolescent or teen to any program.
Universities now provide earned degrees in experiential education – a discipline that is becoming a cornerstone in wilderness therapy programs. The philosophical, structural and programmatic differences between a wilderness therapy program and a boot camp program are, in my opinion, worlds apart.
(Note* Dore Frances, Educational Consultant does not recommend, support or network with any “boot camps” for adolescents or teens)
Experienced, Full-Time Independent Educational Consultants and Special Education IEP Advisors.
Finding the right program or school for your daughter or son can be a stressful and time consuming process. While families have traditionally had to orchestrate their own program or school search, we offer a wide variety of professional services to help you find the best school for your child.
As parents we are responsible for making sure that our kids have great experiences. During the school year the school teachers enrich their lives through mental stimulation and activities. The issue for many parents is the summer time. The children are out of school and have all of heir days free. The issue is that most parents do not have the time off from work and must be out of the home for the majority of the day. The greatest way to combat your children being left alone to be babied by the television and the video games is to send them to summer camp. Summer camps are a good thing for the children and the parents alike. The parents are able to go to work without having to worry about their children being stuck at home getting dumber by the minute and children do not have to worry about being bored to tears and watching the same talk shows every day.
There are all types of children in the world. Some children enjoy sports and others enjoy crafts and others enjoy totally different things. The summer camps that are available to choose from are just as diverse as the children that attend them. For the kids that love sports there are sports specialty summer camps. When I was a child one of the camps that I went to was soccer camp. I spent the whole day everyday playing the game that I loved. My brother on the other hand loved hockey so when summer camp time rolled around he went to a hockey camp. My other brother loved music and playing instruments. Every year he attended a musical camp. We are just one example of how summer camps can bend to fit all types of children in all walks of life.
Summer camps teach children some very valuable skills in addition to the sports and the like. Children learn to adapt to an environment that is unusual for them. They are used to their teachers and the fellow students that they have grown up with and they are familiar with the rules they deal with day in and day out. Going to a summer camp with new adults and new kids allows them to see how the world changes and how they must adjust their behavior and line of thinking to fit it to their new surroundings.
Summer camp is a valuable experience on many accounts. If you are a parent and are considering letting you child stay home and do nothing over the summer consider letting them know about summer camp. You may find that your child is ready and willing to learn and experience new things at the summer camp of their choice.
For more information about Summer Camp or to check into Teen Summercamps or Traditional Summercamps.
Summer Program For High School Students
Summer programs for high school students are meant to motivate high school students who are preparing to start their college career and will benefit from participating in various interesting and challenging subjects. The programs help the participants to develop their talents in a variety of liberal arts subjects including creative writing, humanities, arts, science, history, geography, animation, dance, music, visual arts, video, and theater. A challenging summer program for high school students helps them to increase their chances of getting into a good college.
The duration of the summer programs varies from two to five weeks. Most summer programs are designed so the students have the opportunity to explore the topics in depth, work at a challenging pace, and nurture new skills while learning topics that students of their age often do not have the chance to practice. In short, by attending summer programs students can build better communication skills, leadership qualities, increase self-confidence, gain essential international experience, and improve their global awareness. International summer programs for high school students are also offered by some organizations that take the students on an intensely moving educational journey of cultural exploration and discovery.
As there are several summer programs offered for high school students, selecting the right program is an arduous task. It is vital to get the students’ opinion regarding the summer program they would like to attend. Consulting the school counselor is one of the best options available. The Internet is a rich resource to locate customized summer programs arranged by various schools, universities, colleges and organizations. The program schedule, expenses involved, and the topics covered are all provided in detail.
Learning in the Limelight at a Georgia Summer Camp
You won’t hear 12 year old movie directors mentioned at the Academy Awards – yet. But given some time, these talented students just might make it big.
Hundreds of 7-17 year olds applied their talents in a weeklong film production course at iD Tech Camps at a Georgia summer camp on the Emory University campus the past few summers. By the end of the week, each student team created inspiring movies with special effects using cutting-edge technology, including lighting kits and green screens from Photoflex®, Canon® camcorders, Apple Final Cut Pro® editing software, and Adobe After Effects® special effects software.
“With the skills they learn in one week, these up-and-coming student directors could be ready for an internship in the movie industry,” said Kevin Painchaud, owner of an award-winning Hollywood-based movie production company and 7th year lead digital video instructor for iD Tech Camps . “The equipment and software they use is exactly what my production company uses. What wonderful exposure to receive at such a young age. One of the things that makes many of their movies so powerful is their use of lighting and special effects to evoke mood,” says Painchaud. “With the use of the Photoflex professional lighting equipment, the students’ work was elevated to the next level.”
Students used the Photoflex FlexDrop™ green screen to superimpose backgrounds, including purely digital fabrications made from Adobe After Effects. With the Photoflex LiteDisc™ reflectors, students could also easily control the sunlight when filming outside.
“We learned a lot about cinematography and special effects,” one student said. “In one scene my crew and I used the green screen to add a ghostly figure that enters a room through a closed door to pursue the main character.”
While many Emory students were “on location” at the Emory campus in Georgia, another iD Tech student, Brittany, and her group filmed the short movie “Subject #14″ while attending the same program at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. A chilling tale of descent into madness, “Subject #14″ won the program’s nationwide competition for Best Drama.
“We created amazing lighting effects!” Brittany said. “It was really cool. We could make the actors look brighter or darker depending on what we wanted.”
These up-and-coming movie directors quickly discovered that this technique reduced shadows and created a diffused lighting effect. To open up the room and make it brighter, Brittany’s crew adjusted a Photoflex Digital Lighting Kit so that its SilverDome™ softbox and Starlite™ light pointed toward the ceiling.
By the end the weeklong course, the digital media students gain confidence and leadership skills. Many of them say they look forward to pursuing careers in the movie industry. Getting started in Hollywood may be a challenge, but with the experience these iD Tech Camp students have gained, their journey has already begun.
Summer Camp for Any Age
Whether your child is still in preschool, or if they are in their high school years, you can find a summer camp which will fit their needs and provide them with a summer filled with good memories. If you went to summer camp as a child, you may or may not have fond memories of your time there. But you will find that today, there are many more camp choices for your children-not only with the activities that the summer camp offers, but also the length and age of the participants.
The first thing that you should really think about when choosing a camp for your child is the age and maturity level of your child. Most children that are younger than 9 years old are not old enough for a sleep-away camp yet. They may be able to handle one or two nights away, but longer than that could be difficult. After age nine, the summer camp length can gradually increase to anywhere from a week to a few weeks. In order to prepare your child for their first experience sleeping away from home at summer camp, you may want to have them spend a night or two with a close friend or relative.
The next thing that you will need to decide is what type of camp. You may be in an area which offers a summer camp program through the city and school district which offer a wide selection of activities. You may also be able to find music, drama, sports, or computer camps that are only day camps. A sleep away camp may have a focus on anything from horsemanship, to surfboarding, to weight loss. You can find a lot of information about different camps by looking on the internet.
Before your child attends any camp you will need to do some very intensive questioning and research. You should find out what a daily schedule looks like, how free time is spent, what the menu is, and what the ratio of staff to campers is. You will also need to find out what kind of medical training and facilities the camp offers and what the emergency notification procedures are. Ask how you will be able to contact your child. You may even want to find someone who has had a child at that particular camp and ask them questions. Give your child a lifetime of memories from camp.
Overnight Summer Camps: A Wonderful American Tradition!
There are lots of wonderful summer experiences for kids and teens to partake in. Sending your kid to overnight camp is one of the most popular choices. For many, including myself as a kid, spending time each summer away at camp created a fun and exciting adventure away from home. Camp, especially longer program stays of 3 weeks or more, provides a true bonding experience among campers, counselors, directors and staff. Returning each summer reunites kids with some great friends and creates the opportunity to have fun learning new sports and activities. More than that, overnight camps have special traditions, each one different, but always something special that builds the camping spirit and community. My summer camp memories of color war breaking out, and camp sing downs are good examples of that.
Today’s overnight camps run the gamut. Traditional summer camps, like the one I went to for 9 summers in Upstate NY, have a wide range of sports and activities, everything from waterskiing, horseback riding to arts and crafts, tennis, swimming, adventure activities and much more. (Traditional camps are known for having lots of activities) Specialty camps, another type of camp, typically focus on a particular interest, sport or theme. Some examples include: equestrian, soccer, dance, adventure, mountain biking, performing arts, baseball, music, and computer camps. There are also special needs overnight camps for physically and emotionally challenged children and teens.
Camps, especially private ones, can be very expensive. Back in 2011, privately run camps cost between $800 and $1600 per week while specialty camps cost between $500 and $1000. Non- profit camps, such as those run by a youth group or agency, cost between $300 and $800 per week. And by and large, the most popular camp stays are 1 week and those of shorter duration than a full 8 week overnight camp. Specialty camps like baseball camp, golf camp or basketball camp often run 1 week or less and are designed to help your child learn and improve skills and have fun. This is also true of other specialty camps. Of course, each camp is different, and program choices run the gamut. If you are looking, consider first learning more about camp options available. Some factors to consider include: location, budget and type.
Camps for Adolescents and Teens
Behavior Outdoor intervention programs have been growing in popularity and variety tremendously for the past 10 years. Terms like boot camps, outdoor behavior programs, wilderness programs, wilderness camps, and wilderness boot camps are being used by programs without clear distinction, definition or meaning. Programs are essentially free to call themselves whatever they want. Parent’s understanding of these programs is becoming distorted and uncertain. Parents looking for an unrealistic quick fix to their adolescent’s or teen’s behaviors, especially over the summer months, usually choose and search on the Internet for what are known as troubled teen camps.
There are two types of adolescent and teen camps: boot camps and summer or wilderness camps. They usually last from 21 days to 3 months, and while adolescents may shows signs of improvement for days or even weeks after coming home, they most often revert back to old behaviors after the temporary fear of authority disappears.
Boot Camp programs trace their origins to the juvenile justice system where they were created as an alternative to juvenile hall and youth authority camps.
Adolescents participated in military-like training programs, usually against their will or as a “persuaded” voluntary alternative to the youth authority system. The Boot Camp was embraced and funded by county and state criminal justice systems. As the boot camp appeal and demand grew, boot camps were next used as an intervention for teens that were getting into trouble at home and at school and those who were coming to the attention of local law enforcement. In the two to four years I have noticed a few boot camps claiming to treat adolescents with behavioral, emotional and psychological problems. Boot camps are military-style facilities that use discipline, fear of authority, military exercises, and rigorous physical training to transform a troubled teen into a “good soldier” who follows rules. Unfortunately, most boot camps do not address underlying behavioral or emotional problems.
When boot camps left their structural buildings and entered the outdoors they changed their identity to “wilderness boot camps”.
Boot camps have always had some attractiveness to parents and the juvenile justice system.
Wilderness boot camps not only retained the boot camp appeal but this blending of program concepts advanced their market appeal by incorporating the “healing power of the wilderness”.
However, at this point the wilderness boot camp became a new entity that had very little in common with a wilderness therapy program. In my experience wilderness therapy programs and a wilderness boot camp are separate and opposing treatment models.
Without experiential therapy which has proven to profoundly affect teens with issues such as ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, learning differences, obesity, or behavioral problems, long-term effectiveness is very limited.
The behavioral and psychological philosophy of a boot camp needs to be understood and appreciated by any parent considering this intervention.
Boot camps are designed to quickly achieve compliance, control, and obedience to authority. The tools employed include subjecting people to severe physical hardship as well as emotional and psychological trauma that is intended to strengthen resolve under pressure and break opposition and defiance. Boot camps use psychological punishment including aggressive gesturing and challenges, bullying, intimidation, threats, and verbal abuse.
Positive behavior is rewarded and unwanted behavior is punished. Physical punishment might include corporal punishment, depravation, and isolation, loss of privileges, exhausting exercise, and work details. Adolescents in many programs are hazed in a manner that is now (supposedly) forbidden in a military boot camp.
Whatever you might think about corporal punishment, these approaches have been shown to produce quick changes in outward behavior.
Teens invariably change their behavior in some way when the alternative is frightening or painful. However, the consequences of severe punishment can also include long term psychological and behavioral problems.
When parents do chose to send their troubled adolescent to a boot camp, the best chance for long-term success is to follow it with a residential therapeutic treatment program. In my opinion, wilderness camps are seen as a much better option to boot camps, especially for children with ADD or ADHD. Adolescents and teens with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often benefit highly from wilderness programs.
Why is this? The need for focused attention on challenging tasks in a controlled group setting allows ADD kids to hone not only their skills of concentration, but their social skills. The group experience, when facilitated by experienced counselors, allows ADHD kids to learn how to better interpret feedback from their peers and adjust their behavior appropriately. Parents of kids with ADHD know that schedules and structure help these adolescents and teens thrive. Instead of the aggressive approach that boot camps tend to use, wilderness camps are offer emotional growth and self-esteem components while also working with the teen on their particular behaviors while in a safe outdoor program with trained wilderness staff and therapists. They remove city, inner-city, rural and urban distractions so troubled adolescents and teens can reconnect and accept responsibility for their choices.
The assurances and integrity of services offered by wilderness programs does vary a great deal. Some programs are licensed and regulated as outdoor treatment and wilderness programs. Others are state regulated as chemical dependency and mental health treatment programs.
Wilderness camps are year round and some include an academic component.
Their focus is not on academics; however, the adolescent can earn credits that can be applied, which is especially important for those who have fallen behind during the school year.
Wilderness therapy, in the purest form, is a positive growth experience where adolescents and teens face natural challenges and adversities that are designed to be therapeutic in nature. Adolescents are not merely thrown into the wilderness and made to suffer hardships.
They are removed from their environment, encouraged, challenged and given every opportunity to succeed.
Wilderness therapy programming is overseen by licensed medical and mental health professionals who have experience and training in experiential education, behaviorism as well as group and interpersonal therapy.
The wilderness is seen as a place of safety. It is a place where they can look at their life and consider what they were doing, what they were thinking, how that made them feel, what they want and what they are willing to do to make that happen.
The wilderness is a place to take action where initiative is naturally rewarding. Adolescents begin to change naturally when they are removed from environments filled with harmful and negative influences and triggering events that produce reckless, self-defeating, or self-destructive behavior. They enter the wilderness on a journey of self-discovery. When teens become involved in routines that are logical and necessary in nature, the natural result is to help each other, communicate, develop relationships, reveal their problems, face the consequences of their behavior and discover their hidden potential.
They discover their true feelings as well as more realistic hopes and dreams. It is a time of discovery, reflection, and building new skills.
Rather than become angry, annoyed, irritated, outraged or mad, adolescents become assertive, self-assured, and self-confident.
Instead of hiding their feelings, they ask for help and talk to people they trust. Instead of rushing around, they learn to listen to others and be patient. In those moments when they are alone watching a sunrise or sunset (and not spending hours on the Internet or watching TV), adolescents discover their true self. When they are frightened and scared of their feelings, they become brave and courageous instead of wounded souls. Parents who have teens heading down the “wrong path” will often see dramatic changes in their teen’s attitude, behavior, and motivation after a therapeutic wilderness camp or other alternative summer camp. Wilderness camps are temporary, with three to four months being the longest, so the best chance for long-term success is to follow it with a residential treatment program. This will supplement and reinforce the treatment adolescents and teens receive at camp. The best wilderness and summer camps have a high ratio of field instructors or counselors to students. This makes the experience the most rewarding, because no student can be “lost in the crowd.”
Safety needs to be your top consideration when you evaluate programs on your own.
Ask the right questions – and many questions – before sending your adolescent or teen to any program.
Universities now provide earned degrees in experiential education – a discipline that is becoming a cornerstone in wilderness therapy programs. The philosophical, structural and programmatic differences between a wilderness therapy program and a boot camp program are, in my opinion, worlds apart.
(Note* Dore Frances, Educational Consultant does not recommend, support or network with any “boot camps” for adolescents or teens)
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