Adventure Camp
What is Adventure Camp?
Adventure Camp is a five-day in-vivo, in-situ intensive exposure therapy program designed to simulate the classroom environment to treat students with selective mutism. It runs in August so that the therapy occurs right before the start of the new school year, increasing treatment carryover into your child's school. Adventure Camp runs from 9am - 3pm for five days (Monday - Friday), providing 30 hours of intensive exposure therapy, as well as 8 hours of parent guidance, for a total of 38 hours of therapy in one week, expediting treatment. In the simulated classroom, your child has the opportunity to practice their communication goals. Each child is assigned to a counselor (1:1 ratio) and the counselor applies evidence-based therapeutic strategies to reduce anxious-avoidance mutism and increase verbal communication. For younger children, the simulation includes morning circle time, free play, snack, and typical structured and non-structured activities experienced in the early childhood classrooms. For older children, the simulation includes morning assembly, non-structured and structured group work, structured class activity, and therapeutic role plays to practice classroom presentation as well as social interaction. Both age groups experience lunch, recess, in-classroom visitors, field trips, and bus rides. All counselors have received training under the direct supervision of SM specialist Dr. Carmen Lynas.
Curious about Adventure Camp?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR RECORDING FROM ADVENTURE CAMP 2021 INFORMATIONAL MEETING
Looking for the Counselor Training? Click here for more information!
What are Lead-In Sessions?
Lead-in sessions are necessary to prepare for camp. During the lead-in sessions, your child is gently exposed to one counselor, then counselor #2, and then eventually to another camper, thus expanding their social interaction from 1 person to 3 people. Once your child is able to respond to the counselors in front of another camper, they are ready for the group camp intervention. The lead-in sessions are not like general meeting sessions. Therapeutic methods are used in the lead-in sessions to facilitate and reinforce verbal communication to prepare your child for the camp.
Winter Adventure! One-Day Intensive on MLK Day
Similar to Adventure Camp, Winter Adventure simulates a classroom setting within a therapeutically supportive environment. Using exposure-based therapy, children are led through a series of verbal exposure opportunities that start small and grow larger as the day progresses. Each child has their own counselor who provides them with the scaffolding needed to meet each challenge, fostering confidence in each child.
Why Winter Adventure?
Winter Adventure provides a one-day (6 hours) intensive dose of treatment that can serve to jump start traditional therapy, or it can also be a "booster" to therapy graduates, specifically Adventure Camp graduates. It runs every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.
If your child has started or is about to start outpatient therapy, Winter Adventure can help to expedite treatment. With the intensity of the lead-in sessions to prepare for camp days prior, as well as the six hours of intensive treatment done in one day, your child has the opportunity to accomplish as much results, or perhaps even more results, than what you can accomplish with 1-hr therapy sessions over six weeks. Exposure therapy research supports the notion that frequency and duration of sessions are keys to successful resolution of anxieties and phobias; at ATSA, see that evidence first-hand in our work with kids with selective mutism and social anxiety.
If your child has completed Adventure Camp and you would like a booster dose to help rekindle their motivation, the one-day Winter Adventure camp can serve that purpose, too. Adventure Camp families and counselors remember all too well what a rush camp week was, and the way it invigorated and empowered the campers, parents, and the counselors! But sometimes the momentum starts to wane mid-year. Winter Adventure is a great place to rejuvenate that rush to help keep campers motivated to face the rest of the school year.
If you are thinking about the one-week summer Adventure Camp for your child, Winter Adventure's one-day program can serve as a nice preview, allowing you and your child to see what it's like for one day.
Meet the Adventure Camp Team!
Clinical Procedures & Fees Associated with Camps
Adventure Camp vs. "Usual and Customary"
| Adventure Camp | Usual and Customary Therapy |
|---|---|
| $115/hr x 38 hrs | $180 - $240/hr x 37.5 hrs |
| $4,370 | $6,750 - $9,000 |
| 1 week (saved 7.25 months of time) | 30 weeks (7 1/2 months) |
| See gains quicker | Takes longer to see gains |
| Classroom Simulation, Group Setting | Office Setting |
| Carryover effects into school is more likely | Less carryover effect into school |
Winter Adventure! vs. "Usual and Customary"
| Winter Adventure! | Usual and Customary Therapy |
|---|---|
| $115/hr x 6hrs | $180 - $240/hr x 6 hrs |
| $690 | $1,080 - $1,440 |
| 1 Day (saved 1.5 months of time) | 6 weeks (1 1/2 months) |
| See gains quicker | Takes longer to see gains |
| Classroom Simulation, Group Setting | Office Setting |
| Carryover effects into school is more likely | Less carryover effect into school |
Next Intensive Group Therapy: Adventure Camp 2024
100 days 9 hours until camp begins. Only 8 slot(s) left
Monday, July 29 - Aug 2, 2024
Camp Registration
Congrats to our Adventure Camp 2023 Campers!
Adventure Camp 2023 was a blast! It was a fantastic week of growth and new learning! Good luck this school year to all our campers!
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