Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Specialized camps gearing up
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Now that summer vacation is in full swing, it's time for summer camps.
In the Roanoke Valley, that doesn't always mean s'mores and bug spray. Area educators have taken time out of their vacations to put together camps designed to serve the students they've worked with throughout the year who may need extra help during the summer.
In Roanoke County, two speech pathologists for the school system have organized their second annual camp for children with Asperger's syndrome, a neurological disorder on the autism spectrum that makes people uncomfortable in social situations.
Diane Shelton and Leslie Berger, the camp's organizers, have several children with Asperger's in their caseloads and decided a year ago to start the camp.
Last year, the camp enrolled 15 students over three one-week periods. Enrollment has been down this year. Shelton said they had to cancel the first weeklong session. Nine children have enrolled for the other two weeks, she said.
"We do role-playing and we do lots of activities to help them strengthen their social skills in a fun kind of setting," Shelton said.
The camp, known as Camp Connect, is held at the Community School campus near Hollins University. It costs $500 for one week's session, but scholarships are available.
"We just have a soft spot in our hearts for these kids," Shelton said. "They're really cool kids, and they just have a hard time in school and there really wasn't anything in the area that was offered just for kids with Asperger's."
In Roanoke, Landon Moore is launching a new summer camp for refugee and immigrant students that mixes academic assistance with soccer. Moore, the soccer coach at William Fleming High School, got the idea for the camp when he noticed that some of his players were struggling on standardized tests. Many of Fleming's players come from African and South American countries and are learning English.
About 28 students have signed up, Moore said. This year, all of them are from Fleming, although he hopes some students from Patrick Henry High School will enroll next year.
"This is something that could really change their lives," Moore said. "I want their opportunities to be expanded.
"It's not necessarily getting every kid into an Ivy League school, but maybe getting one kid into Virginia Western is a big deal and getting them onto a solid career path after high school is a big deal," he added.
The weeklong camp starting Monday will combine three hours of soccer with four hours of classroom instruction a day. Huntington Learning Center will lead the classroom portion while Moore will run the soccer drills.
Huntington has already given the campers diagnostic tests to determine how much help they'll need.
"Some of it is really basic," Moore said. "We realized that some of them really can't read."
