When School Camp Isn’t Just Exciting

Every kid looks forward to school camp, right?
I know I did when I was at school.
Then I had a child of my own.
Miss E has Autism Spectrum Disorder and, instead of camp being simply fun and exciting, she was anxious about all the things that were unknown.
Spending a night away from us.
Going to the toilet in the night.
What kind of food would be available?
What would happen if she needed something?
At the same time, she was genuinely excited about the things she did know about. She was looking forward to the camp activities, watching a movie and having a campfire with marshmallows.
There was excitement there.
But there was anxiety too.
And that made me wonder how many other children find some of these things difficult. Because the thing about school camp is that the parts that are exciting for one child can be the very same things that make another child anxious.

Miss E's first camp didn't go well.
Several issues compounded and, in the end, we had to pick her up early.
That meant that when camp came around the following year, she wasn't just anxious about the unknown.
She was anxious about the things that had gone wrong the year before.
We knew we needed to approach it differently.
We worked closely with the school to identify the things that were worrying Miss E and, importantly, to work out options that would work for her.

I spent time talking through her worries with her. We talked about what she was concerned about and what might help.
Then I spoke to the school about those things.
The school produced a detailed social story about what was going to happen at camp and sent it home.
Miss E and I were able to sit down together and look through it.
She could see what was going to happen.
She could ask questions.
We could talk about the things that worried her.
And, where possible, we could work out what her options were before she even left home.
The difference was enormous
Miss E had a brilliant time on that camp. And by the time camp came around the following year, something remarkable had happened.
The anxiety had been replaced by excitement.
She knew what camp was.
She knew what to expect.
She knew that if something worried her, there were ways of dealing with it.
And she was ready to enjoy it.
There wasn't one magic solution.
Looking back, there were many parts to the ecosystem that made this a successful outcome for Emily.
The communication between our family and the school was a really important part of it.
So was taking the time to listen to Emily's worries rather than simply telling her that she would have fun.
And so was giving her information about what was going to happen.
The social story wasn't the whole solution.
It was one part of a bigger process of preparing her for an experience that mattered to her.
And that's the thing I keep coming back to.

Children don't all need the same things to feel ready for school camp.
Some children will be counting down the days.
Some will be excited and nervous at the same time.
Some might be worrying about sleeping somewhere unfamiliar.
Some might be wondering what food will be available.
Some might be thinking about what happens if they need the toilet during the night.
Some might simply want to know what is going to happen next.
And sometimes, knowing what to expect can make a big difference.

When we started talking about the kinds of resources I could create for older primary students, Miss E told me:I needed to make a social story about camp.
She was right.
Because school camp is a huge experience for a child.
It can be one of the things they look forward to most.
And it can also be one of the things that creates the most anxiety.
That's why I've created Going on Camp: A Social Story for Upper Primary Students.

It's not designed to promise that every child will suddenly stop feeling anxious about camp.
It's designed to help make some of the unknowns a little less unknown.
To give children information.
To give them things to talk about.
And to help them begin to think about what they might need to feel ready.
Because sometimes being prepared doesn't take away the excitement.It makes room for it.