CAMP ANDY

CAMP ANDY is a 5-week summer day camp program for children ages 6-12. It was designed to help kids with autism spectrum disorders and/or ADHD to build social and behavioral skills outside of the clinic. It aims to increase self-esteem, self-efficacy, and resilience, especially in group settings. This is accomplished through supported practice during typical summer camp sports, games, and group activities.

Our program is based on the Summer Treatment Program, a set of evidence-based practices recognized by the American Psychological Association as a Model Program Child and Family Mental Health. These teaching practices are embedded within a real-world summer day camp, offering 150 hours of social and behavioral skills instruction and practice, the equivalent of nearly 3 years of typical once a week social skills instruction! Our high staff-to-child ratio (1 to 3) ensures every child receives the individual attention needed to be successful, while making space for the child to learn independently and practice with their peers.

A token-economy proceeds throughout the day, behavior is carefully tracked, and children receive lots of positive reinforcement and encouragement, earn points, and receive coaching and feedback. Parents receive a Daily Report Card to help monitor progress. We partner with families to identify goals and promote learning and generalization across settings.
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CAMP ANDY FAQS

CAMP ANDY is a summer day camp, designed specifically for children with autism and/or ADHD to level up their social and behavioral skills. It looks a lot like a typical day camp, but within that structure we maximize opportunities for learning and practice.

Dates for 2024 are July 1-August 2. The program runs Monday through Friday 9a-3p.

Kids ages 6-12 attend CAMP ANDY. Many children who attend have a diagnosis of autism or ADHD, but that is not a requirement. Siblings and peers are welcome too! Children require an approximately 6-year-old language level to meaningfully access the program content.

After the morning transition, we begin every day with a group discussion. We we talk about our social skill of the week, celebrate our recent successes, and share the plan for the day. The day is made of up of classic camp programming including sports, board games, and other group activities. Each activity begins and ends with a group discussion where we highlight the social skills we are working on, with a carefully executed transition between activities. There’s a snack break mid-morning and mid-afternoon, with lunch and recess in the middle of the day. Social skills practice is integrated across the day, embedded in our group activities. Fridays we celebrate the week by playing unique camp games and water activities, often including large amounts of water balloons.

Our counselors are graduate and undergraduate students from across the country, training to be psychologists, physicians, educators, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, nurses, etc. They are an incredibly talented and energetic group, bringing a high degree of fun and professionalism every day. Each counselor team of 5-7 staff works with a group of 14-16 kids across the 5-weeks of the program.

We are located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. We keep the location confidential to protect the privacy of our clients and participating families.

Families can submit a brief Camper Application via our website. We then review applications on a rolling basis and reach out to families to schedule a virtual or in-person screening visit. After we meet your child and gather some additional information during screening, our camper committee reviews all the information and then notifies families if their child has been accepted.

Tuition for summer 2024 is $5750. We are pleased to offer scholarships to families based on financial need via our Scholarship Form. We also encourage families to take advantage of community scholarship opportunities like Ben’s Fund. 

While our program is supervised by a talented team of professionals, many of the staff implementing the program are graduate and undergraduate students. Despite years of effort, insurance companies do not generally cover our summer treatment program. Some families have been successful using Health Savings Accounts (HSA), though policies can vary across companies and plans.

Parent Support

For families that have participated in our summer treatment program, we provide opportunities for parents to connect with each other and receive parent education, coaching, and training to level up their parenting skills. This service will be available in Fall 2024.
Starting Fall 2024

School Consultation

Our team of school psychologists and behavior experts provide consultation, guidance, and support to families and school teams as they set up individualized education programs, behavior intervention plans, and other practices to maximize success in the classroom. This service is currently only available to families who have participated in our summer treatment program.