Abstract
Camp staff play a vital role in the occupational and social development of children in residential camps. However, many children with hearing impairments continue to experience exclusion in the inclusive camp environment. Camp staff report that feelings of lack of training and equipment limit their ability to work with this population. This study researched the perspectives of camp staff and parents of children with hearing impairments to develop accessibility and inclusionary strategies.
Primary Author and Speaker: Tiffany Lynee Coles
Additional Authors and Speakers: Rebecca L. S. Knowles
Children are frequently encouraged to engage in various play, leisure, and social participation activities to enhance the development of life skills, independence, and social skills. Attending camp can be a fun and engaging environment to help accelerate growth in key developmental outcomes, such as positive identity, social skills, physical skills, positive values, and spirituality (Bialeschki et. al., 2007). Within the residential camp setting, children are encouraged to become self-reliant away from their caregivers while participating in their activities of daily living; as well as explore new occupations such as learning new camp songs, swimming, hiking, crafting, archery and other activities provided by the camp. The introduction of the new occupations, in a new environment may present challenges for children with hearing impairments (Moderow & Tollefson, 2018). By attending camp, the child has an opportunity to empower themselves by learning to self-advocate when they are unable to hear or need adapted services (Devine et al., 2015). Occupational therapists have the skills necessary to help develop camp programs to be comfortable, restorative, socially inclusive and therapeutic for children and adolescents with disabilities (Moderow & Tollefson, 2018). Using occupation-focused skills and processes, occupational therapists are trained to advocate for and facilitate occupational outcomes that can enhance a person or group’s capabilities, social inclusion, and well being (Pereira, 2017). Within a residential camp setting, the focus of inclusion should target equal participation in activity, communication, and social acceptance of individuals with hearing impairments. The goal of inclusion can be accomplished through various techniques including policy and program development founded on the principles of social inclusion. This qualitative capstone project worked to address the environmental and social needs of a residential camp to meet the physical and social needs of hearing-impaired children. Through the perspective of occupational therapy and the person-environment-occupation-performance model, camp counselors were provided an educational program on strategies to encourage social skills, communication, and social inclusion within the camp environment. The process included surveys for camp directors, camp staff, and parents of children with hearing impairments to gather enough information to complete a needs assessment for the educational module provided at the end of the research. The educational model included recommendations for accessibility for hearing impaired children within the residential camp, basic American Sign Language signs for common camp terminology, teachings of common camp songs in American Sign Language, as well as inclusion activities and strategies to be used by camp staff. This project served as a stepping stone to create and education training module that can be applied to various types of residential camps and community spaces that service children with hearing impairments. This project is important to the field of occupational therapy as it opens the doors to exploring and researching recreational activities and leisure exploration with disabilities that are less commonly studied.
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Moderow, E., & Tollefson, H. (2018). The Perspective of Counselors on Occupational Therapy at a Residential Camp for Children with Disabilities. 74.
Pereira, R. B. (2017). Towards inclusive occupational therapy: Introducing the CORE approach for inclusive and occupation-focused practice. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 64(6), 429–435. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12394