Camp Lee Mar – Occupational Therapy Skills Program

Camp Lee Mar – Occupational Therapy Skills Program
 
Camp Lee Mar, offers a unique summer program, for our campers with a full educational curriculum incorporating a strong Academic and Speech program with traditional camp activities.
 
We reinforce occupational therapy skills, and goals in naturalized settings across our camp environment. This means not only do our campers receive OT skills sessions as part of our academic program, based on private or school based IEP goals, but our counseling staff also reinforce these goals across a range of activities in the camp program. The camp program addresses OT goals such as:

• • • Self-care routines, like getting dressed (fine motor skills and motor planning)
    • Use of utensils, appropriate use of a knife and fork (fine motor skills and motor planning)
    • Writing and copying notes (fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination)
    • Holding and controlling a pencil, using scissors (fine motor skills, motor planning)
    • Throwing and catching (gross motor skills like balance and coordination)
    • Organizing a backpack (motor planning, organization skills)
    • Reacting to sensory input (self-regulation skills)

  All of the above occupational therapy skills are addressed in the natural environment. For example:

  • • A camper can work on dressing skills multiple times a day, getting dressed in the morning, changing for swim, showering and dressing before dinner, and getting ready for bed.
    • At mealtimes counselors work on the use of utensils.
    • In academics, and in arts and crafts, campers work on pencil grip, use of scissors, and fine motor skills among many other skills.
    • In art, music, and drama campers can work on self-regulation in response to sensory input.
    • Our sports program addresses all areas of gross motor skills, including balance and coordination.

  The goal our OT skills program, at Camp Lee Mar is not to evaluate or re-evaluate our campers, but to provide as many learning opportunities based on the current goals set in a camper’s IEP. Our staff can reinforce and generalize any needed OT skills across all areas of camp life.

 

Written by Lynsey Trohoske

 

My name is Lynsey Trohoske, I am the assistant director at Camp Lee Mar. I have three amazing children, my middle child happens to be on the autism spectrum and is a camper at Lee Mar. I joined camp as a counselor in 1998 and loved the campers and their families so much that Camp Lee Mar became my second home!