Summer Camp starts

The summer has officially begun, and it's a busy one for the kiddos. Ronin & Audrey will be in a day camp 2x/week from 9:45a-1:15p. Ronin will also have gymnastics on Thursday mornings. Nikko will participate in the NWSRA's summer camp for the first half of the summer, MWF from 9a-2:45p. He will be taking summer school for the last half of the summer, M-Th from 8:45a-11:15a. Nikko's private ST and OT are dispersed throughout the summer as his schedule will allow. Finally, we are attempting to join a playgroup of Ronin's classmates that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. VERY BUSY.

Today was Nikko's first day at the NWSRA camp and with a new counselor. We call him Mr. Tom, but he is a junior in college and this is his second year as a camp counselor. We got to meet him at last week's orientation. Even though I talked at length about Nikko's behavior and needs, I still had to jot down some notes and gave Tom a cheat sheet just in case. Some things I noted:
-Picture Schedule. He's very visual.
-Nikko can follow basic sign language.
-Nikko follows the FIRST _____, THEN _____ concept well, especially for transitions.
-Hard for him to pay attention and follow GROUP commands. 1:1 is better but can be improved upon.
-He can't/won't tell you when he needs to pee, so take him to the bathroom regularly. Make him go, even if he initially says no.

I was nervous dropping Nikko off because he was immediately covering his eyes and scripting garbled mumbo jumbo. I didn't want Tom to think he was a messed up kid! But when we picked Nikko up, he came out wearing a big, yellow construction paper crown and holding a foil-covered star wand. Nikko was in good spirits and apparently had a great day. He ate his lunch and snacks, loved the fountain feature at the water park, and went to the bathroom when instructed. Nikko wasn't upset or anxious when I saw him. I'll have to remind Tom to alert me if Nikko had any difficulties throughout the day, even if he had minor meltdowns. It's important for me to know this so that I can figure out ways to avoid triggers. Overall, I'm very happy that Nikko was able to walk away (albeit covering his eyes) with Tom, who was a complete stranger except for one brief meeting, and spend the entire day in a different environment.