Lake of new experience

Summer camp is a place where special children can feel happy and get a new experience

Why are we waiting for the summer? Why is we so grieving when it leaves? I think, because it gives us all the wealth of the sensations for which we are created: warm earth under bare feet, heat of the sun on the cheek, rustling wind in the foliage, the first drops of rain on the hand. And we strive to delay the summer longer, to be more in nature in order to stock up, to be nourished with these sensations for a year ahead.

Who needs summer

There are people who are much more acute than you and you and you do not have enough of these sensations. Severe and multiple developmental disorders - this is what sharply narrows for a person the opportunity to get a new experience. Heavy and multiple - this means that a person has several problems at the same time: for example, autism, mental retardation and motor disorders - walks poorly, hands do not obey, the head is turned in one direction all the time.

Summer can give these children something special - a whole sea of ​​new experience that will help them take the next step in their development Twisting this quote one of the few places where such children and adolescents help is the Moscow Center “ Communication Space ”, where I work. In the center throughout the year, the guys learn the skills necessary in everyday life: to communicate with the help of pictures and special devices; focus on the visual schedule in order to better understand what is happening; Undermine and dress, use the toilet, participate in cooking. In addition, specialists and volunteers are trying in different ways to replenish the lack of sensations to the children - they sing and dance with them, work with dough and draw with finger paints, play with massage balls and let them run their hands in a jar of beans.

But in the summer, these children can be given something completely special - a whole fountain of sensations, a whole sea of ​​new experience. The experience that will help them take the next step in their development.

Do you remember how much another person went to school in September - not what they left her in May? Is it really only in the fresh air and natural products? Of course not. The fact is a huge piece of another life that you had in the village, camp, campaign.

For our children, separated from the whole world by borders and steps, a crowd in the subway, noise on the streets, this “other life” is especially important. An ordinary child will gain the necessary experience - not in the village, so in the gym, not in the campaign, so in the yard. Our children, as a rule, have no such opportunity.

This year, the camp of the Center “Space of Communication” was held in Belarus, on the shores of Lake Sarro in the Vitebsk region. Family camp: children receive the new experience that I spoke about, and parents - rest, free time (oh, how valuable it is for the parents of such children!), The help of specialists and the opportunity to chat with each other.

One day with a tutor

Morning, still lies dew, but the sun is already warming. Everyone stretches for breakfast. Each of the children has a personal accompanying - tutor. He helps to set the table and remove the dishes at the end, makes sure that the porridge is only in a spoon and mouth, and not scatter around; so that the child eats from his own, and not from someone else's plate; He helps to agree with his neighbors who will take what piece of cheese from the table. All this is already training, each of these skills is necessary for life with people.

After breakfast - planning the day. Many of our guys have autism, and they need to clearly understand what will happen to them. Half of the children does not speak, and to communicate with them we use cards and gestures: walking, forest, lunch, swim, draw, cook, dancing, bonfire, sleep.

The main event of the day is a campaign. By cars, we go into the forest a few kilometers from the camp - shakes on the bumps, you are tightly pressed to your neighbor, warm air blows into the face from the open window, the sun hits the eye. Then there will be a clearing with strawberries (you must manage to notice it in the grass and tear it off with naughty fingers!), A fire, preparing lunch, where everyone has their own duty. It is very unusual in the forest: you sit on the ground, a hot plate burns your hands, put it in, some kind of strange taste, with a smoke, and your hand with a spoon does not want to obey. But it is precisely when life presents surprises, we can learn something new!

On the way back, the guys are completely tired. But they are waiting for a reward - bathing. Each of our children has their own relationships with water: one is ready to splashing for hours, and you can’t lure the other further than “knee-deep”, someone screens with delight, piercing the spray surrounding the cloud, and someone focuses on the water, and it is clear how he fully concentrates on his sensations. Bathing helps to cheer up or calm down, teaches interaction with others and support on his own strength.

The tradition of our camp is “funny starts”. So much new for our guys: we need to collect the team, come up with a name, distribute roles, and then work together - run, throw at the target, transfer the ball and pull the rope.

In the evening we all dance in the open air. This is a great opportunity to stay together, feel the rhythm, movement, warmth of the hands of another person, and most importantly - to be fouled by the joy and sense of unity. And under the curtain of the day - a fire: we sing songs and share our impressions. After all, our children lack friendly communication, it is so important for them to share their joys and difficulties not only with their mother, but also with friends.

The camp helps

Are any changes visible after the camp? Yes, visible. One child will walk better, the other to speak more clearly. One after the 20th, 60th, 500th reminders will understand that there are rules that will have to be observed: do not hurt another, do not take someone else's, do not turn the plate of food. Are any changes visible after the camp? Yes, visible. One child will walk better, the other to say clear Twisting this quote and now, perhaps, it will learn the next rule twice as fast. Another, spending whole days without a mother, it will become easier to go to work or on business. Someone seems to have no results that can be presented, but suddenly a month later teachers notice that the situations that previously led the child to hysteria are now causing him only easy discontent.

This is the same "Summer effect in the grandmother." Getting so many new experience in a short time, the child cannot but change. The teachers can only ensure that the changes are smooth enough, increased its independence and are fixed in the classroom during the year. A camp and a campaign, especially for a child with violations, is a test, and no one comes out of it the way it falls into it.

You need your help

The work of the Center “Space of Communication” during the year, as well as the summer and winter camps are held with the money of good people and the feasible contributions of parents. Help special children is expensive. For example, the commercial cost of such an eight -day camp for mom and child would be a thousand dollars. Therefore, only charitable assistance allows us to participate in ordinary families. Those families who, due to the serious condition of the child, are not taken in any state camps.

You can now make the work in the center continue - in September children came, new groups opened; In January, we would spend a winter camp with a hill and a snow woman. And next summer, we would again go to Lake Sarro and presented our children with a little more happiness and new experience. Will you help?

Warm earth under bare feet.
The rustle of foliage above the head.
The reflections of the fire are dancing on their faces, to the schism of sunset are reflected in the lake.
The sounds of the guitar, a quiet song.
The hand of a friend on the shoulder.
... Please help our children survive this again.