CFS Helps Create More Opportunities for Summer Fun for Students with Disabilities
For parents of children with disabilities or special health care needs, summertime doesn’t usually mean fun camps and great recreational opportunities. Often, since children with special needs require a higher level of direct care than is typically found in school-aged summer programs, they are denied access to the programs that serve their typically developing peers, making this especially difficult for working parents who rely on out-of-school care during summer months. Family financial constraints, geographic locations of childcare facilities, and inexperienced staff also add to the difficulties of placing children with special needs in a quality childcare environment.
However, this past summer in Hillsborough County was a different story. CFS staff Selina Bustamante, Don Kincaid, and graduate assistant Christy Smith worked in a collaborative project with community partners FDLRS of Hillsborough County, Care Options, Thera-Kids Plus, Hillsborough County’s Parks and Recreation Center and the Tampa YMCA to increase access to summer care programs for school-age children with disabilities and improve the quality of care that participating providers deliver.
With funding provided by the Florida Department of Children and Families, the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, ADMH and TANF, the Out-of-School Summer Care for Students with Disabilities Project resulted in more children being matched to specific sites to increase their social and recreational opportunities. Scholarships were provided for many children who otherwise would not have been able to attend, and families learned of the many community resources available to them.
The quality of care at each participating summer care site was strengthened through specialized inclusion training and assistance to staff and peer buddies. Training sessions were provided to staff prior to camp openings and each location was given a training manual as a reference guide.
“We were able to give extensive training to four of the sites this summer,” said Selina, “and were able help problem solve in many areas. We offered suggestions for mobility issues, discipline problems, peer communication improvements, and at one site we helped to build cubicles so that students had their own areas for personal storage. This is an extremely helpful resource for those who function better in more structured environments. The Circle C Ranch camp, new to inclusion programs this summer, got very resourceful and applied for other grants to get materials needed for wheelchair and playground accessibility. I’m hoping these camps will take the information provided and continue to build their capacity for future summers.”
The Out-of-School Summer Care for Students with Disabilities program was an expansion of an approach that was implemented at Learning Gate in the summer of 2000 by CFS staff members Selina Bustamante, Nila Benito and Marjorie Russell. The approach taught typical kids to practice kindness, compassion and new ways of interacting with children with autism and development disabilities. Outcomes are now currently being evaluated and will be presented to the funding sources in November.
CARD is located with t he Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS), a division of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. Since its inception in 1984, the Institute's mission has been to improve service delivery systems for children with serious emotional or behavioral disabilities and their families. For additional information on this project, contact Selina Bustamante at (813) 974-6230.