How does staff handle the social and emotional problems of campers? What are their disciplinary procedures?

Some children with seizures may have social or emotional problems that may influence their camping experience or that may come out during new experiences. Make sure that staff know any current problems or needs that your child has and the way that these are handled. Also find out how staff manages behavior problems and how bullying is prevented or handled.

How open is staff to working with parents? What forms of communication are in place?

Your child’s camping experience will in part depend on how comfortable you feel with the camp and staff. Teamwork between you and the staff is critical. For children with frequent seizures or other special needs, the camp staff will be ‘caregivers’ of your child – they’ll need to know they have parent support and parents need to feel supported by the staff as well.

Find out what form of communication works best. If you use seizure diaries or logs at home, ask staff to do the same. If your child is attending a day camp, put a communication book in your child’s backpack and ask the camp nurse and counselor to write down any seizures or other concerns that occurred each day. You can use this to share what goes on at home too! Staff will need to know if your child had a seizure at night, as that may affect how they feel during the day at camp.

Is transportation available to and from camp?

If your child is attending a day camp, can you get him or her there regularly? If your child will take a bus, you’ll need to work with the bus driver and camp counselors who ride the bus to make sure they know seizure first aid. If this is not possible, you may need to make other transportation plans.

Continue to Evaluating Camps - Summary

Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, MD and Patricia O. Shafer, RN, MN.
Last Reviewed:5/25/07