CIT counseling camp

[Anonymous]

I am thinking ahead, and my kid is not age qualified yet. Any high functioning AuDHD kid has ever done CIT counseling summer camp? I have seen some that parents pay like $500 or so, and kids can earn volunteering hours, to gain experiences and leadership skill etc...I do not know exactly what CIT do, but do your kids have fun and too hard while doing it?

[Anonymous]

Different disabilities, but my oldest did it. It involved very long hot days and it wasn't that easy. He was assigned to assist with a counselor and helped supervise groups of kids. There were a couple of weekend training sessions he had to attend in order to qualify. There were some activities that he participated in, but most of the time his job was supervising. One activity in particular I remember was a shaving cream fight, which was really messy - and that was right up his alley. I think there was also a tug of war over a mud pit, which was also right up his alley.

It was really good experience. He completed his commitment successfully and got SSL hours. Not sure I'd call it fun and not sure he thought it was fun, except that they really did try to do an activity with the CITs each day after the kids left that was fun. I was really glad we had only signed up for a few weeks of it.

[Anonymous]

I have a high functioning AuDHD dd and she worked as a CIT all summer last year. She is 14 and will do it again next summer. In her case, she attended this nature camp her whole life and it is truly her "happy place." It is extremely rustic and entirely outdoors (not even a bathroom), and she just has always been able to regulate herself and feel calm in that environment, even though there some things she doesn't love (liking going to the city pool once a week and helping supervise the kids there). For another kid, AuDHD or not, it would be a total nightmare. But in her case, the other CITs are the only people she ever initiates text messaging with or asks to see outside of school, even though they do not go to the same MS/HS. She has also worked as an unpaid "intern" at the inclusive art camp near us during school day out camps, which all my kids used to attend on occasion.

These opportunities have all been free and successful, but it would be a disaster if she were, say, a CIT at a sports or theater camp or structured art camp. She does very well with little kids (vs peers) because they will listen to her ideas for building a fort or inventing something or putting on a play. She still really enjoys creative play, and being a CIT is a socially acceptable ways of finding kids to play with. It is also easier to get little kids on board with her ideas. She also really likes having a "job" and having some autonomy with her time- she enjoys being a CIT more than she did being an older camper.

I don't know if she gains leadership skills, necessarily, but it is wonderful for her to have a place to go where she is comfortable in her own skin and feels genuine connection to others. She goes to a sleepaway camp for 2 weeks every summer, as well, and she has a much harder time there (but still chooses to return - her cousins and siblings attend also). I think of that experience more as helping her learn independence/grit and life skills. But I wouldn't want her to have to do more than 2 weeks of "grit" building in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a high functioning AuDHD dd and she worked as a CIT all summer last year. She is 14 and will do it again next summer. In her case, she attended this nature camp her whole life and it is truly her "happy place." It is extremely rustic and entirely outdoors (not even a bathroom), and she just has always been able to regulate herself and feel calm in that environment, even though there some things she doesn't love (liking going to the city pool once a week and helping supervise the kids there). For another kid, AuDHD or not, it would be a total nightmare. But in her case, the other CITs are the only people she ever initiates text messaging with or asks to see outside of school, even though they do not go to the same MS/HS. She has also worked as an unpaid "intern" at the inclusive art camp near us during school day out camps, which all my kids used to attend on occasion.

These opportunities have all been free and successful, but it would be a disaster if she were, say, a CIT at a sports or theater camp or structured art camp. She does very well with little kids (vs peers) because they will listen to her ideas for building a fort or inventing something or putting on a play. She still really enjoys creative play, and being a CIT is a socially acceptable ways of finding kids to play with. It is also easier to get little kids on board with her ideas. She also really likes having a "job" and having some autonomy with her time- she enjoys being a CIT more than she did being an older camper.

I don't know if she gains leadership skills, necessarily, but it is wonderful for her to have a place to go where she is comfortable in her own skin and feels genuine connection to others. She goes to a sleepaway camp for 2 weeks every summer, as well, and she has a much harder time there (but still chooses to return - her cousins and siblings attend also). I think of that experience more as helping her learn independence/grit and life skills. But I wouldn't want her to have to do more than 2 weeks of "grit" building in the summer.

This sounds a lot like my AuDHD child. Spent one week last year of being a CIT and loved loved loved it. She was stationed at an outdoor activity that all the kids rotated through. That helped her be better able to tell which age children she fit with better than others to be able to be more targeted this summer in seeking opportunities. She might not be able to handle a noisy crowded indoor camp well but has had lots of experience at outdoor camps and just generally is best regulated outdoors.

In looking for opportunities, party attention to the environment (indoors/outdoors) and structure level (highly organized vs casual) to try to get a good temperament match.