Surrounded by thousands of trees that reach far into the sky, miles of trails, and multiple bodies of water… we were in the woods. When we slept we did so in a cabin with thin walls separating us from the outside. We did everything else well… outside. On the third Sunday of the summer I met a girl named Anna. Anna was tall, witty, and a bit clumsy. We would be spending every day together for two weeks, I would be taking care of most things yet she would be in charge. As her counselor, I knew very little about Anna before I met her, except that she didn’t fancy bugs and that she had autism. 

As Sunday unfolded and the typical Camp events began, I quickly realized that Anna didn’t just dislike the bugs, she hated them. As we circled for pre-dinner prayer with other cabin mates I watched a brave little fly approach Anna—game over—the cussing and swearing and swatting begun; comical, but not ideal. 

I began analyzing patterns of behavior. Anna didn’t seem to mind the ants on the ground; win. Anna didn’t seem to mind fireflies that flickered through the night; win. Ope, Anna did mind the mosquito that got near her face; I don’t blame her. I realized that it was not really the bugs she didn’t like, it was the noise they made in her ear. Great, I thought, maybe the solution is headphones? We tried a pair, and they worked quite well, but there were still some episodes they didn’t avoid. I had another idea. Bugs aren’t something we typically attempt to control when we are outside. When they annoy us we move somewhere else. Anna was not in a situation to easily remove herself from this intense nuisance, but like all humans, she wanted some control. So I gave her a fly swatter. The fly swatter was quickly given a name, and it went with us everywhere. She swatted away and there was not a single bug-related episode for the rest of our two weeks together; success. Except that one time we left the swatter in the dining hall. 

Those bugs could have meant the end of Anna’s time at Camp. But while the bugs were still very much present, she was empowered to persist. I was able to analyze and take Anna's ticks and quirks and needs apart like a puzzle and reassembled it in a short period of time to the point that meeting her needs became second nature.

We learned the curriculum through watercolors and dinosaur drawings because Anna is an incredible artist. We built a 15-step bedtime routine which was the best way to establish and manage expectations to make each next day another success. We learned how to defuse and regulate emotions when expectations were not met. We pushed the envelope picking up battles to conquer fears, meaning she got to experience water tubing and made it to the top of the zip line. Our time together was two of my favorite weeks. Sometimes it is not about designing the whole experience, I didn’t design camp or even most of the activities, however, I designed how Anna would interact and experience those pre-established activities. Yes if left to her own devices I am confident Anna would have had a good time, however, it would probably be inside away from her cabin mates. Instead, I saw Anna as a person and worked to identify the central story then enabled Anna to make that a reality. To make it the best weeks of her summer!