Strategies With Kids
Conference Sessions By Category

Strategies for Including Children with Social Challenges and Autism Spectrum Disorders at Camp
Jenn Harber, director of programs, YouthCare, and consultant
Friday, 9-10:15 or Friday, 1-2:15 - Salon C
Camp is a great opportunity for children with Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders to build their skills and to experience social success, team-building and fun! This workshop will present strategies appropriate for both day and overnight camps, and for inclusion programs as well as those where 1:1 aides come with children or there are specific special-needs groups. Workshop participants will learn about Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders and will learn strategies to deal with social challenges and create positive behavioral supports to set children up for success.

Strategies to Reduce Bullying
Michael Dreiblatt and Steve Breakstone, consultants, Balance Educational Services, LLC
Friday, 10:30-11:45 or Friday, 1-2:15 - Pierce
This workshop will emphasize practical and research-based strategies to confront social aggression and physical bullying. Participants will learn strategies to bully-proof their camp and curtail social aggression.

Teaching Social Skills - My Best Tips from 2007 for Working with Campers in 2008
(Part I)
Bob Ditter, MEd, child psychologist and camp consultant
Friday, 10:30-11:45 - Salon D
Don’t miss this important two-part workshop!! The social and emotional environment for children has changed drastically in the last ten years, and it has significantly affected the way campers behave at camp. With so much choice, immediate gratification and individualized attention, children
have had greater difficulty sharing, working together and fitting in than ever before. Come learn about exciting and powerful new ways to address campers with tempers, sharing, working as a team, getting along, fitting in and making friends. Get Ditterized all over again!

Teaching Social Skills — My Best Tips from 2007 for Working with Campers in 2008
(Part II)
Bob Ditter, MEd, LCSW and camp consultant
Friday, 1-2:15 - Salon D
Join us for the second part of a two-part workshop. The social and emotional environment for children has changed drastically in the last ten years, and it has significantly affected the way campers behave at camp. With so much choice, immediate gratification and individualized attention, children have had greater difficulty sharing, working together and fitting in than ever before. Come learn about exciting and powerful new ways to address campers with tempers, sharing, working as a team, getting along, fitting in and making friends. Get Ditterized all over again!

Helping Counselors Focus on Issues of Appropriate and Inappropriate Camper Sexual Conversation and Behavior
Bob Selverstone, PhD, psychologist
Friday, 9-10:15 - Dartmouth
At camp, most campers wonder about sex, tell sexual stories and jokes, listen to and tell sexual stories and experiment with some sexual behavior. You know it! And it is both normal and natural. Campers will learn something about sexuality whether we like it or not. This workshop is designed to help counselors have a more positive influence and to help your campers develop more healthy and positive attitudes and behavior regarding sexuality. Learn how to help counselors get beyond their own biases and prejudices, while respecting the concerns of directors and parents in this most sensitive issue. Ostriches are not invited.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Transforming Boys into 21st Century Men
Bob Selverstone, PhD, psychologist
Friday, 10:30-11:45 or Friday, 1-2:15 - Dartmouth
While BOYS are still the same, contemporary society demands that 21st century MEN be different.
Who says so, and in what ways? And what can camps do so that our boys are prepared for these new personal, relational, vocational, and even health challenges? Lessons learned can inform our practice. What are the lessons? What should be our practices?

Where Ya Been? Teaching Counselors How to ‘Get on Their Level’
Scott Arizala, CEO/founder, The Camp Counselor
Saturday, 9:15-10:45 - Salon D
Counselors who get “it” try hard to get on the campers’ level, both physically and emotionally. This session is full of the communication strategies, leadership skills, and training techniques to teach “it.” Using the concept of “getting on their level”, learn a comprehensive way to train, facilitate and role model how to connect with campers. Great tool for staff training!

Thinking and Working Most Effectively with Girls
Bob Ditter, MEd, child psychologist and camp consultant
Saturday, 9:15-10:45 - Salon A
A fresh approach to the inner life of girls — what they most seek; how they learn about power and how best to manage and support them at camp. Bob will contrast recent writings with his own experience working with girls in camp settings, with a look at cliques, teasing and other challenging behaviors. Practical and insightful!

Comprehensive Homesickness Management: Prevention & Treatment Strategies that Work
Chris Thurber, school psychologist, Phillips Exeter Academy
Saturday, 9:15-10:45 - Salon C
Prevent intense homesickness by combining advanced staff training techniques with skillful pre-camp coaching of parents and campers. This fast-paced workshop will give you tons of practical tools, tips, and techniques, including a clip of ACA’s homesickness prevention DVD-CD set. End the pick-up deals, needless tears, and belligerent phone calls from anxious parents by implementing a systematic homesickness prevention program at your camp this summer.

Thinking and Working Most Effectively with Boys
Bob Ditter, MEd, child psychologist and camp consultant
Saturday, 11:30-1 - Salon A
Think you know how the mind of a boy works? Great! Come see if you don’t learn a few new cutting-edge insights and skills working with boys. This will be a thoughtful, powerful and practical session.

Youth Involvement—Not So Much!
Nancy Frankel, camp consultant and ACA New England board member
Saturday, 2:15-3:45 - Salon C
Current ACA research shows that camps are doing an impressive job in establishing supportive relationships, creating physical and emotional safety, and building skills. But in youth involvement — leadership, belonging, and decision-making — we’re not so great. We’ll talk a little about the research and a lot about how to make the decision-making and planning process work in a meaningful way in your camp using a model for staff and camper progression. This session received such rave reviews last year that we brought it back for an encore … don’t miss it!

ROUNDTABLE: What Would You Do If a Camper …
Moderated by David Platt, Summer Fenn Day Camp
Saturday, 2:15-3:45 - Hale
Come to this roundtable to share, listen and learn with camp professionals as we discuss insights, answer questions and solicit opinions about issues related to interesting situations with campers. Come prepared to share stories, laugh and learn.

Bullying Prevention is Only Half the Picture … What About Targets?
Chris Thurber, school psychologist, Phillips Exeter Academy
Saturday, 2:15-3:45 - Salon A
Who are the kids that get picked on at camp and how can they stick up for themselves? Sure, you’ve worked hard to prevent bullying, but what about the targets? This new workshop will review the basics of bullying and then focus on programmatic ways to eliminate the target culture from your camp. Since most bullying happens behind counselors’ backs, we need to teach our campers to respond assertively on their own.

Teens Outside the Box: Moving Teen Programs to the Next Level
Allyson Burley, director of C5 program and Jeneen Mucci, teen program director, Frisoli Youth Center plus teen panel, Crossroads for Kids
Saturday, 4-5:30 - Curriers
Are you looking for ways to bring in more teens to your program? Looking for new things to do to keep teens engaged in your camp? Want to get outside the box of traditional teen camp programs? This workshop will give you the chance to hear about some innovative programs happening right now, and how successful they’ve been at engaging teens during the summer. You’ll also hear from teens themselves about what it is that brings them to camp, keeps them at camp, and why it’s an important part of their lives. After all that, it will be your turn to think outside the box, and start to come up with ideas of your own. Whether you run day camps or residential, long sessions or short, you can get your teen program outside the box and into the forefront of camp experiences for your campers.

Contain-Discuss-Plan (CDP): Getting Kids Back on Track When They Step Out of Bounds
Karen P. Carlson, PhD, director of outreach services/psychologist and Matthew Cook, MSW and camp director, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
Saturday, 4-5:30 - Dartmouth
Everyone who has worked in a camp setting knows that nothing derails a fun day or activity session more quickly than a child with interfering behaviors. These behaviors are disruptive and challenging to fellow campers and staff alike. The good news is that in many cases these challenging behaviors are communicating a need — understanding and getting to the bottom of these needs is a direct path to getting campers “back into the game” and to having fun at camp. This session is focused on presenting a quick and effective means of improving these interfering behaviors and teaching our campers more effective and productive coping skills. Session participants will learn this method through case example, experiential exercises and group discussion.

Uncommon Discipline
Chris Thurber, school psychologist, Phillips Exeter Academy
Saturday, 4-5:30 - Salon A
Unlearn your instincts to reprimand and punish misbehavior. Sure, there need to be consequences for rule-breaking, but what about preventing behavior problems in the first place? That takes “Uncommon Discipline” of the sort that few youth development professionals use. Come learn the subtle, powerful tools your entire staff can use to increase the frequency of positive behavior this summer.

Pop Culture 101: 2008 Summer Edition
Chris Tucci, Ebner Camps (Camp Awosting)
Saturday, 4-5:30 - Frost
This quick, humorous guide will show you what your campers are listening to and watching this year. If you still think YouTube is a company in Ohio, this session is for you.

ROUNDTABLE: Youth-at-Risk
Amy Willey, Executive Director, Brantwood Camp, Moderator
Saturday, 4-5:30 - Coolidge
At this roundtable you will have the opportunity to engage in a lively discussion about the special challenges and rewards experienced by camps that serve children who are considered at-risk. Whether your camp is considering the idea of involving at-risk youth into its program or your camp has been serving this population for many years, you are welcome to join the discussion. Come to this roundtable ready to share experiences, ask questions, and explore topics relevant to the needs
of at-risk campers and their families.