Hi! Im interested in foraging in harford county and was wondering what stuff people have found around the county? Im thinking of taking a trip to the ma and pa as well. Anyone have any tips or can tell me the type of stuff they find typically?
Hi, I am a camp counselor at a summer camp designed for kids ages 4-10 in groups of up to 20. The summer camp is for kids who go to the country/golf club at the club this camp is located at. This week, we have 10 kids. Recently, a child with a intellectual disability was signed up for camp, and today was his first day. Hes about 7 years old. Id say his cognitive level is equivalent to about a 2 or 3 year old. He is completely nonverbal, needs 1 on 1 care at all times, is unable to communicate with us except through his ipad with buttons (which he seldom uses) and already has shown some concerning signs.
Today alone, he attempted to drink soap, turn on a hot stove, and was just generally very disruptive and unable to engage in our activities. His mom was laughing while telling the story of how he pushed her into the deep end of the pool. Which I guess was fine for her because she can swim, but we have campers who aren't strong swimmers and some who need floaties still. He also ate the marshmallow in our craft so quickly that we didnt even see him do it until he had half swallowed the marshmallow. Fine when its food, but he could do this with anything that ISNT food and we wouldnt know until it was too late.
He was worse when his mother or aid wasnt there and it was just me and the other counselor handling him. At one point, the other counselor had to take him out of the room and walk around outside to distract him for a while. This was "okay" today because we had 3 counselors. We will only have 2 for the rest of the week. Normally, each counselor takes care of half the group. But now since he needs 1 on 1 care constantly, the split is 9 kids to 1 counselor and 1 kid to 1 counselor.
I am not comfortable or trained to deal with disabilities this severe. I am also not able to run camp and deal with the other 9 children at once. The director counselor does this. Here's where the problem comes in.
I expressed all of these concerns to the director. I asked if maybe our best option would to be to tell mom that the child should have their aid if they want to bring him to camp, as none of us are trained in disabilities, the camp is not set up for disabilities, and we dont have enough counselors to go around even if we were disability trained. The director blew me off and told me that "its not our place to tell mom she needs to pay for a 1 on 1 during camp. A 1 on 1 is a luxury, and its up to us to deal with him when the aid isnt there." he also said that "all kids put stuff in their mouths, and it just sounds like we need to put the bubbles away and itll be fine." he also said that "i dont think he will cause any problems in the future and you dont have any reason to be alone with him 1 on 1." The problem is, I already know I will end up alone with him as it happened today with the other counselor. It also felt like the director was sort of accusing me of not being "inclusive" and that im claiming that the child shouldnt be able to be normal and have fun unless mom pays extra. To also claim that "all kids put things is their mouths" is insane to me, as all of the kids at camp are old enough to know not to drink soap except for him, and that its not a matter of "kids being kids".
I feel like my director doesn't have my back, and I am not trained or comfortable taking care of this child, especially at a camp not equipped to accomodate him. Im at a loss here, as he's here at camp for the next 2 weeks. What do I do?