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(June 22, 2004) "Everyone wants to be the snack helper," Susan Bentley explained as she wandered into a classroom at UPLIFT's summer camp at Woods Learning Center on Monday.
But campers must also choose other less-desirable duties, like chair stacker and caboose.
This is no ordinary day camp -- it's a camp for children with attention deficit-hyperactive disorder.
It's all about taking responsibility and learning how to evaluate your own behavior, Bentley explained. Children who meet their goals of pro-social behavior receive stars, with which they can buy toys in the camp "store."
"It helps them help themselves, because medication alone doesn't take care of it. It takes medication and learning how to modify their behaviors," said Debbie Moore, a Cheyenne mother of two children who have attended the camp.
UPLIFT, a Wyoming organization that provides advocacy, education and support for families that have kids with challenging behavior and mental health issues, started the camp in 1997 as a way to help children ages 6-11 function better in school and make friends.
"A lot of these kids have a tough time making friends," Bentley said.
But at the camp, it's different, according to Moore.
"In a school setting, the kids are different. They can't pay attention in the same way," she said. "But in the camp they're all the same and they're not competing with other kids."
They work on the basics -- like learning to make eye contact, recognize emotions, hand-eye coordination and teamwork.
And it's not just for kids -- parents are required to attend eight hours of night classes that will teach them how to help their children, and offers them support they often can't find elsewhere.
"It's important to find someone that does understand," Bentley said. "Sometimes the family feels like it's just a discipline issue -- if you spanked them or disciplined them more, they would behave differently."
But it's not that simple. Kids with ADHD might appear to be intentionally disobedient, but in reality, their actions are the results of a true behavioral disorder that manifests itself in several different ways, Bentley said.
"The hyperactive ones are the ones that people pick up on," she said. "They have short attention spans, (and) are impulsive."
Their behaviors can also be less obvious, as in the "passive" daydreamers.
But parents and teachers can help ADHD children succeed.
For example, since many of the children are very tactile, making frames around their desks with different textures gives them something to do with their hands instead of anti-social behavior, like poking the kid in front of them, Bentley said.
After the camp, UPLIFT offers follow-up support for the children and their families as Moore discovered with her oldest son. At age 15, he has been using the techniques he learned at camp to manage his ADHD symptoms for years.
"He liked it so much that he's now volunteering and helping out with the camp," Moore said. "He likes to be involved because he liked being around the staff.
"It's a super support group," she added.
By ANDREA FALKENHAGEN and MARIA LEOTTA Star-Tribune staff writers
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