What Will Your Teen With Autism Do This Summer?

When I lived in the Philadelphia suburbs, I had a little boy with autism - and though there weren't a million and one summer options available for him, there were at least a few good possibilities. In the long run, Tom went to the YMCA, and then to a little farm camp where he enjoyed pony rides in a small, nurturing setting.

But as he got older, I realized that virtually ALL the day camp options available were for toddlers for for children ages 6-12. What in the world would he do when he turned 13?!

Now that we live at the shore, the options have broadened. In our area there are a wide range of small daycamps available for youth, tweens, and teens. There are "science" camps, music camps, and other programs that run just half a day, and we can buy in for just a week at a time. And now that Tom has matured, he no longer needs the kind of high-intensity support that was critical when he was a little one. What's more, of course, we have the beaches, the woods, and the harbor - what a great change for the better!

But what if you don't live at the shore? What if your teen with autism really needs solid support and structure, all day every day? Very few extended school programs offer that level of programming for the whole summer.

So - what will your teen with autism do this summer? What kinds of programs are available? What works well? And what do you wish you had available?