By Cathy Spaulding
GORE — While other campers at Camp Grey Squirrel painted T-shirts inside an air conditioned building, 13-year-old Garrett Horsechief was outside, pitching stones in a rock pond and feeling its cool water.
Garrett needs several breaks from painting because he gets bored easily, said Laurinda Crow, a volunteer who has worked closely with Garrett since the camp session began earlier this week.
The four teen boys attending the camp this week at the United Methodist Boys Ranch near Gore thrive on such attention and direction. Camp Grey Squirrel is a residential camp for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This is the only week the camp is in session, though director Daphne Hamon said she hopes to raise enough money to keep the camp going a second year.
“This is the first camp in Oklahoma specifically designed for meet the recreational and social skills of kids with autism spectrum disorders.
Autism is a complex disability that affects social interaction and communication, according to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Web site. Because of its complexity and varying symptoms, health care providers refer to autism as a spectrum disorder.
Daphne and Fred Hamon of Cookson know the condition firsthand. Their 13-year-old son Kyle was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a mild form of autism spectrum disorder.
“Our son was diagnosed at 4 and was never accepted in other camps,” Fred Hamon said. Asperger kids are very intelligent, and you may not notice that he has it.”
While Hamon talked, Kyle painted the base of his clay sculpture a Kelly green.
“It’s clay, but it’s painted to look like grass,” Kyle said.
Meanwhile, other campers had begun painting T-shirts.
Kyle’s rejection at other summer camps motivated the Hamons to start their own camp for autistic children. The past week-long session was the culmination of five years of dreaming, planning and training, Daphne Hamon said.
The camp drew three boys from the Tahlequah, Cookson and Muskogee areas and one from New Mexico. They range in age from 13 to 18.
The camp also has a staff and volunteers, including two nurses and a doctor on-call, to give each camper individual attention.
“The challenge has been in coordinating activities,” Daphne Hamon said. “Their attention spans are all different. One camper functions at a lower level than the others.”
Hamon said the camp offers traditional activities such as hayrides, campfires, crafts and horseback riding.
Working with the horses has especially helped the campers, she said. “It seems to have opened up their social skills. Working with horses had been reported to provide a breakthrough for kids who are not verbal. They respond to horses like no other animal.”
Lisan Tiger, 16, said he especially liked the horses.
“I liked practically the same things as he does,” he said, pointing to fellow camper Michael Black Elk, 16, from New Mexico.
“My main thing was meeting Kyle and Garrett and Corri,” Michael said.
Corri Horsechief was not a camper, but attended camp with his younger brother to make him feel more comfortable.
Lisan, already a skilled artist, said he also enjoyed the arts and crafts.
Crow, a math and science teacher who has known Daphne Hamon since they were children, said she has seen children with similar issues in her classrooms.
“The biggest thing I have learned is how difficult it is for these kids to communicate with us,” she said. “It’s not a problem for them to communicate, but it is for me to understand.
While pitching stones with Garrett, Crow talks about movies campers saw this week, mentioning the cartoon Spirit as one of Garrett’s favorites.
Garrett started speaking rapidly. Crow understood.
“He’s talking about the movie, he knows all about ‘Spirit,’” Crow said.
She said she learned “not only do we have to teach these kids the game, but how to play the game.”
“With Garrett, I have to say, ‘This is what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.’”
Daphne Hamon said people with autism spectrum disorders need structure in their lives.
“We post the daily schedule, and if there is any change, we hold up a light,” she said. “If nobody’s in charge, they take to wandering.”
Camp workers were screened, then trained through Project PEAK, a state program and support network to help educate children with autism spectrum disorders.
It is a joint program of the Child Study Center and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
“The surprise for me was that I don’t think people give them (people with autism) enough credit,” said Montana Camp, 18, a volunteer. “These kids are very athletic.”
“Athletic and artistic,” said Samantha Hamon, 18, Kyle’s sister who was helping out at the camp.
Daphne Hamon said she is grateful for the Boys Ranch for hosting the camp and providing the horses. Fin and Feather Resort, several miles west of the camp, provided all the meals and let the campers use the resort’s swimming pool.
She said she hopes to offer two weeks of camp next year. Beyond that, Hamon hopes to raise enough money to move the camp onto its own property in the Cookson area.
“We have to raise $510,000 for the property,” she said. “My dream is to have year-round programs and adult camps, because what happens to these kids when they turn 21?”
Autism facts
• Autism affects one in 150 births, affecting boys four times more often than girls.
• Developmental disability typically appears during first two years of life.
• Result of a neurological disorder that affects functioning of the brain, impacting social interaction and communication skills.
Source: Autism Society
of America Web site
Learn more
To learn more about Camp Grey Squirrel or make a tax-deductible donation, write to Camp Grey Squirrel, P.O. Box 75, Cookson, OK 74427 or go to: www.takemetocamp.org/
Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email
