Summit Camp & Travel — Local services in Lebanon Township

My son just spent 2 weeks at this camp. He was having significant problems last year because he was in fight and flight due to situations from school. He’s now in an amazing out of district school that helped prepare him for this experience. We were worried that he wouldn’t be able to sleep since he was still needing suppers to sleep but he did amazing. They asked many questions to try to understand how to support my son.

I would recommend the short program of your child has never been to a sleep away camp. It has less people and it’s the perfect time for them to get used to it. And not feel overwhelmed. Please make sure they are ready for it. We did a short 1 week program for special needs kids that was local that I think helped him as well.

He has his favorite counselors and felt so loved. He loved the trips as well.

Of course he had some difficulties and the counselors are mostly young but many of them have experienced in their lives people like our kids. The ones I met at the end of the season were so caring and loving.

The first week he was home sick a bit and wanted to go home (he wrote a journal for the first week that he shared with us) and then he stopped writing in it because he was having so much fun.

Nothing is ever perfect and everyone has different experiences. You won’t always have the glowing reviews because sometimes the kids aren’t ready for this experience. I know last year when my son was in fight and flight status, there’s no way he would have been successful there.

He had 4 counsels and 5 kids in his bunk. They have less kids at the end of the season and I think the counselors are more seasoned then.

Next year he said he wanted to to the whole season! We probably won’t be able to do that but we would love to Have him go again for the two week program.

I’ve been reading he other reviews and the negative reviews didn’t reflect what we experienced. I know they changed hands a few years ago so anything from about 5 years ago would be different.

Also you might want to try a weekend trip. I think they have or have had a trial sleep away camp experience one weekends.

We hope they have it again because I would love to bring some of his friends to the camp and experience it before they send them to the camp.

This is the first place (besides his special needs school) where he says that there are “people like me”.

He still struggles with social interactions but I know through this experience he will get the experience to learn.

Thank you Shep and crew for being part of the best summer he has ever had.

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I went to Summit as a youth, and now looking back as an adult.

Pros: My parents over sheltered me in an extremely unhealthy way prior to going to Summit. Prior to attending mini-camp, I didn't shower independently. However, Summit was a wakeup call to my parents so eventually I was forced to learn. The staff do not coddle or give unnecessary attention to campers. The sports activities assume little to no ability or knowledge of sports, how to play, and possible poor fine/gross motor, which is a plus for campers who don't expose themselves to sports.

Cons: Many of the staff are there for a free place to sleep and a paycheck. Others actually care. Their training on special needs is questionable. Bullying is a large systematic problem at Summit. For 3/4 years I was a camper at Summit, one or more bunkmates was picked on by the rest of the bunk. Counselors do not adequately protect the victims of this. Bullies know they will not face real consequences for their actions. This happened to me by one particular camper from another bunk (who enjoyed getting my negative attention) and the staff, again, did very little. I would not consider Summit to be an inclusive environment. Individuals who show obvious signs of difference WILL be bullied at Summit. I personally had autism-related sensory overloads when the camp played loud music, loud cheering in the dining hall, and one time had an actual concert as an overnight activity. Summit does little to honor these sensory overload concerns, which I was always surprised by, due to the camp being advertised for autism. Do not expect actual social coaching by staff if there are issues with making friends. For me, I wasn't interested and mostly kept to myself. However, it would be a hit or miss to find a staff member who would actually be interested and able in helping if this is a goal. Much of the time the socializing is unstructured, which can be a struggle for the ASD population. The ratio of 3 staff members to 4 campers does not consider the staff that don't work with campers, counselors on their time off, administrators, etc. The actual ratio is typically about 9 campers to 2 counselors from...

Speaking as from a campers perspective... Yes the camp charges very high prices for your child's stay which is understandable due to everything this camp includes! You have everything from traveling the world to going to waterparks for senior travels... They use this money 1. To pay their staff who work there (Who travel from all over the world!) 2. They use it for the world trips (With as big as 15-20 possibly 30 kids who attend) 3. They use it to upgrade the camp and continue to make it comfortable for the kids and staff as well... I can say they tend to hire younger staff which in my opinion is both good because they are more relatable but also bad because they are as new to life as we are! The camp has changed quite a bit since it's under a new owner... But they strive to keep your kids happy and do whatever they can to reach those goals.. I can say when I was staying there I was the absolute biggest handful they have ever had but the worked with me and saw that I had separation anxiety with my mom so even though we aren't necessarily allowed they made me make a phone call with my mom who agreed! So understandable some of your kids didn't have the best time but please don't blame it on the staff or the showers not being hot... Your in the woods I wouldn't expect it to be as hot as it gets because there are over 100s of people taking showers!! Please also keep in mind it's a camp belongings might go missing by other kids or something it's not that big of a deal never went on a trip and things were misplaced? There's no reason to say " my child's things were mistreated" because it's a special needs camp and most of the time my stuff was misused by the other camperso not the staff so.. If you read this thank you! All in all my experience was great a few flaws but what doesn't...