A six-week summer program for youth with special needs returns in July to Our Lady of Sorrows Church, located at 801 Main St. in Vestal, N.Y. The G & E Therapies Summer Recreational Program will run from July 11 to Aug. 19 and is operated via a grant from the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).
According to their website, the summer program is for kindergarten through adolescence with special needs, and a social skills program for young adults.
G & E works to create an all-inclusive environment that fosters social, emotional, communicative and cognitive development for youth. The program offers youth an opportunity to foster friendships while enjoying fun activities and experiences.
Applications for the program are being accepted.
Chris Baumbach, special education professional who worked with youth at last year’s program remarked that they are expanding and able to accept more youth this summer.
Criteria for consideration includes, in part, youth who live at home in one of six counties including Tioga and Broome, and youth who are able to independently care for their own hygiene needs. Participants would also need to be able to go up and down stairs since there is no elevator available. Parents or caregivers would be responsible for transporting the youth. The program is scheduled to run weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The program identifies themes for each week, such as Fun and Fitness and Hero Weeks. Nearly every day will be filled with interactive activities, visits by special guests, and field trips.
Baumbach shared, “It’s their camp, too. We ask the kids what they want to do,” and in turn, she said, the program is structured from that feedback.
Baumbach added that the program is not academic, and instead, “[The program] is pure fun, and an opportunity for the youth to have an enjoyable summer.”
A six-week summer program for youth with special needs returns in July to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Vestal, N.Y. Pictured are youth visiting Fargnoli Farms in Apalachin, N.Y. last year. The G & E Therapies Summer Recreational Program will run from July 11 to Aug. 19. Applications are now being accepted. For more information, find G & E Therapies on Facebook or visit https://gandetherapies.com. Provided photo.
This summer a potential field trip to Kopernik Observatory & Science Center in Vestal is planned. Last summer the youth visited a local horse farm and gymnastics facility. Special guests last summer featured a local farmer, a Red Cross nurse and fire department members, along with police officers and their K9 unit.
Activities also encompass music and movement, arts and crafts and indoor and outdoor recreation, as well as live demonstrations and hands-on experiments. This summer, for example, Baumbach hopes to introduce the game of pickle-ball.
Parents of youth shared last year that the program provides a nice balance of activities and that the size of the groups are managed so as not to be intimidating.
Orientation for the summer program is scheduled for Thursday, June 16, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information, find G & E Therapies on Facebook or visit https://gandetherapies.com.
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