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theses

This dissertation documents the process of planning and conducting an evaluation of a program designed to include children with disabilities in a residential summer camp. The Summer Camp Inclusion Program (SCIP) served children ages 8-16 who carried diagnoses of developmental, physical, and/or cognitive disabilities, and who lived and participated in activities with typically functioning same-age peers over 4 and 8 week camp sessions. The program aimed to serve its participants by enhancing their social skills, increasing their rates of friendship and social interactions, and building their independence in activities of daily living. The program evaluation was planned and conducted using the framework created and developed by Maher (2012). The purpose of the program evaluation was to provide the client, the director of special needs programming at the summer camp, with information about SCIP that would be helpful in understanding how the program was being implemented and identifying its strengths and areas in need of improvement. The evaluation also sought to determine the reactions to SCIP of various stakeholders, including program participants’ parents, camp staff members, and typically developing camper peers of the program participants. Six program evaluation questions were delineated in order to gather this information, and were answered using data obtained from parent and staff member questionnaires and interviews with program personnel. The program evaluation was conducted during the summer 2010 implementation of SCIP. Results of the program evaluation indicated that program participants benefited socially from the opportunity to be incorporated into the camp program, and to a lesser degree gained independence in their daily activities. Both staff members and campers in the camp at large benefited from their involvement in the program, including development of positive personal characteristics such as patience, tolerance, and compassion. Results also suggested that staff members felt very positively about their responsibilities implementing the program, despite the fact that these responsibilities often added stress to their roles at camp. The findings of the dissertation suggest that the program evaluation was feasible, successful, and useful to the client. Recommendations were offered for the continued development and improvement of SCIP.

ETD_4524

Psy.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by David Jonah Sowalsky Kieval

http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001800001.ETD.000068535

doi:10.7282/T38914HF

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.