Assessment / Penilaian
1.1 The rationale and purpose of the programme
This programme is set up with specific targets designed to fulfill the unique needs of children with various special needs. Through this certain goals are set and are to be achieved in relation to the camping programme that the children with special needs are exposed to. The programme is inclusive to serve the children with various needs whether physical, sensory-based and cognitive.
Children are able to learn skills in a safe and conducive atmosphere, build their confidence and self-esteem (Gilmore, 2016). Camping is an activity that has been widely embraced by humanity owing to its social nature of how it brings people together to do different things, this way children are able to interact with other children of the same problem as this will help them discover a lot.
The rationale behind this programme is to take these children in a safe and supportive environment where they can make new friends with other children who have similar problems like them. This accords them the opportunity to challenge themselves personally and also as team, get fun and enjoy the togetherness subsequently building self-confidence through sense of achievement. Camping is very important as the same was adopted by Mrs. Emma Haskell in 1899, a Chicago teacher who took her students with physical challenges to a two week camp outing. Later she took even a larger group of students to a Michigan site for two good months. This narrows down to the sole importance of camping for children with special needs as it is productive and there are many such programmes including some funded by the government to support children with special needs.
1.2 Background of the programme
Camping as a recreational activity became popular among people in the early 20th century, with time it grew more. Camping is a key part of various youth organizations all over the world, such as scouting, which utilized it to teach both self-reliance and teamwork. Similarly there have been numerous camping activities for children with special needs all over the worlds, this has seen the goals of camping set such as helping the children accept who they are and developing various skills achieved (Burke, 2014). Early in 1899 Mrs. Emma Haskell who was a Chicago teacher, took her students who had physical challenges to a two week camp outing. The camping programme has been used to facilitate and address the children with special needs problems for many years in Malaysia.
Plagiarism: Marks Deduction / Plagiarisme: Potongan Markah
This is a programme that has been funded by the government so as to ensure that all citizens’ problems are addressed and no one is discriminated despite their condition. This is programme that has been running as it also helps parents who are unable to raise money for camping for their children with special needs. Malaysia is widely known for its tropical beauty and this makes it outstanding and even more suitable for these children to learn a lot and develop skills on the basis of their interaction with each other and the environment.
- The components of the programme
1.3.1 Activities outside the classroom- this forms a major part of the camping programme because it involves outdoor activities such as sporting, enhancing social skills through interactions with others. It also extends to physical activities such as climbing, swimming and also art act activities such as music, drama among many others. The children at this stage learnt how to safely explore and learn about the nature as a team. There are various departments that are responsible with overseeing the outdoor activities who ensures that the children are safe guarded against danger when in playground. This will also involve the staff and the counselors training the campers on different skills that they should acquire as one of the targets of the program but in line with school curriculum setting. This will ensure that all children develop social skills and will also be fit physically from the various exercises done on daily routine. It helps them learn many aspects of nature and understand the environment t that they live in.
- Leisure- the camp site has a children’s playground, there are activities to cater for all tastes. The activity leaders chosen by the committee takes their time to organize all children in their suitable groups of activities, this is supervised by the trainers who also form part of the staff. There are always competitions and this motivates the children to aim for even higher so as to become better than others. The children gets to experience unforgettable camping programme. During the leisure activities, they laugh, they are thrilled and they make new discoveries. There is also water games which must be presided over by a member of the staff. Along these activities there is also stretching and jumping in order to remain fit as fatigue would not be good for the children. This helps them to spend their free time well and avoid being dull.
- Group living- many campers enjoy socializing with fellow small group of campers like them. These groups will organize events throughout to allow members with similar interests to work together and the children form long-lasting friendship. This develops the children’s ability to work in a team which is very important aspect (Mauro, 2018). Most of these children will perceive the camping as a source of closer form of bonding as members become more mutually dependent than they would be in ordinary circumstances. Health care team ensures that the children live in a healthy and clean environment and do take expeditious measures when a child falls seek as there are emergency place for treatment and a referral programme for more serious issues pertaining to the children’s health
- Education- this is also an important aspect of camping as it ensures that the children are taught even when they are away from school. They are taught many skills that they learn at the camp. This extends to getting more depth into academic subjects. Academics cans be another focus of the camp including getting deeper into literature, communication skills, writing, and speech and language acquisition. Living skills can also be developed at this particular stage during camping. This education is very important because it helps the students to acquire knowledge based on their outside class experiences which also impacts on their social life. This education enhances their understanding and ability to know who they are hence accepting their own person. This results to confidence and improved self-esteem.
- Social adaptation- this will be the hallmark for the children’s behavior as it will determine whether the children have adjusted to conform with the prevailing system norms and current values at the camping site in relation to their interaction with other children, how they adapt to the environment and how they perceive different aspects of camping especially on acquiring new skills. Social adaptation becomes majorly important when social changes affects important aspects of life over comparatively a limited period of time. It influences how a child will behave as result of the exposure. The result can be both positive and negative. On the other hand they can develop unwanted behaviors from their socialization. It is the duty of the counselor to ensure that negative behaviors are not developed. This should be discouraged by all means because one child can influence others.
1.4 The camping committee
The special needs committee shall have composition of board of directors who will be dedicated to upholding the interest of children with special needs and representing them in all capacities. This will extend to the children’s rights, any funds from charity organizations and the government donated to facilitate camping. The committee shall also have board members alongside the camp manager who will ensure that the camping exercise is reliable and safe enough to ensure the children’s security during camping.
The manager’s duties shall also extend to making a report at the end of the camping session based on the progress and any future recommendations. There shall also be two members who represent the curriculum and calendar to ensure that it is in conjunction with school calendar. Will also have another representative on strategic planning in conjunction with the camp manager who will explore and identify the strategic directions and initiatives for the camping activity. The committee shall also be composed of the finance department whose role will be looking at the financial health of the camp.
Assignment Question
This will include drafting of the proposed expenditure to be approved by the directors. This can also extend to discussing fundraising initiatives to facilitate the camping. This is to be part of their report which shall envisage recommendations and ways of implementing them. Other departments will be the publicity and communication which will ensure that communication is relayed properly across all the relevant departments to ensure smooth operations. Lastly will have the building and grounds committee whose function will be to maintain and improve the physical items of our camp. There shall be routine maintenance and repairs in the camping site. All committees shall coordinate with each other.
1.5 Estimated expenditure
Special needs camps can be very expensive at a times and not all people can afford to fund the recreational activity. This needs proper planning so as to draft the proposed budget coving all possible cost that will be incurred during the recreational activity. It narrows down to how much Malaysian Ringgit we need to cater for all the expenses that are expected. There is a need of a provisional budget which will subsequently lead to the estimated expenditure. The first step in our budgeting process is to identify all the special needs of all children so that the resources are allocated accordingly.
A head count can be done to determine number of boys and girls so as to address all their needs appropriately based on the gender requirements. All items that can be used can be listed against their prices so as to come up with a provisional budget. The committee proposed the following items; food, the campsite cost, supplies for camping, transportation cost, material activities, wood for campfires, equipment rental, medical expenses, payment of staff, children’s special commodities, security and unforeseen expenses. This calculations were done based on estimated budget per at the camping site. The committee came up with this budget:
BUDGET PLANNING
Cost of camp site…………………………………………….RM 15, 000
Cost of transportation …………………………………………………..RM 10, 000
Cost of material activities………………..…………………. RM 7,500
Cost of wood for campfires ………………………………….RM 500
Children’s special commodities……………………………….RM 4, 000
Cost of equipment rental……………………………….. RM 5,000
Cost of medical expenses……………… ………………..RM 4,000
Cost of staff payment………………. ……………………RM 8, 000
Unforeseen expenses………………………………..……RM 3, 000
Total cost…………………………………………………………..RM 57, 000
This budget was signed by the budget planning department and sub subsequently approved by the committee. This budget was to cater for all the expenses that would be incurred during the recreational activity. The budget was also drafted in a way that it caters for the needs of the children as they are given the first priority in the whole exercise.
Requirement
1.6 Regulations
Given the nature of camping activity it is very important to have regulations put in place to guard the safety of the special needs children. A zero tolerance policy is enforced in relation to some rules which if broken leads to drastic measures taken. The regulations can be as follows:
- All children involved in this recreational activity must adhere to timelines set both for waking up in the morning and going back to their tents in the evening.
- They should be respectful and courteous to each other and the staff as disciplinary requirement.
- There should be no physical or verbal altercations among themselves and also the staff. This includes fighting or the use of offensive language which are all prohibited.
- Bullying of any kind any nature will not be tolerated, this involves any verbal threat, physical threat to attack the other children.
- All children with special needs must sign out with a counsellor and not on their own to avoid case of lost children.
- Cell phones and other electronic gadgets are not allowed except with permission of a staff.
1.7 The expectations, summary and recommendations
1.7.1 Expectations
Our expectations are that at the end of the camping the children’s recreational and social skills shall have developed further. This could also lead to each child having new experiences of adventure, perpetual friendship and opportunities that promote independence and self-confidence. This programme is also expected to enhance their world view by exposing them to other children, sports, animals and various activities. In fact any in many instances these camping programmes can also expose kids without special needs to special needs children hence elongating their worldview too. We also expect the kids to develop social skills as camps offers a great opportunity for special needs children to develop and expand their social skills.
Though camps can provide a comparable social setting with school setting, it’s often more enjoyable and engaging for kids to be at camp rather than in school (Wenham, 2015). Shy children could be so engaged that they come out of their shells. We also seek to achieve physical fitness which will in turn benefit the children both emotionally and physically. Nature camps allows children to get their bodies moving by taking walks, gathering leaves and riding bicycles. We also expect that the children can be able to realize their talents in different fields as they practice on daily routine.
1.7.2 Summary
In summary camping is an important recreational activity for special needs children as it helps them to develop various skills ranging from physical skills, social skills among others. Camping has been common over many years and have proved fruitful both for the adults and children since it’s a break people take from away homes. For any camping programme to be a success there has to be a committee to plan and organize everything. This committee sees to its operations and various departments to coordinate its function such as the personnel department, finance department among other departments.
For any camping programme to be commenced, finance is needed to facilitate all the programmes that would enable it to run smoothly. This calls for expenditure which is created in line with the nature of camping with all expected expenses included. Given that this will be camping for children with special needs a lot of things will be put in consideration from personnel who can handle the children to safety measures so that security is guaranteed. There has to be regulations put in place so as to prevent unwanted events at the camping site at to promote transparency and accountability.
1.7.3 Recommendations
The recommendations in relation to this programme after viewing it in all perspectives would be:
- The site for camping must be checked first and thoroughly scrutinized to establish whether it is suitable for the special needs children so as to avoid any inconvenience to the all programme as it has happened in other similar recreational activities.
- The kids must at all times be kept warm and dry because tents do not provide insulation and heating components that houses have, this will ensure that the children’s health is prioritized.
- Steps has to be taken to ensure that the children are happy by taking a wide variety of things to occupy them. From outdoors activities to indoor activities as this will play a major role in their development both physically and emotionally, they can also develop skills and learn how to work with others.
- The children should be kept safe and under control by not letting the kids run off and explore the site themselves as this can emanate to danger, at all times they should be guided.
- The committee has to ensure that it addresses the complaints and shortcomings from the recreational activity so that there is improvement in such areas having problems. This extend to communication which should be proper to avoid misunderstanding and disaster.
- The budget planning committee has to ensure that the proposed budget fully covers all the requirements during the trip, as it would impact negatively should the proposed budget fail to reflect the expenditure.
1.8 Attachments (can be in the form of letters, pictures, etc.).
1.8.1 Sample of a receipt for payment of camping services
This is a sample of receipt showing the transaction that took place for the camping activity and the amount that was paid and the date which they were paid as this is used for future reference for purpose transparency and accountability.
1.8.2 Special needs children at a camping session at night
During the camping session at night where the children are taught on how to keep themselves warm and how to light up the area. For this purpose firewood is normally included in the budget.
1.8.3 Children learning how to work as a team
The children though with different challenges are taught various skills such as cooking and also how to share the food. This helps the children in learning how to sustain themselves when alone.
1.8.4 The camping site at night
At night the security at the camping site is paramount and all the sleeping places are prepared well to fit the conditions of the children. The children are watched the whole night in case of any eventuality.
References
Burke, T. R. (2014). Camping for children with disabilities. Wiley online library. Retrieved 26th October 2018 from https//:doi.org/10.1002/9781118660584.eseo0403.
Gilmore, V. (2016). How special needs camping has impacted the camp experience. Camping magazine. Retrieved 27th October 2018 from: https://www.accamps.org/resource-library/camping-magazine/how-special -needs-camping-has-impacted-camp-experience.
Mauro, T. (2018). Summer camp options for children with special needs. Special needs camp. Retrieved 27th October 2018 from: https://www.verywellfamily.com/option-1-special-needs-camp-3106940
Wenham, S.M. (2015). The river Thames and the popularization of camping, 1860-1980. Oxoniensia.
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