This is ADDitude's annual guide to camps & schools for children with learning differences. The list below showcases ADHD- and LD-friendly schools and programs across the U.S. and in Canada.
Learn more about how children benefit from an ADHD- or LD-specific camp, and find successful summer planning tips, in ADDitude's must-have eBook: Your ADHD Summer Survival Guide
See the full 2019 ADHD Camp Guide and ADHD School Directory online >
NORTHEAST
Camp Northwood
Remsen, NY
Traditional sleep-away camp for socially immature, learning-challenged, and high-functioning autistic kids. A structured, noncompetitive setting lets our staff concentrate on instruction and reinforcement of age-appropriate social skills. Campers enjoy a variety of activities. 2:1 camper/staff ratio.
Camp Sequoia
Pennsburg, PA
Join our research-based resident camp for boys 7-17, many with ADHD & twice-exceptional. Professionals help campers increase Frustration Tolerance and become their best selves through a FUN, active, nurturing camp experience with premier facilities. Michelle Winner's Social Thinking framework helps grow social aptitudes. 2:5 staffing ratio.
Camp Starfish
Rindge, NH
We’re a unique overnight camp for kids living with learning, social, behavioral, & emotional challenges. Our 1-to-1 staff to camper ratio “Sets Kids Up For Success!” Our safe and structured camp serves boys and girls ages 6 to 16 with an exceptionally trained staff, and financial aid is available.
Gow School
South Wales, NY
The Summer Program combines five weeks of learning with fun. Gow offers classes for boys and girls, ages 8-16, who have experienced academic difficulties or have diagnosed learning differences, who have potential to excel.
Landmark College
Putney, VT
The first college for students with learning and attention challenges offers a High School Summer Program for rising high school juniors and seniors who find it challenging to keep pace academically. Programs offered in Putney, Vermont and Denver, Colorado.
Landmark School
Prides Crossing, MA
Our summer programs focus on writing, math, spelling, and study skills for students diagnosed with dyslexia and other language-based learning difficulties. Each afternoon we offer challenging, enriching, and fun activities. Day programs for grades 1-12 and a residential program for students entering grades 8-12.
NYU Summer Program for Kids
New Rochelle, NY
The NYU Summer Program for Kids, in its 21st year, is the first evidence-based, 5-week treatment program in the New York area for children aged 7-10 with ADHD and social challenges. In a camp-like setting, our program helps children build self-esteem and improve home, school and social behavior. Children and counselors are supervised by Child Study Center clinicians with extensive experience in childhood behavior disorders. The staff/child ratio is 1 to 1.5.
Summit Camp & Travel
Honesdale, PA
We provide personal attention to kids 8-19 with social learning and executive function challenges through recreational & social activities. Reinforce social skills, confidence, enthusiasm, & self-worth. 2, 3, 6, or 8 week sessions, plus Teen Tours for ages 15-19: San Francisco/Hawaii, Southeast Theme Parks, & Alaskan Disney Cruise.
SOUTH
Charis Hills
Sunset, TX
An ACA-accredited Christian recreational and educational summer camp for children and young adults (ages 7 through 18) with learning differences, including ADHD, LD, and ASD. With over 20 activities to choose from, campers find success in a fun-filled and nurturing environment.
Currey Ingram Academy
Brentwood, TN
Fun day at camp with outdoor play and games that focuses on skill development, including social skills, self-regulation, self-advocacy, task initiation, active listening, work completion, and awareness.
MIDWEST
Brehm's Summer Program
Carbondale, IL
Dates: June 23-July 20, 2019. Brehm’s Summer Program offers academics, adventures, and social awareness for children with learning disabilities, ages 12-18.
Camp Nuhop
Ashland County, OH
40+ years providing a safe, nurturing, dynamic learning environment where children are empowered to succeed. Located in Ohio’s Mohican State Park. 6 one-week sessions offer traditional & traveling camps designed to meet campers’ individual needs, building confidence, success, and friendship.
Hallowell Summer Adventures ADHD Family Camp
Glen Arbor, MI
World-renowned ADHD expert Dr. Hallowell tailors his 30+ years of experience with each parent while kids (ages 8-18) engage in adventure activities with built in executive function strategies. This unique family experience includes
4 Ways Divorce Could Affect
Your Retirement
Couples going through a divorce have numerous personal and financial issues to work out, from who gets the house to how custody of the children will be handled.
But one significant area of concern that can be easily overlooked is that a divorce also involves issues that could affect your retirement.
“That can be true even if your retirement is still years away,” says Andrew McNair, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and founder and president of SWAN Capital (www.SWAN-Capital.com). “One of the big pitfalls in any divorce is the failure to cut emotional ties from the divorce negotiations. That’s only natural. But unless you have a third party who can help everyone take a step back and say, ‘Financially, does this make sense,’ it can be very tough.”
McNair says just a few of the ways retirement and divorce become interlocked include:
IRAs. Since an IRA is an individual retirement account, only one name appears on the account. But that doesn’t mean it’s off limits during a divorce, McNair says. “Everything that you acquire during the marriage, no matter whose name it's in, is typically considered marital property,” he says. During a divorce, McNair recommends evaluating the financial drawbacks to having your IRA included in the assets you plan to retain post-divorce. It’s important to remember, he says, that the money in an IRA can’t be accessed before you are 59 ½ without paying a penalty.
Pensions. Maybe you earned a pension at your job and your spouse didn’t. But just as with the IRA, pensions and retirement plans are marital assets, McNair says. In general, the portion of the pension that you earned while you were married is subject to division. “Depending on which state you live in, it’s possible that even the portion of the pension you earned before you were married could be viewed as a marital asset,” he says. “That said, it may still be possible to keep your pension intact and offset it with other assets.”
Social Security. There are plenty of rules that govern your Social Security benefit, and the rules for married couples can carry over into divorce. For example, McNair says, if your spouse has worked and if you have been married for 10 years or more, then you have options. You can get a benefit that is equal to half your spouse’s Social Security, or you can draw your own benefit, whichever is higher. Either way, your spouse retains 100 percent of their benefit. This is an automatic guarantee that falls under Social Security rules, he says, so it’s not a negotiable point during the divorce.
Qualified Domestic Relations Order. Pensions, IRAs and Social Security are something people are familiar with, but you may be thrown by this one. During a divorce, a QDRO (or Qualified Domestic Relations Order) is the legal document that divides up a qualified pension or retirement account (including 401(k)s) during a divorce. “There are a lot of nuances that go into a QDRO,” McNair says. “To protect your assets, you want to be sure to get qualified advice in this area from a specialist.”
“In negotiating the financial issues in a divorce, despair can set in and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but there is light at the end of the tunnel,” McNair says. “Concentrate your energy on problem solving. Emotions are understandable, but you don’t want to let them run wild and govern your decisions.”
About Andrew McNair
Andrew McNair is the president of SWAN Capital (www.SWAN-Capital.com), an independent financial services firm in Pensacola, Florida. He has experience in the fields of retirement income, wealth preservation, and long-term care and has a strategic partnership with an attorney for estate planning services. McNair also is the author of Tithe: A Living Testimony and Don’t Be Penny Wise & Dollar Foolish. His financial commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fox Business, Market Watch and Kiplinger.
==================
Why Protest Trump When We Can Impeach Him?
By Matthew Johnson
383 words
While I commend efforts to turn Presidents’ Day into a display of outrage over the non-emergency declaration rather than a celebration of non-existent presidential grandeur, I would much rather impeach Trump than protest him.
I was on the fence on the merits of pushing impeachment before the long-awaited arrival of the Mueller report, but the cogent essay published in The Atlantic thoroughly convinced me that beginning the impeachment process immediately is the way to go. I don’t see the utility in waiting if there is no guarantee the public will ever see Mueller’s findings—thus averting further outrage that could force the hand of Senate Republicans. Moreover, the argument that the Democrats shouldn’t try to impeach because they would lose is not only contrary to the goal of attempting to enforce the rule of law but is also cowardly. One could easily reduce this argument to if you can’t win, then don’t play. This lose-first mentality has been a fixture of the Democratic strategy for far too long. The Democratic party must move beyond compromise with an uncompromising opponent if it wants to win in 2019, 2020, and beyond.
Well-intentioned friends of mine have brought up the point that even if Trump is removed from office, “Commander” Mike Pence would take his place. And Mike Pence is just as evil but far more boring and, therefore, able to conduct his machinations outside public scrutiny—and more effectively. It’s a clever argument, but I don’t buy it for two reasons: the first is that Trump enjoys far more grassroots support than Pence (for the aforementioned reason that watching Pence speak, or do anything, is worse than—to borrow Colbert’s word play--watching paint lie), and the second is that the downfall of Trump would undoubtedly mire an accidental Pence presidency into an inability to effectively pursue the Trump/Pence agenda. We should recall that former President Ford has already gone down in the dustbin of history as a less-than-one-term president who pardoned Nixon and did little else. Pence would likely follow suit.
Trump ought to be impeached not because most Americans dislike him but because the Constitution demands it. You can have a constitutional government predicated on rule of law and separation of powers—or you can have an autocracy. But you can’t have both.
–end–
Matt Johnson, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is co-author of Trumpism.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Spicy food
Are spicy foods healthy or not? Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania explains that there is little evidence that spicy foods harm the body. When a negative response, such as a blister, does occur, it it usually because the body has tricked itself into marking the food as harmful. Over time, the body adjusts to the spice. Moreover, spicy foods trigger the thermic effect of food, which increases metabolic rate and expends more calories; this effect only minimally impacts the metabolism. As for its effect on gastrointestinal stress, the matter is still up for debate. People with irritable bowel syndrome tend to do poorly with spicy foods, but people worried about ulcers can rest assured that spicy foods are not a concern. (EDITORS: Additional information)
• Trucker victory
A recent Supreme Court decision allows transportation workers to sue their employers in class-action lawsuits. This decision is a boon for truckers, says University of Pennsylvania researcher Steve Viscelli, who has studied the trucking industry for a decade and wrote a brief for the Supreme Court case. It could also have implications for Uber drivers and others in the gig economy, whose employment status—as employee, independent contractor, or another class altogether—likely represents the next big legal battle in this area. (EDITORS: Additional information)
• Ghosting
An increasing trend in society is "workplace ghosting," in which job applicants and employees fail to show up to interviews or work, without explanation. Peter Cappelli, a management professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, believes the rise of this phenomenon reflects the changing power dynamics in the workplace. Employers once held the cards and "people were just really grateful that you'd even consider their application." Now, however, "the power has changed" and the balance of power has shifted toward the employees. (EDITORS: Additional information)
• Free press
Calling a free press “an essential element” of American democracy, a new report from the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy said “a free press is not, and must not be seen as, the enemy of the people.” The commission recommended that media organizations “practice radical transparency” and collaborate on common rules for labeling news, analysis, and commentary, as well as corrections, anonymous sourcing, and tracking disinformation. Commission member Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, said, “No single principle is more fundamental than the free and robust exchange of ideas, especially when we disagree.” (EDITORS: Additional information)
