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Echo Program |
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Northeastern
University Professor Frank "Coach" Robinson
developed the ECHO (Environmental Camp for
Helping Others) Program because he believed that
camp should be made available to every single
child that wanted to attend without regard to
his/her physical challenges. However, other
camps of the day were difficult for the children
to attend due to the lack of well-trained staff
and accessible facilities. Coach knew that kids
with physical challenges would need some extra
help to make camp a truly memorable experience,
so he provided this in the form of a
well-trained staff and with some improvements to
the facilities at Camp Howe. In effect, he
built his program around the kids that he was
serving. |
| Today, we
strive to do the same thing: build our camp
program around its participants. The response
has been overwhelming! Over the past four years
there has been an increase in the number of
children we serve, and in the diversity of their
needs. In the past four years, ECHO counselors
have worked with children with autism, Down
syndrome, mental retardation, AD/HD, ODD, CP,
Spina Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy, and other
challenging conditions. The ECHO program
continues to deliver a high quality of service
due, in part, to the expertise of its staff. |
"Most of us are
ordinary people seeking extraordinary destinies.
The disabled are extraordinary in that they seek
but an ordinary destiny." -Balzac.
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PHILOSOPHY AND GOALS OF THE ECHO PROGRAM
The philosophy of ECHO is
built around the premise that camping is for the
camper. The camper is an important person to be
accepted unconditionally. If it is agreed that
camp is for the camper and conducted for the
camper then we as leaders must unselfishly give
of ourselves to see that this philosophy is
carried out. We must not only believe this but
we must have strong commitments to the camper’s
needs, which come first and foremost. We will
have to work hard to achieve this end because
the ECHO camper’s needs are many and magnified
to a greater degree than most of us realize.
S/He has probably lacked opportunities for
developmental experiences and social
interaction.
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our leadership efforts and focus will be focused
on helping the disabled camper to become more
independent, self-sufficient, and socially
adept; to build self-confidence through
successful achievement, to strengthen
self-respect by giving this and accepting
him/her as a person. In brief, our primary goals
are as follows: |
- To promote a greater degree of
independence,
- To encourage social integration within
the camp,
- To teach leisure skills,
- And to have a blast!! Without fun, the
other three goals become difficult to
achieve.
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Detailed Information |
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