At girls camp, shedding light on autism
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A theme of autism played an integral role in the York Pennsylvania Stake's 2009 Young Women Camp. Girls received training about the developmental disorder and performed service projects intended to benefit children with autism during the camp, held the week of June 15 at Camp Tuckahoe near Dillsburg, Penn.
The impetus for incorporating autism into camp curriculum came from a stake presidency that felt its young women needed to be more aware of the spectrum of conditions affecting one out of every 150 births.
"Sometimes we talk about people, that they are autistic," said Dennis Tyson, president of the York Stake. "But really, they are people who happen to have autism.
"It's important that young people have an opportunity to see and hear and experience other members and other people in the community who have disabilities and to learn a little bit about them. Oftentimes people who [are uninformed] and see somebody for the first time with a disability, they kind of pull back rather than make an effort to interact with them and understand them as a person instead of just the disability."
Stake Young Women president Lisa Fernelius and stake Young Women camp coordinator Peggy Monn helped arrange for an autism expert to come to camp and address the girls about the condition and its characteristics. Delilah Wilcox, clinical director of the Northwest Human Services Autism School in Carlisle, Penn., taught the girls about some of the symptoms of autism – things like inflicting pain on self, banging of own head, avoiding eye contact, communication problems, inappropriate responses to sound or tragedy, and no fear of danger. Ms. Wilcox stressed that not every autistic person has the same symptoms.
For the first part of their service project, the girls designed large, colorful murals to hang in the halls of Ms. Wilcox's school. Mural themes included such broad concepts as color, nature, and people. Many of the young women painted their hands to make palm prints on the murals; other artistic accouterments included sponges, rocks, leaves, and paper towels.
Throughout the rest of the week, the humanitarian project continued as young women prepared teaching booklets for 82 autistic students. According to Sister Fernelius, more booklets will be prepared in July during a tri-stake Youth Conference.
Ultimately, only time can tell to what extent the events of this year's Young Women Camp will affect the 97 girls who attended.
"As a leader, I wondered how the information the girls received would bless them in the future," Sister Fernelius said. "Would they be able to be more understanding with autistic students at school or with members of their wards and families? Would they choose to study something in a field where they could help autistic people? Would they possibly be able to handle the challenges of having an autistic child of their own?"
Autism is not unheard of in the York Stake – three young women who attended camp experience a form of autism, and a handful of the campers have autistic siblings. President Tyson envisions camp attendees being able to return to their wards and help ease the burden of families that deal daily with the expansive effects of having an autistic child.
"When you're faced with a special-needs child on a day-to-day basis, it's quite demanding and quite stressful," he said. "The additional help that friends of the family and members of the Church can be is very nice. … To have a little bit of respite with someone's help at Church when you want to bring your child there is a great service. But in order to give that service, people first have to know a little bit about (autism)."
Sylvia H. Sonneborn contributed to this article.
