Benefits of Adventure Camping for Special Children

A group of special children (Autism spectrum disorder) participated in a 2 day adventure camp at NALS Coonoor campus. The activities included high rope courses, rock climbing, rappelling, flying fox and trekking. During the program, the children were under the observation of Dr. Karthik Rajaram, Occupational Therapist (karthik1710@gmail.com) . At the end of the program, Dr Rajaram has presented his observation regarding the benefits, improvements & developments due to such activities:

Motor skills
Fine motor
Gross motor skills
Hand function
Grasp and pinch
Muscle tone and power (strength)
Tightness, contracture and deformity
Functional skills.

Coordination
Bilateral asymmetrical and symmetrical coordination
Eye hand coordination

Cognitive and perceptual skills
Attention, concentration, memory,orientation,Form consencenty, abstract thinking, logical thinking, problem solving, judgment, figure ground perception, depth perception, colour perception, sequence and seriating, body scheme, right left discrimination, creativity, planning and organization, visual and auditory perception.

Sensory perceptual development
Tactile, proprioceptive, visual, hearing, vestibular, kinesthetic, barognosis, graphathesis,etc

Social and emotional skills
Expression and control of feeling, mood and affect
Asking for the needs, body language, proximity, eye contact, gestures and other inter and intra personal skills

Language and communication and Self help skills