Avi has been up at camp for just about a week now. From what we can tell he is having a good time. He has not written home except to say that he could not find his flashlight, so we do not know what he is thinking. Luckily the camp posts photos each evening and on a few occasions we have seen Avi in the photos.
On Shabbat afternoon, I happened to look at my cell phone while it was plugged in for charging and saw that there was a voice mail. I took a look at the missed call and recognized it as the camp. They had called just after Shabbat began Friday night. Shabbat may start later at camp, so I am sure they thought Shabbat had not started. Getting worried, I called the camp even through it was still Shabbat. I spoke to the camp assistant director and she told me not to worry that it was all taken care of. Well, I tried not to think about it, and on Monday morning I called.
The camp is for kids with similar issues as Avi and they are good at dealing with them. Avi was not wanting to participate on Friday and wandered off a bit and he was giving them problems with the shower. So they came up with a plan that he can have a snack after his shower and he also promised to try each activity for at least 15 minutes on Monday and then they would increase the time each day. If he liked the activity he would continue but if not, he could play with one of the counselors. This is to go for this whole week while they have an extra counselor. We should hear back on Sunday as to how this worked.
Robyn, our contact at the camp told us that very often the kids just have one day when they cannot participate and when they act out. Friday was just Avi’s day. Robyn helps Avi so she must have some sort of counselor position although not Avi’s directly and she has been there for 7 years so she seems to know what she is doing.
So we are hoping we get a letter from Avi and we are sending him letters pretty much daily (through email). In the meantime we are trying to get his room cleaned up and re-designed so that he will not leave the mess he always does.
Finally here are a couple of photos of Avi from yesterday. I am guessing that he was playing Guitar Hero (they use video games sometimes when it rains).
