Title: Special Needs Camp
Feed: CWKN #441, June 10, 2009
Time: 1:37
SUGGESTED LEAD: IF YOUR CHILD IS DISABLED, OR HAS AN INCURABLE ILLNESS, YOU MAY THINK THE BEST PLACE FOR HIM OR HER THIS SUMMER IS AT HOME … WITH YOU.  BUT IN THIS REPORT FROM CONNECT WITH KIDS, YOU’LL HEAR WHY SOME EXPERTS DISAGREE.
<<PKG>>

NATS:  checking blood sugar levels

NARR:  FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD JUSTIN AND FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD KATHERINE HAVE DIABETES.

BUT THAT DOESN’T KEEP THEM FROM LOOKING FORWARD TO SUMMER CAMP. (:07)

SUPER:  Katherine, 15 years old (:10)
“We like to do stuff too! (laugh)”

NARR:  THEY PLAY GAMES … GO CANOEING … AND PERFORM IN TALENT SHOWS JUST LIKE OTHER KIDS….  AND, OF COURSE, …. THAT’S THE POINT. (:07)

NATS:  talent show

SUPER:  Dorothy Jordan, Special Needs Camp Founder (:21)
“There is nothing like for a child with cancer or a child with diabetes to get out of the car or get off the bus and come into this group and realize, everyone is in the same boat as me, and I don’t feel different anymore.”

NARR:  SHE SAYS CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES GET AS MUCH OUT OF CAMP AS OTHER KIDS … MAYBE EVEN MORE.

THEY DON’T JUST HAVE FUN; THEY MAKE FRIENDS WHO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY’RE GOING THROUGH. (:10)

SUPER:  Justin, 14 years old (:45)
“Like when I was first diagnosed I couldn’t get over the shock that I was going to have to get two shots a day and have to prick my finger four times a day, I was just stunned and like, who else has this?”

NARR:  ”WHO ELSE?’

 LOTS OF KIDS. (:02)

NATS:  brakes squeak

NARR:  JUSTIN AND KATHERINE ARE SO EXCITED ABOUT CAMP, THEY TRAINED TO BIKE RIDE SEVENTY MILES TO RAISE MONEY FOR CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS. (:07)

SUPER:  Avril Beckford Rowley, Mother (1:10)
“He said my dream is that every child with diabetes should have the chance to go regardless of their ability to pay, and I want to do something to raise money.”

NARR:  BUT BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR DISABLED CHILD TO CAMP, ASK QUESTIONS:

IS IT ACCREDITED?  ARE THE COUNSELORS PREPARED FOR MEDICAL TROUBLE?  IS THE NURSING STAFF EQUIPPED FOR YOUR CHILD’S CHALLENGE? (:11)

SUPER:  Dorothy Jordan, Special Needs Camp Founder
“You ask all the right questions, and if you can get the right answers, and you can have confidence in the program, it’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

NARR:  I’M STACEY DEWITT, CONNECTING WITH KIDS. (:03)

SUGGESTED TAG:  ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO DECIDE IF A PARTICULAR CAMP IS RIGHT FOR YOUR CHILD IS TO ASK SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN.  FOR MORE RESEARCH TIPS, LOGON TO (LOCAL URL) AND CLICK THE CONNECT WITH KIDS ICON.