The Learning Camp

Gypsum camp sheds new light on differences
Julie Imada-Howard - The Eagle Valley Enterprise
April 18, 2002

If a child faced a learning disability 20 years ago, there were few, if any, resources available to them or their parents.

Today, places like the Learning Camp in Gypsum allow students with learning disabilities including attention deficit disorder or dyslexia to experience individualized learning and fun at the same time.

Gypsum mom Ann Cathcart founded the residential summer learning camp in 1996, after her own son was diagnosed with dyslexia and later was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

"Today there are many resources available for children with learning challenges and their parents. Ten years ago, there wasn't such prevalent support. I didn't know any other moms facing this," said Cathcart.

Unable to find a summer educational program that addressed her son's needs, Cathcart left her position as CEO of the Mountain States Better Business Bureau and started a summer day camp at Edwards Elementary School.

"I had no plan of doing this, but in the first year, we had 23 local kids sign up," she said. By the summer's end, she was convinced that an overnight learning and adventure experience was one answer to meeting needs of children like her son.

The following summer, after obtaining a loan from FirstBank of Vail, Cathcart opened a residential summer camp in McCoy and served 65 kids. Seven years later, the camp is known world-wide. "Other moms, dads, and children needed what we have built," she added.

"Kids today come from all over the world and we serve 35 to 40 students per session," said Cathcart. The camp now offers four, three-week sessions every summer and counselors work with students aged seven to 14. In addition to getting the academic help and direction they need, students also participate in outdoor activities including water sports, hiking, horseback riding, and rock climbing. The camp also offers parents various resources about learning challenges, medication issues, and how to address their children's needs and improve their self esteem.

Today, parents have more options, information, and support when their children are diagnosed with a learning disability or challenge. But new issues have also emerged. Debates now simmer about the use, abuse and long-term effects of psychiatric drugs, the over- and mis-diagnosis of disabilities such as attention deficit disorder, and how to make the most of the limited resources available to education programs for learning challenged kids.

The treatment of children with psychiatric drugs continues to be a widely debated issue, one that has come up in congressional hearings, discussions at the United Nations, and in schools and programs like the Learning Camp. According to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, over 6 million children in the United States are on some kind of psychiatric drugs. Some of these drugs have been found to be carcinogenic, cause atrophy in the brain, drug addiction, and in extreme cases, death. The drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been found to 10 cause psychotic symptoms in one out of every six children. There is also controversy over how much pressure a teacher or school district can apply to parents to have unruly children put on these drugs.

"Choosing medication as part of the solution is a personal decision, but I think the decision needs to be based on the information that you get from a family's whole support team of teachers, school counselors, and physicians. But in the end the decision needs to be yours. I have seen kids over-medicated and I've seen medications work for others," said Cathcart. She also believes that the reasons parents are seeing such arise in the use of medications is due to a greater awareness of and identification of different learning styles and needs. "Parents need to find the resources that fit best for their children and families," she added.

"The challenge with attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is over-diagnosing. There is a spectrum of 'normal,' so the question becomes what is normal? They are all normal within a range, with some kids falling in the extremes," said Dr. Drew Werner of the Eagle Valley Medical Center. Like Cathcart, Werner attributes the rising number of kids being diagnosed and treated for learning challenges to more widespread knowledge, improved testing, and more medical treatment available for children. "It's more socially acceptable and (there is) more awareness," added Werner.

The Eagle County School District has a history of hands-on help for parents with learning challenged students. "We use an informal child study that gathers the people together who are directly involved with a child: teachers, counselors, nurses, parents. As a first step we examine the problems," said Eagle Valley High School counselor Anne Leavitt. These evaluations can result in recommending further medical and educational tests and special education services. "Pushing psychiatric drugs is a real abuse of teachers' and school counselors' position. Any diagnosis needs to be made by a medical professional," she added.

"Without the support of the school district," added Cathcart, "my son would not be college-bound."

Cathcart has seen students who benefited from the use of psychiatric drugs and has also seen great successes for learning challenged students without the use of medications.

Cathcart believes self esteem is a big part of why the program is successful at helping children without the use of drugs. Said Cathcart: "When you have a learning challenge, just going to class is a courageous act. It's hard not to focus on the things that are wrong. Self esteem is the biggest contribution of the program. We help to change their attitude about their abilities and show them how successful they can be. I really believe that learning differences can teach children about challenge and all learning challenged children have the possibility to go onto to be great contributors to society and the entire world."

For information about the Learning Camp call 524-2706 or log onto www.learningcamp.com. To learn more about children and psychiatric drug treatments, log onto www.fightforkids.com.

Photo Caption:
Ann Cathcart, founder of the Learning Camp, has helped hundreds of families and children to address Learning differences. The Learning Camp will open a new facility near Gypsum thiS summer.