“We started Kids Unlimited in
2009 at the request of a parent
who could not find appropriate
camp experiences for her son.

A lot of the camps that this parent
looked into didn’t have the support
system or weren’t able to make
accommodations necessary to
serve all kids,” she says. “We believe
that every kid should be able to go
to summer camp, so we spent a
year researching and planning to
create Kids Unlimited.”
Camp Pegasus
INCLUSIVE FUN!
www.MedStarCapitalsIceplex.com • Arlington,VA• 571-224-0555
12 Washington FAMILY FEBRUARY 2022
Many of the inclusive summer
camps in the region offer an
effective combination of
classic summer camp
fun infused with social
and life skills training.

“At Camp Pegasus,
campers engage
in sports, theater,
computer play, art
therapy, music therapy,
dance-movement therapy and more,” says
Fogel. “These activities
provide the structure to
support how kids interact. But
we layer in an intensive therapy
piece, which barely registers as
therapy because the kids are having
so much fun.”
Camp Pegasus offers key
supports to ease campers’
anxieties, such as providing the
day’s schedule on a lanyard that
campers wear around their necks.

Plus, many staff members have
advanced degrees in behavioral
health, and the camp maintains a
low staff-to-camper ratio.

A low staff ratio is also a key
component of TIC Summer
Camp, an inclusive day camp
with three locations in the
Washington, D.C. metro area. TIC
Summer Camp seeks to foster
the minds and bodies of campers
with equal half days of technology
and athletics.

“We have a low staff-to-camper
ratio; kids with mild learning
disabilities can be very successful
at TIC,” says Emily Riedel, TIC
Summer Camps’ owner and
director of operations. “We
believe that all children benefit
from diversity. That includes
Living Classrooms
Foundation neurodiversity but also diversity
of race and gender. Because a basic
philosophy of inclusiveness guides
our camp, we work hard to remove
any barriers that would keep kids
from participating.”
Working to remove barriers was
among the founding goals for the
Living Classrooms Foundation,
which provides experiential learning
programs, including summer camps,
for nearly 30,000 youth and adults
in 30 sites across Baltimore and
Washington, D.C.

“For nearly two decades, Living
Classrooms partnered with The Arc
and schools to offer Bay Buddies,”
says Living Classrooms Foundation
President and CEO James Bond.

“Bay Buddies was designed to
provide fun, hands-on, skill-
building opportunities for students
with developmental disabilities
with activities like sailing,
horseback riding and gardening.

“Participants benefit from low
staff-to-student ratios, highly
qualified staff and an inclusive,
welcoming environment.”