This course is designed for all summer camp staff who work with neurodiverse campers.

It can be purchased for individual learning only. If you wish to show or excerpt a recording of this class for group or staff training, please reach out to Mike Fogel to license the material and to make arrangements.

In this class, you will learn the "C" in Mike Fogel's A.R.C.H. social training & support program. A.R.C.H. is a proprietary method developed by Mike over more than two decades in his social skills therapy programs, The Art of Friendship Social-Coping Program and Camp Pegasus. It's designed to promote social skills development in a loving manner -  without shaming or blaming the ND child for the social faux pas they make. 

A.R.C.H. provides positive reinforcement, offers compassionate social coaching, and provides opportunities for self regulation for campers. You can learn about these ingredients of best-practice social skills training and support in the webinars posted on the Art of Friendship Social Skills website.

This course will provide you with specialized knowledge and practical tools to support neurodiverse campers effectively. 

Did you know that autism, ADHD, and learning differences are “invisible disabilities” and staff may expect neurodivergent campers to behave like mainstream neurotypical campers? Unconscious expectations (biases) can cause staff to have critical, punitive, or power-struggle reactions to the behavior of neurodivergent (ND) campers. Difficult moments and disruptive behavior are generally triggered when ND campers misunderstand social cues and unwritten social expectations, or due to overwhelming emotions. While it is important for staff to problem-solve to get the camper and bunk back on track, the ND camper needs SOCIAL COAOCHING to help them learn how to better cope and prevent a repeat of the painful experience. To learn and grow from these challenges, they need caring adults to help them understand what happened, how everyone felt, what was expected, and how they can better get their needs met. In this workshop, discover “Jeopardy Social Coaching”, a compassionate way of talking a child through social challenges using familiar “wh- questions”. Join us to learn and practice practical question-based scripts that comfortably activate social learning. Targeted questions give the camper the treasure of activating their social mind. They are given the responsibility of thinking through social miscues, misunderstandings, unhelpful choices, and emotional moments. You’ll learn questions that promote a child’s self-awareness, taking responsibility for their behavior, making better choices, and developing empathy for others. Participants will learn how to use a structured problem-solving worksheet to guide a camper to bounce back from a larger emotional or behavioral conflict and make a coping plan for the future. Like the Phoenix, out of the ashes our neurodiverse campers will soar!