Interested in the Driving and Community Mobility Bootcamp?

 

Structure

The Driving and Community Mobility Bootcamp is planned at the end of ECU summer session, and will be the first full week in August. This time is selected because participation of the graduate occupational therapy students is essential to the success of the Bootcamp.

The Bootcamp will be Monday through Friday, typically 9:00 am to 4:00 or 4:30 pm. The Bootcamp finishes with a “graduation” event in which we invite parents, family, and friends in a joyful celebration of the participants accomplishments.  We ask all participants and at least one family member to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Participants

The Bootcamp is open to any teen or young adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder who is interested in independent driving and/or community mobility. However, based on our experience over previous bootcamps, we have now recognized that autistic teens under the age of 16 do not fully benefit from the activities in this occupational therapy intervention. Therefore, participants need to be 16 years old by the June 30th of the year they apply. Most participants are between the ages 16 and 25 years, although we have had some older participants.

All “applicants” are evaluated for their potential and interest. If we feel the individual is not appropriate or does not show enough interest, we talk with the individual and their parent and offer other ideas or options.

The number of participants in each session has ranged from 7 to 14, being limited by the number of occupational therapy students as well as space. Each year is a unique combination of matching participants with students and ensuring all participants can work with small and large groups of individuals working and learning cooperatively together.

The Bootcamp has no fee for attending. However, participants are expected to bring their own lunch, snacks and drinks. Unfortunately, we are not able to support out-of-area participants with any housing, although there are reasonably priced hotels nearby.

The schedule of the Bootcamp has changed from past events. The Bootcamp will be Monday through Friday, typically 9:00 am to 4:00 or 4:30 pm during the first full week in August.

This letter of interest includes further information regarding our upcoming bootcamp. Additionally, interested participants can fill out this ECU-Driving-Bootcamp-Application and send it to Dr. Anne Dickerson