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Summer camp...that place where kids play outside and enjoy the freedom away from school.
"We went swimming rock climbing horseback riding and archery."
For Hannah, it's no different...except that she has autism. That's why she goes to Camp
New Amigos, a camp for young people with the disorder.
She's been going the last three years. This year, she met Annie.
"We became friends right away on Monday. So we just got each other's phone numbers."
Annie's here for the first time. "We're gonna try to go to the mall and stuff
get together - because we're teenagers. She's 17 and I'm 15."
They're already making plans for the summer. "Maybe we could have a sleepover so that might
be one thing or go over to each other's houses or...might go swimming."
Camp New Amigos is now in its fourth year. Fifty-five kids came this year. A lot of the
volunteers and counselors tell me this isn't the first year they've been here.
Luke Mitchell came back, even though he lives and works on autism research in Colorado.
"So I was in town this past week for my brother's wedding and it happened to coincide with the
week that camp was occurring so I decided to stay on."
Mitchell knows what challenges people with autism face.
"These people are just people just doing their best to get through their day-to-day and experience
life."
But he knows what's really important -- especially for kids just trying to grow up.
"Some of them have more challenges than others, but when it comes down to it, they're still
just regular kids and they need a chance to kind of unwind and have fun and play."
Having studied autism, he realizes it takes a lot of resources.
"Most of the time these camps can be very expensive."
The hearts for autism fund funds this camp. Parents only have to pay a $25 registration
fee.
Dr. Kathleen Cronin has organized the camp all four years. She's also a professor at
NMSU, teaching grad students how to work in the field of autism.
"I feel like the proud mama and it's actually all my babies as they refer to themselves
as."
One of her babies as she calls them is Tony Bobazilla. "It would go hand in hand with
my social work and my line of work that I would be doing."
He graduated this year from the program and says that while children may share symptoms,
no two are exactly alike.
"You're always going to have somebody different even though they have the same diagnosis and
you can have somebody who's very high functioning, they're able to have a simple conversation
with you versus other children who are non-verbal, so that's where it's like you have those who
are very high functioning versus those that are very low functioning."
Autism is a developmental disorder that the medical journal 'pediatrics' calls "the fastest-growing"
among young people.
Researchers of autism like Bobazilla refer to a triad of impairment.
Socialization deficits, communication deficits, and behavioral quirks like repetitive behaviors
are among them. Some of the hallmark signs include a child
who doesn't respond to their name by 12 months, who doesn't engage in social play and who
has physical ticks or quirks. According to the CDC about 1 in 110 children
are affected by autism.
Everyday someone, somewhere makes a new friend. But one week every summer, a group of people
who might not otherwise meet is making a different kind of relationships.
"The opportunity to have children come together...not be criticized or judged...I think it's awesome."
"...Because I spend so much time with them. They're in 4 classes...you get to know them...they
see me completely different...I'm not the professor in class."
Relationships that run deep. "The one who borrowed them, she left them
with her stuff on the bench and then they weren't there anymore so I don't know if somebody
took them. I'm sorry. That's all right. We'll get you another pair."
Sloan Patton