Gosh, I am so sorry about your son being denied to Camp Kodiak. It is frustrating, so frustrating. I have a son in 6th grade and he is trying so hard. The teachers (one in particular) does not get it. She is not working with him, and she seems to run the school. I have ADD, and we are both on adderall. Why do people (not all) judge so harshly? I always get nervous when I have to pick up our prescriptions..one pharmacist asked if my husband was a Doctor (military hospital) and he had a smirk on his face. I asked him why would you say that? His response was that some wives try to get medication just to lose weight. I told him, first of all I did not lose weight and even if I did adderall has helped me not only keep myself organized and together but my children's lives especially the one who happens to have ADD as well. My son is on a low dose because he has asthma and allergies and I want to wait till his asthma is better controlled before they up his dose. Going back to you..I would write Camp Kodiak again, and tell them exactly what you posted here. Perhaps, they can make some exception to policy? But then again, what IS there policy??

Good luck to you. Yes, we must fight for our children. I just recently learned that there is a adult support group close by that meets one Wednesday a month. I might start there..you should find one as well if not, try a support group for children.

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I know exactly how you feel! My 6yr old daughter was diagnosed as ADHD with OCD and impulsiveness. She is currently in Kindergarten and I let the school know on the very first day what the Dr's said about her. She is on Concerta, but this only helps with her focus and some of her hyperactivity in the classroom. She still has OCD and is impulsive. I guess that the school thought that they were smarter then me though because they didn't listen to me and made no effort to create an IEP in order to handle this diagnosis. I was constantly getting phone calls from her teacher and the principle telling me that my daughter was playing too rough on the playground, or she was pushing other students because they were standing too close to her, or she has trouble moving on to a new activity when she isn't done with the one she is working on so she throws a temper tantrum. I always asked the same thing, 'What are you doing in order to control/change the situation?' The response I always got back was that it wasn't the school's responsibility to handle a child who is just making poor decisions. Excuse me, making poor decisions!! As if my daughter woke up that morning and decided that she was going to act bad all day long!!

After about a month of parent-teacher conferences and phone calls the principle actually had the nerve to tell me that she didn't think that my daughter was right for the school because my daughter was deliberately acting out. This was also the time that she lectured me again about how my daughter was deciding to act the way she was acting. Oh, and that I needed to be a more responsible parent (that was my favorite comment). About this same time I was contacted by the school district's after school program and was told that they could not control my daughter or predict what she was going to do so they wouldn't let her come back (all though I was assured that this program could handle an ADHD child).

I finally had to make phone calls to the Special School District myself in order to get something (anything) to happen so that my daughter could get the help that she needed at her school. I was able to get in contact with someone who understood exactly what my daughter was going through and she helped to educate the principle and the kindergarten teacher. Just recently (and the school year is almost over!) a plan has been put into place and it is working very well. My daughter is adjusting to changes in the day better, there are very few temper tantrums now, and someone is talking to her each week about how to handle her impulsiveness and how to be better in social situations. The After School program will not let my daughter back in though so I have had to come up with a costly alternative.

In the mean time my daughter is now convinced that all of the teachers hate her, including the principle. This just about breaks my heart because she is very smart (reading and math is above average) and she is very affectionate. I can't help but be extremely angry with the school district for hurting her in this manner when they had the tools to help her at the beginning of the school year, they just didn't feel that it was necessary. How can we as parents protect our children from this kind of negativity when the very institutions that have promised help are either turning us away (like camp kodiak) or ignoring our pleas for help (like my daughter's school district)? I can hardly wait for the long adventure of the 1st grade year.

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It's really sounds defeating for you to have your son turned away from a program that sounds so great. (I checked out their site) But at the same time it's refreshing to learn about a program where decisions are made with the best interests of the campers in mind, rather than merely signing up one more paying customer. I wouldn't want my ADHD son to attend a program that wasn't considering the success of the child as the first goal. I think the BIGGER problem here is the lack of understanding and scarcity of programs for children such as ours. Even though I would love nothing more than to be able to send my son to a camp like that it would "suck rocks" to use his words, if he got shipped home halfway. Maybe we should start up our own!!!

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You know what....Kodiak camp totally copped out on you and they are WRONG for doing what they did. This camp is DESIGNED for this sort of thing...and if they are worried about kids being bullied, then they should take their ADVERTIZED specialized care and use it!!!! Everyone is afraid of lawsuits etc..... I cannot see that a kid would be so bad at a place like that, that he/she'd have to be sent home....this is NOT what this place is supposed to be designed for.

they copped out, they left you hanging, they are not truly what they say. im venting, yes, but from what you said, they didnt give a valid reason as to why your kids couldnt go.

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Kodiak does NOT gear to Oppositional Defiant Disordered kids. They gear to ADHD, LD and NVLD. Completely different disorders. ADHD impulsivity is not the same thing as anger issues in ODD. Give them a break---they're great at what they do ------just because it doesn't meet your needs doesn't mean they're copping out. If I treated cancer patients and turned down a person with a heart condition doesn't mean I'm copping out. Sure you can have ADHD with Oppositional Defiance but the oppositional defiance is going to drive the disruptive behavior.

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I realize this is an old post but happened to stumble across it as I was looking up Camp Kodiak information.. I have to agree with the last poster (Donna). Speaking as a 20 year public school teacher and parent of a NVLD son - it is extremely important that we give the camp directors/counselors the discretion to accept or deny campers based on "best fit" for all. I do NOT disagree that it would be a hard pill to swallow if it was my child that was denied BUT for my son who is shy, quiet and working hard on learning age appropriate social skills to have someone who has angry outbursts, unpredictable behavior and keeps a lot of adult focus on himself - it would be just like school....again he falls through the cracks. In reference to the first comment about "what child hasn't shoved, pushed, etc.?" I have to say emphatically that, "NO," my son has never shoved, pushed or hurt any child in his life and he is 16 years old. I also have many students who have never shoved, pushed, etc. EITHER! Thank you, Camp Kodiak, for recognizing and staying true to the main focus of your camp.

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Old post, but just saw it, so I thought I would reply. I get both sides. One, Camp Kodiak was a great place to be - because there wasn't the bullying, social stratifying, put downs that a lot of us have experienced. It was complete fun, were you just connected with others. Some of which I have stayed in contact with for almost ten years. Having kids would change that balanced would have very much changed that experience for the worse.

On the other hand - if a kid had issues in the past, they have been worked on and moved past, and their parent was truly just "too" honest, I can understand that. I have ADD, but there was a time in life that I got super depressed, and was even suicidal. I went to camp when I was a later teen, and that dark time had been years before - but of course my mom, being concerned for me mentioned it "just in case" they needed to know. I was barred from camp. I had a really great psychiatrist at the time that I had been seeing for a while. My mom told him about this, he called up the camp, and yay! I got to go. I think my mom had tried to convince them - but any mom who cared for her kid and wanted the best for them, even if that kid was "violent" - would argue too. I think situations where emotion rules family and friends of those affected with any disorder is when you need to reach out to a support network who can both provide a "bigger view" and have "inherent credibility" - often Doctors, social works, and therapists. The acquiring of a "support network" is a whole nother story and I won't go there.

So I guess if your son fell into the second category of the "too honest mom" - that really stinks. On the other hand, he is a kid who does have some defiant or oppositional issues, Camp Kodiak probably wouldn't have been a good fit for anyone including your son. I think if the later is true, you move forward determined to find something that does fit. Good luck, your son is lucky to have a mom who cares!

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