FAQs about the Summer Program
1) Where is the Summer Program?
The Summer Program is located on a beautiful 450-acre, lakeside campus located in Southern New Hampshire about two hours northwest of Boston, Massachusetts.
2) Where do we live?
Children and teens sleep on bunk beds in cabins with indoor bathrooms, including showers and flush toilets.
3) What will my group be like?
A lot of attention is given to how we put together a cabin group. Children and teens are grouped according to age, maturity, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Cabin groups are composed to ensure that children can practice how to positively interact with each other.
4) What happens in a typical day?
The basic daily schedule consists of wake-up routines, mealtimes, group-based activities, individually selected activities, school, daily group therapy, swim time, evening activities, incentives, cabin chores, and bedtime preparations.
Wediko offers a range of fun activities! Activities are scheduled in three-day rotations and include: swimming, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, archery, athletics, dance, theater, art, tennis, arcade, playground, mountain biking, brain games, and cooking.
5) Is my family involved?
Family therapy is an important component of our program. Wediko understands that the families know their children better than anyone else. Family participation is critical to each child’s and teen’s successes. Family therapy sessions are a time for family members to discuss the growth, struggles, and feelings that come up as treatment plans are implemented.
6) What type of food is there to eat?
Cooks prepare delicious meals which comply with USDA nutrition guidelines. Wediko serves three meals and two snacks daily. Typical meals include hamburgers with fixings, tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, baked chicken, and lasagna. A fully stocked salad bar is available at lunch and dinner. Fruit, milk, peanut butter, jelly, and bread are also available at every meal. Meals are served family style at each group’s table. Food is never withheld as a negative consequence for misbehavior.
7) Will my family visit me?
Halfway through the summer, Visitor’s Day is scheduled for family, relatives, and friends to visit. Children and teens have the opportunity to show what they do at the setting on a daily basis. Regular phone calls home are also scheduled. If accepted by the family and supervisor, a check-in visit can be arranged.
8) What if I get homesick?
Wediko expects children and teens to be homesick at times, and we make sure that staff are available to provide comfort. Families, children, and teens are encouraged to write letters as often as they like. Usually, when a parent tells their child or teen that s/he is loved and missed, but that the Summer Program is the best place for him/her at the time, the child or teen feels reassured and is able to better adjust to the Summer Program.
9) What will happen if I misbehave?
First and foremost, the Summer Program is structured to be a physically and psychologically safe environment. When behavior is threatening, Wediko staff respond to regain a sense of safety. Strategies used include labeling behavior, reminding students of choice points, giving time outs, processing the chain of events leading to upsets, and discussing alternative behavioral options. If behavior is extreme, the student must leave the group, under supervision, until s/he is able to return by agreeing to uphold group expectations.
10) Do I get rewards for positive behavior?
Throughout the day children and teens are encouraged by their staff to observe their own functioning and make positive choices. Additionally, three times a day children and teens receive formal feedback based on a behavioral checklist. The checklist documents one’s participation, communication, and safety. If children and teens earn sufficient points on their checklists, they receive an incentive. Incentives are selected to be motivating and age-appropriate. For example, older children and teens earn time with friends from other groups at an on-campus video game arcade. Younger children might earn sports cards. Midway through the summer, children and teens begin work on individualized behavioral contracts. The contracts include a chance to earn incentives, such as spending time with a favorite peer and staff member, cooking dinner for the group, building a model plane, or having extra time at a favorite activity.
11) What if I get sick during the summer?
The Summer Program has a full nursing staff, including health specialists. Staff will call your family if you get sick.
12) Who does our laundry?
A professional laundry service picks up laundry and returns it once a week.
13) How do children and teens describe their Wediko experience?
After attending the Summer Program, children and teens talk about themselves as being more confident, more in control, more capable, and more able to talk about their concerns and negotiate their way through problems. Almost all the children and teens describe themselves as better able to make and maintain friendships. Although some have described the Summer Program as hard and demanding, they also find it to be extremely fun and rewarding!
