'Communication is magical': Camp Bruce at ISU helps young people with significant needs

Yahoo

8 hours ago

Four-year-old Karson Morge got to work his magic during Camp Bruce at Indiana State University.
Magician Jason Brewer needed an assistant, and Morge stepped up to the task on Thursday.
At first, Brewer showed his audience that his 'magic coloring book' was incomplete because all the pages were blank. But when Morge took some special wands, and did a little magic dance, the coloring book had colored pictures in it.
Later, with Morge's assistance, the pictures disappeared —like magic.
Morge was one of 16 children participating this week in Camp Bruce, which is for individuals with significant communication needs.
Many of the campers are nonverbal and received assistance from ISU graduate students on how to better use communication devices.
The theme for this year's Camp Bruce, which completed its 14th year, was 'Communication is magical.' The four-day program took place at ISU's Bayh College of Education.
It is conducted by camp director April Newton, who also is a speech pathologist for the Vigo County School Corp. and teaches a graduate class at ISU called augmentative and alternative communication or AAC.
For the graduate students, the camp provides a hands-on experience for them toward the end of the course, Newton said. Nineteen graduate students assisted with Camp Bruce this year.
Campers benefit in many ways, as well.
'It's such a great experience for those kids, and they really benefit by seeing other kids using communication devices,' Newton said. 'They may be the only one in their school that uses it.'
In addition, the campers 'make friends. They make connections,' Newton said.
The kids rotate through different stations planned by the graduate students.
This year, it included a magic room with science experiments; arts and crafts; and games. On Thursday, campers enjoyed a glow room that offered glow-in-the-dark bowling, hop scotch and ring toss; they also could receive tattoos that glowed in the dark.
Among the campers this week was Caroline Barnett, age 5, who attended Camp Bruce for the first time. She received assistance in how to better use her communication device, an Accent 1000 eye gaze.
Eye gaze technology uses specialized cameras that enable those with physical disabilities to control a computer using eye movements.
Her mother, Madalyn Barnett, said, the camp 'has been amazing. She's had a great time and definitely gained some friendships and great experience learning with her tablet. They also have parent programs where we can learn more about their devices as well.'
Thursday, the culminating day of camp, was also sibling day and Caroline's brother, Noah, participated in activities — and he was another who helped during Jason Brewer's magic show.
It was Karson Morge's first year at Camp Bruce, said his grandmother, Rose Marie Morge, who was present for Thursday's culminating event in which campers received certificates and watched a video that highlighted their week at camp.
'I think it's a great resource for families to help with children work with these devices,' she said. Karson has looked forward to camp each day.
Erica Barker, an ISU graduate student in speech language pathology, has worked closely with Karson during Camp Bruce.
'It's really awesome. We're obviously helping the students with their AAC devices and from my perspective as a graduate student, we are currently in an AAC class as well, so it's been really nice to take the information we are learning in class and apply it here in camp,' Barker said.
Also, 'It's so rewarding to be making an impact on the children here by helping them use their devices,' said Barker, who is from Richmond.
Veteran Camp Bruce camper Jack Magnuson proudly showed his glow-in-the-dark tattoos and shared that one of his favorite parts of camp was an interactive good-bye song at the end of each day.
The program is funded through ARC of the Wabash Valley.