NVLD Teen Transition Program

NVLD Teen Transition Program
NVLD Teen Transition Program: Summer Highlights 2018 College Readiness

Many families ask us how camp prepares 11th and 12th graders for college. Why not get a job? Or go to a summer program that focuses on academics? These are valid questions, as both of those summer options will no doubt help prepare teens for college. What camp provides to teens social confidence, executive function and self-advocacy support, and practice living on a college campus. Beyond Akeela, and NVLD teen camp in the Midwest, is intentionally designed to focus on all three of these lofty goals.

  • Social Confidence

Many teens tell us that making and keeping friends at home isn’t always easy. The social pressure in high school can be a lot to handle, and being quirky can magnify those social challenges in a neuro-typical world. Creating a space where teens can find social success and be surrounded by peers similar to them breeds social confidence that didn’t exist before. One of the scariest parts of college is wondering, “Will I fit in there?” Beyond Akeela gives teens the confidence of having a socially successful experience and lifelong friends.

  • Executive Function & Self-Advocacy

In talking to many professionals in higher education, it’s clear that self-advocacy and executive function are two of the most essential skills for any college student to be successful. For students who learn differently especially, advocating for learning services in college and staying organized are imperative. At Beyond Akeela, a NVLD teen camp in the Midwest, we build these skills inherently through our camp schedule rather than a classroom setting.

  • College Living

An NVLD teen camp in the Midwest gives teens the chance to practice college living without the academic rigors of a full course load. Living with a roommate in a dorm and practicing skills. Like laundry and cooking give teens a sense of what living on a college campus will feel like. It creates comfort in an otherwise unfamiliar setting. Beyond Akeela campers often learn best by doing, by practicing a skill that may not otherwise come naturally to them.

Here is what our families had to say about their teens after a summer of Beyond Akeela:

“We definitely see greater signs of maturity and independence, which was one of our goals in sending him to Beyond Akeela.”

“Beyond Akeela has become an integral part of Thomas’s maturity. Thomas always mentions that this was one of the keys to his life moving forward in the right way. Now he is a freshman at a university, and we couldn’t be happier or more proud of him.”