Facilitating socialization with a therapeutic camp setting for children with attention deficits utilizing the expressive therapies

As part of a psychological services practice, a therapeutic summer camp was devised for children who presented socialization problems often related to attention deficits, hyperactivity, and related disorders. The author devel oped an expressive and art therapy curriculum as a means of structuring bot h therapeutic and socialization experiences. Over 2,000 sets of process not es generated by staff throughout the five years of the camp's operation att est to the therapeutic efficacy of the camp. One of the salient conclusions gleaned from this data is that aggressive or impulsive behavior related to hyperactivity and social anxiety can be channeled and transformed into soc ially constructive forms of self-regulation through facilitated creative en deavor.