Tanya Gonyaw

Review of Camp Starfish

PARENTS BE AWARE OF THE TERMINOLOGY!!!!

PARENTS BE AWARE OF THE TERMINOLOGY!!!!

Parents with children who need "one-ON-one" aid services, please be aware this is NOT offered at this camp. They offer a "Ratio" of "one-TO-one"; this means that at any given time if you count the amount of campers vs. the amount of staff members... INCLUDING cooks, nurses, admins you will find the balance. This does NOT mean that your camper will receive a "one-ON-one" aid service. Their services are actually "ONE-ON-TWO".

I am writing this review because I spent DAYS and my referral members spent HOURS completing their extremely over extensive application. I made several calls and spoke with Deana (who was rude and vague with answering questions) throughout the WEEK and she was well aware of my son's age and told her that my son required "ONE-ON-ONE" aid services and she never once told me that they did not provide this NOR that they have a cut off of the age of 14 for first time campers.

Had my camper been accepted he would have never received the services that his IEP required and his Medicade would have likely been billed from his school as if they had provided it because even the school, who had referred me to them, was under the impression that they provided "one-ON-one" aid services. So I am actually very happy that they denied him as this could have become an extremely huge legal issue!

The only good thing I have to say is that the Director, Jamie Ingram and Executive Director, Emily Golinsky seem very kind and are very good at answering your questions. I suggest parents speak with one of them BEFORE filling out their ridiculously long application that asks the same questions OVER AND OVER and has time out issues as well as saving information issues verses dealing with Deana being rude and getting denied anyhow. We parents have enough on our plates with raising children with disabilities, we don't need to deal with this kind of stress on top of our daily lives.