St. Francis honors autism camp
BY BETTY ARCHER ALLEN Gulf Breeze News betty@gulfbreezenews.com

Betty Archer Allen/Gulf Breeze News From left to right: The Rev. Al Pruitt presents a check to Judy Burns for the Autism Society on behalf of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW). Also pictured is Burns's mother, Mary Newbill, who serves as the ECW first vice president.

The program for the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of St. Francis Assisi Episcopal Church in September featured Judy Burns on the topic of Autism. Judy is the chairman of summer programs for the Autism Society of the Panhandle (ASP). She started Kids for Camp in Gulf Breeze in 2003. In 2006, the camp was expanded from a single Kids for Camp in Gulf Breeze to an overnight teen camp held at Sacred Heart's Miracle Camp in Escambia County and another location in Milton.

Burns' youngest son, Stewart, 9, was diagnosed with autism in 1998 when he was just 2 years old and Burns has been very active in autism education since that time. Prior to Stewart's diagnosis of autism, Burns was a manager with the Southern California Edison Company and was in charge of 80 employees. She received her master's degree in business and economics from the University of Delaware and an undergraduate degree in economics and political science from Virginia Tech.

Burns presented an informative program on autism. She discussed general information about the neurological disability, autism and the camp experience.

"This is a 'locally grown' innovative summer camp that provides six weeks of one-onone instruction, physical activity, and fun for autistic children as well as respite for the child's family," Burns said.

Fifty Escambia and Santa Rosa children and teens with Autism enjoyed six weeks of education and fun at this summer's "Kids for Camp"; a camp that brought national attention to this community, Burns added.

Lisa Daniels from NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams visited camp locations at Pensacola Junior College and Holm Elementary School. Comments from all over the country on the NBC site were awe-inspiring and heartfelt.

Media interest brought great attention to what is being accomplished here in our area for families who are dealing with Autism, Burns said.

In the camp the children were taught by 29 local, current and future teachers who received special training in best practices for teaching children with autism. The teachers enrolled in a week-long workshop training from lead instructor, Marietta Janecky of the Carbone Clinic. They went into camp with a great deal of knowledge of how best to increase the learning and decrease problem behaviors of children using applied behavioral analysis.

The camp was a place where they learned while having fun. Many of the children made significant progress beginning the first week. Some children learned to speak words or complete sentences for the first times, while others increased their ability to communicate with their families and teachers, Burns reported.

The children with the greatest challenges received one-on-one teaching while still making time to enjoy the typical pleasures of summer camp including swimming, games, music, and the Zoo Mobile.

Parents were delighted with their children's learning and commented that 'my child said I love you for the first time, or my child came in and sat down nicely for the first time.'

"Those things make all the work and effort very worth while," said Burns.

Everyone involved with camp came away with a happy experience that will continue with them, she added.

Burns shared these wonderful camp experiences with the St. Francis of Assisi Church women and fielded many questions from the audience.

Following the program The Rev. Al Pruitt, Rector of St. Francis, presented Burns with a check for $1,000 for the Autism Society on behalf of the St. Francis Episcopal Church Women.