SUWS has been helping young people age 11 to 18 for over twenty-five years.  We take our students out into the wilderness where they learn through a natural “cause and effect” curriculum. For example, if you don’t wear appropriate clothes, you get cold.  If you don’t plan ahead for rain, you get wet.  Most teens quickly learn you can’t test Mother Nature. Of course, we never allow any child to endure harsh consequences such as frost bite just to teach them a lesson. 

 The treatment program has three phases: intake and orientation, the actual wilderness experience, and aftercare support. 

New scientific research indicates that spending time outdoors reduces symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  According to scientists at the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, all children benefit from “green time,” but wilderness settings benefit ADHD children in particular.

 “We knew from our own studies and those of other scientists that in general, green is good. For ADHD kids however, green is great,” said Professor Frances E. Kuo, co-director of the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 

Dr. Kuo and her cohorts concluded that the more wilderness-like the setting, the more benefits to children with ADD.  For example, playing outside in a paved basketball court was not as beneficial as walking through a forest or going to the beach.

There is also evidence being outdoors helps develop cognitive functioning in children.  For example, a 2005 study by the California Department of Education showed that students in outdoor science programs improved their test scores by 27%.

            However, fewer children than ever go outside anymore.

Journalist Richard Louv spent the last ten years studying children and outdoor play, and found out that most children spend their lives indoors. In his new book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, Louv writes that only about 6% of today’s children, even those in rural areas, are allowed to play outdoors.  He points out that activities like swimming, fishing, bike riding and hiking are all in decline, citing data from the National Sporting Goods Association, Aquatic Adventures and American Sports Data.  He is also behind a new movement to encourage parents to allow their children to play outdoors.

Yet for parents of children with ADD, the answer is not as simple as telling their children, “Go outside and play! You need to run off all that energy!”  These children are simply too distractible and impulsive to roam the wilderness without adult supervision, even though they are the ones who would benefit the most from being outdoors.

This means that summer is a particular challenge for these parents. If their children are not in a year-round school program, planning for three months of unstructured time is like planning for eternity.  These parents know from experience that their children will lose not only academic knowledge over the summer but also gains in behavioral controls and concentration skills.

One of the newest options are summer camps designed specifically for children with Attention Deficit Disorder. 

One such camp is the SUWS Wilderness Adventure program in Shoshone, Idaho. 

Jon Worbets is a SUWS therapist who has been working with at-risk youth and adolescents for thirteen years. He said, “I have seen how profoundly the wilderness experience is impacting these kids: they seemed calmer, more focused, more able to follow through and avoid reacting just on impulses.”

Therapists like Worbets take the children camping and use Applied Behavior Analysis and other techniques to ensure that the children maintain and gain more skills during the summer months. Even as these children benefit from being outdoors, they also benefit from a clear structure with rewards and consequences, strenuous exercise, good diet, and life skills training.  The low staff ratio of l:4 students means each child receives individual attention and guidance through a treatment plan specifically designed for that child. 

Worbets attributes the positive changes he sees in these children mostly to the wilderness experience itself. “Within a few weeks they are calmer. They often begin to communicate openly and clearly about what they need, demonstrate sustained focus, and learn to follow through on tasks.  I am in awe of the remarkable changes that can happen so quickly.”