Camp Ruggles, Inc.

Incorporated in 1974, Camp Ruggles remains Rhode Island’s only therapeutic summer day camp program for children, ages 6-12, who are clinically diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disabilities. Our program is designed specifically for children with significant difficulties in these areas who cannot succeed in a regular camp environment. All aspects of our camp are designed to meet the individual needs of this special population. From bus pickup to return, we provide a total of 240 hours of highly supervised, case managed, therapeutic care. Each summer, we provide 5,400 healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks to all of our campers. Our highly structured, case management program emphasizes individual attention, self-esteem building, problem solving and social and physical development, while maintaining an atmosphere that promotes fun and respite from the campers’ daily life.

Fully accredited by the American Camping Association (ACA), Camp Ruggles facilitates the physical development and confidence building of campers through individual and group instruction periods. Some of these activities include swimming, kayaking, fishing, canoeing, team building and other summer recreation activities, which are part of the camp’s ACA approved curriculum. A major focus area for Camp Ruggles is to create a bridge between June and September, when the new school year begins. Since the children referred to Camp Ruggles have a variety of special needs, they require a small, intensive program both throughout the school year, as well as during the summer months.

Camp Ruggles services children with diagnosed emotional and behavioral disabilities based on their individual attributes, and is non-discriminatory with regard to class, group, or category. Camp Ruggles does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, gender expression, culture, age, religion, political belief, marital status, sexual orientation, or ability.   Throughout the summer camp experience, the program helps prevent campers from losing ground in their counseling and behavior treatment plans and ensures easier transition into the new school year. To do this, our professionally licensed staff of educators, psychologists and medical personnel work as a team to facilitate strategically designed behavior modification plans. These plans coincide with the management plans, Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and 504 plans to guide campers in building self-esteem and self-control. Camp counselors and the camp’s psychologists meet daily in case management teams to track the progress of each camper. Additionally, all staff members evaluate the camp throughout the summer, which allows them to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the campers.  Intensive case management continues to require that we only accept 60 children each summer. Our camper to staff ratio is 3:1.