Summer Treatment Program Improves Behavior of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Mitchell et al. (2015) ran a 6-week summer camp for 20 boys with high-functioning autism. The day ran like school: morning academics, afternoon sports and social skills, all with ABA coaches. Staff gave points for following rules, joining games, and staying on task. Kids lost points for whining or breaking rules.

After six weeks, rule-following, group play, and paying attention all jumped up. Complaining and whining dropped. Parents and staff both saw the change. The gains were large enough to see without a calculator.

Eikeseth et al. (2002) and Levin et al. (2014) already showed that long, school-year ABA works. Sheridan shows you can pack big gains into just six summer weeks. Gillberg et al. (2010) used a short, table-top social program and found medium effects. Sheridan’s full-day camp pushed the same age group further, faster. Van Gaasbeek et al. (2026) pooled 29 studies and found large effects across clinics and camps; Sheridan’s camp is one bright spot inside that big picture.

You can give families a summer option that moves the needle. No need to wait for fall. Run a camp, keep the structure tight, and watch social skills climb while whining falls. Copy the point system, rotate stations, and send kids home better than they arrived.