APEX Summer Camp 2026

Sports, Arts, Education, STEM · Seattle, WA · Ages 6–9

By APEX Summer Camp - UW Autism Center

About

The APEX program focuses on supporting autistic and neurodiverse

youth with building friendships, while playing games and engaging

other fun activities. Our core aim is to foster confidence in peer to

peer interactions while our campers enjoy a traditional summer

camp experience. We use evidence-based approaches to focus on

supporting social and emotion regulation skill development,

ultimately making engagement easier and enjoyable for all!

Our Mission

The mission of APEX Summer Camp is to provide an evidence-based, neurodiverse-affirming summer program designed specifically for children with ASD and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. We utilize a naturalistic camp environment to focus on building social skills, positive relationships, and self-esteem within the context of structured recreational and learning activities. We engage leading experts to provide clinical training, supervision, support, and consultation for our program. The UW Autism Center’s summer day camp program aims to provide a structured, data-based, and individualized program for campers. It also aims to train and engage emerging professionals in the field of evidence-based behavioral intervention.

Philosophy

Our philosophy reflects naturalistic environments offer the best opportunities for learning and generalizing meaningful skills across multiple settings (home, school, social activities). Our program utilizes common, age-appropriate recreational activities including game play (board games, table top games, arts and crafts, sports activities and others) that provide opportunities for kids to engage with each other and build friendships. Additionally, the APEX program is highly structured to maximize learning opportunities and to provide consistency and predictability for our campers.

We introduce new skills through direct teaching and explicit rehearsal with practice throughout the day. Behavioral data are collected during all activities, providing data-based progress monitoring. We utilize positive reinforcement and genuine, warm relationship building to support prosocial behavior, accompanied by direct prompting and feedback, as appropriate. Parent partnerships are essential, assisting in the identification of target skills and facilitating growth across environments.

Program Design

The camp program is designed to build and practice social skills and self-esteem within the context of structured recreational and learning activities. Children participate in typical camp activities including board games, table top games, arts and crafts, sports activities and others. We introduce new skills through direct teaching, explicit rehearsal including modeling and role-playing, with practice and reinforcement throughout the day and across activities. Explicit social skills instruction will be provided using evidence-based programs to support reciprocal conversations and friendship skills. Targets of treatment include improvements in the quality of peer interactions, increases in self-efficacy…