Behavior: Retreat for the Troubled

Summer fun and therapy for problem youngsters

The camp dining room is in an uproar.

The “Sunfish” are wolfing down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The “Hawks” have already devoured the main course and are biting into fudge brownies.

By all appearances, Wediko, a 480-acre forest retreat in central New Hampshire, is like any other summer camp. But it has youngsters like Anthony, 9, who giggles uncontrollably; Alice, 8, who counters the slightest frustrations with tantrums; and Harold, 11, a handsome, charming child of the streets whose smile hides deep currents of anger that can erupt any time.

Founded in 1934 by the late Freudian analyst Robert Young, Wediko is the nation’s oldest therapeutic camp for disturbed youngsters. Once it took only boys who had relatively minor neuroses. Today Wediko is more daring. Supported by private and public funds (cost per child: $1,500), it accepts badly troubled youngsters of both sexes. Of its 144 campers this summer, many have been battered and sexually abused. Some refuse to eat; others are withdrawn, suicidal and even homicidal. Explains Psychologist Hugh Leichtman, the camp’s director: “These children are very resistant to change.”

Yet after their seven-week stay at Vediko, says Leichtman, some 85% of the youngsters do change—for the better. Borrowing from such varied theorists as the neo-Freudians, behaviorists and the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, Wediko’s program is a blend of fun (canoeing, cookouts, archery, swimming) and therapy.

The youngsters are assigned to groups (“Otters,” “Chipmunks,” “Sunfish”) that meet each morning to plan the day’s agenda. There, explains Leichtman, the kids “learn reciprocity, patience, negotiation, compromise.” They also get peer support:

Harold, for instance, always turned up in the thick of things whenever trouble began. Aware of this distressing tendency, his buddies prodded him to stop meandering around “like a butterfly.”

Though the youngsters have been inured to failure throughout their lives, Wediko guarantees that they succeed at something. Even the smallest gain, say mastering the ability to sit still or participating in a sports activity, brings coupons. These may provide admission to showings of popular oldtime movie serials, or, if an entire cabin does well, a special dessert for everyone. As the summer progresses, it takes more coupons to get a prize. By contrast, misbehavior means a loss of coupons and privileges. One Wediko innovation is called Think City, whereby youngsters sign a “contract” accepting instruction in a particular subject.

Harold agreed to learn self-discipline by paying heed to his math lessons.

Inevitably, there are setbacks. Hardly a day goes by without a crisis. Counselors are threatened; youngsters run off. But the psychologically trained staffers (five for every ten campers) usually intervene quickly and after a talk return the child to the day’s activity. Only in extreme cases are kids banished to “Group Zero,” a grassy area near the counselors’ quarters, where they are left by themselves to think about their errant ways. Says Leichtman:

“In a relatively short time, the child begins to understand his behavior and begins to take responsibility for it and control it.”

Wediko’s dedicated workers are under no illusion that one summer can cure such troubled children. Many may need years of supportive therapy. When she returns home, Alice, for example, will still have to contend with her mother’s violent boyfriend. Still, while the season’s gams may be eroded, the memory of Wediko may linger, providing hope in summers ahead.