I don’t even know where to start talking about this! Our last three days have been just so much, so full of everything – laughter, singing, dancing, learning, growing, challenges, and tears.

Let me start by telling you what it is. Jeanie from The Marmalade Gypsy told me a few years ago about this camp, and I knew as soon as she told me about it that it was something I wanted Wyatt to do. He has always loved music and singing and playing instruments but then Covid hit, and we all know what that did. It was created by Judy Winters, to honor her son Eric. Judy sounds like an amazing woman and mother, and I had the honor of meeting her yesterday very briefly before the performance.

From the website:

The Eric ‘RicStar’ Winter Music Therapy Camp was created to honor Eric Winter, a 12-year old CMS music therapy client with cerebral palsy who had a passion for music and a dream of starting a music therapy camp. Shortly after his passing in 2003, Eric’s parents, Dick and Judy Winter, along with Cindy Edgerton, CMS’ Director of Music Therapy Clinical Services, made the dream a reality and founded RicStar’s Camp. Eric’s parents continue to honor their son as advocates for individuals with special needs, with his mother, Judy Winter, leading the way as an author, speaker, and nationally recognized voice on special needs parenting issues.

Also: [This] is a one-of-a-kind, inclusive day camp that provides opportunities for musical expression, enjoyment, and interaction for all persons with special needs and their siblings.

This was the year, I decided. I signed Wyatt up, exchanged a few emails with the Camp Director Cindy, who is also the Director of the Music Therapy Department at MSU, where this camp is held, made plans, and made some reservations to stay in Lansing. And I just realized this post may get long and become a two parter!

I knew going into this that Wyatt would love it but that it would also be tough for him, but I thought, we are doing this anyway, and we will just play everything by ear and be flexible and follow Wyatt’s lead which is just what we did.

So. Monday morning Wyatt and I drove up to Lansing in the wee hours of the morning (7 am), directly to the MSU Community Performance Hall where camp is held every year. We got there, tired but excited, and slightly nervous if I must be honest. Or at least I was. Wyatt was fine. We got all checked in and waited for everyone to get there. Wyatt was green group, and it was a small group of kids ranging in age, with his age being maybe the oldest in that group (there were a few other kids around his age, and a few younger).

The days are divided into five sessions, with a half hour lunch. Each session focuses on something different, and this year they had sessions such as Play a Song, where the kids got to play instruments and sing, percussion, blues and beats, guitar jam, a parachute, music and movement session, and musical theater. I knew this was going to be a long day for Wyatt, and stretch him and challenge him, but we were going to give it our all, along with the support of the many understanding therapists and counselors and volunteers, all of whom were simply amazing.

I say this was going to be a challenge, because for Wyatt, this is like all of his therapies, occupational, physical, and speech all rolled into one in every session, for five hours. It was going to be fun for Wyatt, but also WORK. It was going to be hard, it was going to be tiring, but also in a playful fun way. Wyatt has a motor planning disorder, which means that for him the signal between his brain and his body sometimes gets confused or lost altogether, which can create frustration for him. And even when they connect, it is due to work on his part to make it all fit together. For example, in percussion one afternoon, the kids sat in a circle with a paddle drum (which has made our Wyatt wish list!) and sang The Ants Go Marching while passing drum mallets around. For every ant added (1 by 1, 2 by 2, etc) another mallet was added. So Wyatt had to watch for a mallet to be passed to him, hit his drum once, then pass it on, while singing and watching for another mallet. For Wyatt to do all of this processing at once and make his body respond the way it should was huge, and kiddo knocked it out of the park. All of our days were like this, with struggles and gains, but this one, this one was a huge win. We are going to do similar things here at home, because attending with Wyatt, I was able to learn as well, about music therapy, how much it affects the entire brain, his body, and learn as well different things I could do with him at home.

Wyatt ended up needing a nap at lunch time. He was just worn out. He took a little disco nap in the car with me, then we rejoined his group. He was still tired out but was able to participate.

We had musical theater the first day, where Wyatt volunteered to be Lord Farquaad, the villainous king. We also had guitar jam, which Wyatt never ever ended up liking. The only reason I can think of is that it was a) difficult and frustrating, and b) the music was sort of slow and bluesy, and slow saddish sounding music makes him cry, no matter where we are, even when they are in cartoons.

It was the one session everyday that Wyatt just didn’t even try much, and would just cry instead. It broke my heart so we usually ended up taking a break once the tears started. (if any special needs educators or therapists out there read this and have an idea about this, I would love to hear! It happened no matter what time of day)

In the afternoon we had Play a Song, which Wyatt LOVED! He sang his little heart out. In the application we had to list songs our children like and the very first song they did was one of Wyatt’s favorites, Howl by the Okee Dokee Brothers. Play a Song was a mix of these songs so sometimes they were songs we didn’t know, but that was ok, Wyatt enjoyed it anyway. Then they sang Let It Go from Frozen and Wyatt really let it go! He was singing with all his might, and doing the arm motions and was so loud (they decided my child did not need a microphone, he was loud enough without it). The therapist in charge was like, Wyatt you are the perfect embodiment of Elsa! Listening to him sing and just be so filled with joy brought on the first moment of happy mama tears, let me tell you.

From there we moved on to percussion and then more percussion with beats booms and blues. Wyatt really enjoyed playing the drums.

And that was the end of Day One!

I will post more tomorrow – I still have so much to share, and I want to share it all for anyone out there who is considering this camp or even music therapy!