This review is to inform other parents of a very humiliating and demoralzing experience my daughter had at Camp Via West. I spoke to the CEO and he was very gracious. He showed a general concern for my camper and requested my input in asking what improvements can be made for next year. We spoke through e-mail and a zoom call where I shared my thoughts and experiences. From the negativity of this cumulative experience, his compassion was so welcomed. After four relatively successful sessions at Camp Via West, the last session was an utter mess. Every counselor can be drastically different. It can range from winning the lottery to playing Russian Roulette with your campers well being. Our campers well being should not be in the hands of counselors who may have little or no experience working with special needs. I feel validated after reading the last three Yelp reviews where parents had very similar experiences to mine. Some of the complaints had to do with lack of experienced staff, no therapists or behavior specialists on camp grounds, rudeness and lack of empathy, the camp director having lack of awareness of issues happening in real time, and our campers files and behaviors are not shared with the staff. Adding to this; the camp director being very abrupt and inflexible in making decisions about the campers future placement and not willing to listen to experienced parents explanations about the reasoning behind certain behaviors which personal files collaborated information. I wrote a comment about the camp online and a seasoned counselor who worked there since 2011 replied. She wrote that right before the summer started she was fired abruptly. It made no sense to her already being hired for the summer and she was highly fond of both Via West and the campers. I don't know the context of the firing- though a counselor with her expertise would have been ideal for a lot of the new counselors to emulate. I am so proud of my daughter for how well she is developing in conjunction with her disability. I have worked with her tirelessly on her development. She is so happy, cheerful, respectful and well behaved. I take her to a myriad of outside activities and at school there is not one behavior goal in her IEP. Alleged behaviors arose at camp which were unusual for my daughter. She is verbal though delayed, having a speech and language impairment. She has a communication device for language breakdowns. I believe her device may have been confiscated at night with other comfort toys causing her to feel vulnerable. My trust has been eroded. I am so worried that she was left vulnerable during the evenings and that terrifies me. When we send our kids with disabilities to camp we trust they will be safe. I know for sure if my daughter who nevers shows any negative behaviors started to show them; this is a huge red flag. Not only was it humiliating that I was called to pick her up early. On pick-up day she was looking so sad in the cafeteria, I asked her what's wrong? My usually cheerful daughter tells me they took her bop-it. I find her toy which gives her some relief. I know that my job at this moment is to protect her. At breakfast the mood among campers was eerily quiet flowing with low energy. I felt many eyes on my daughter but no one said anything. Possibly sensing sadness from her, she was now being stared at and possibly ridiculed for being sent home. It felt like the camp was turning their back on her and unbelievably they were no goodbyes. We decided to say good-bye to a beautiful hearted counselor named Lucia. As a parent, I wanted my daughter to leave on a positive note. If nobody was going to say bye to her, I would have my daughter go over to Lucia who was with a group of counselors. To my relief, Lucia opened her arms and heart to my daughter. She said, "Come here" and all the counselors in her group followed suit saying their goodbyes. It was such a beautiful moment which I captured taking photo's. Sadly though, it ended abruptly when both the night counselor and her day counselor approached, escorting us away, saying,"We don't want the other campers to get homesick." It felt very suspicious, unbelievable being escorted away like that, as we did something reprehensible. To make matters worse, they tell the camp director misinformation at the reception area, where more counselors are gathered, that I'm taking pictures of campers. The director in a vociferous tone that was both admonishing and accusatory in nature, repeated, "You're taking pictures of campers and to delete them. " I later got an apology from her through an e-mail, though to be spoken like that was brutal and disheartening. A thought - who are the less experience counselors emulating and should the camp director be taking the word of counselors over dedicated parents who have vast amounts of knowledge? Camps like this are made for my daughter where her independence has blossomed; so lets please demand positive change. read more

This camp maybe needs to have more background info on campers behaviors and needs. Maybe with the intake information an IEP and behavior plan should be included and looked over by all staff before each session. When it comes to neurodiversity it's not ever a one fits all and the experience could probably be more individualized, similar to a school program. An experienced, licensed behavioral specialist and therapist should be on site to aid with kids with special behavioral issues. Basic training should be backed by specialists. When an issue arises the parent should be notified immediately to help with supporting staff. When staff doesn't know an individual it's easy to confuse behaviors. Overall this staff and facility is undertrained, unprofessional, unorganized, dirty and combative. Staff takes neurodivergent behaviors personally and lets their emotions rule. Staff, surrounds, confronts and calls parent and attendee derogatory names in front of other staff, parents and campers and disrespects parent when parent is just sitting waiting for her camper. My attendee had overstimulated, stressed behaviors that were not identified or handled properly. However, she did make some friends and enjoyed her time with her new friends. I would not recommend this camp for highly spirited independent teenagers. read more

My review would have been five stars pre-Covid. Staff was engaged and trained extremely well. Fun activities. Lots of opportunities. Even if a kid had challenging behaviors, Via West would make it work. Fast forward a few years... and now Via West is a shell of its former self. A staff member admitted to me that they aren't fully trained anymore ("they just ran out of time to train everyone"). The number of camps they offer has been cut in half, meaning that you get one session, if that, each summer. It is very much "their way or the highway" now. Perhaps not coincidently, via west was bought out / merged with Ability Path a few years back. Ever since, Via West has just been a disorganized mess. Last year, on the eve of my child's overnight camp, they called up and said they had to cancel our reservation. My wife and I had already made plans for the week and had no kid coverage. Zero warning led to us having to cancel travel plans and pay a ton for a last minute babysitter/helper. Their response: "sorry" and that's it. This year, despite there being a half dozen sessions or so, my kid only got into one. It was a horrible experience from the get go and I pulled them out of the camp. I felt the staff didn't want to support my child. I cannot recommend Via West moving forward. We aren't ever going back to the camp. I know there are limited respite supports for parents of a special needs child, but Via West is NOT the answer. Also, on Glassdoor, staff complain about working 14 hour days, being underpaid, not being supported, and a lot of other concerning comments. I ignored those reviews at first but it's quite clear that this is the new norm for Via West. What a loss for our community. read more

My experience with Camp Via West. I witnessed Courtney (camp counselor) called a parent and camper a derogatory word in front of other campers and parents. She was reported to the director at the time incident. The director was overwhelmed with other issues and ignored the complaint. Camp staff had little experience and training working with teens on the Autism and ADHD spectrum. There was no support provided for individual needs. There was no support from a licensed child psychologist/ or behaviorist to lead peer buddy systems or facilitate positive discussions, only negative and punishable. No sensory- friendly environments, quite areas or sensory breaks. The camper was not offered when camper was experiencing a meltdown from being overstimulated and stressed. Instead, JT (camp counselor) followed the camper to make her come back to the situation that she was trying to get away from to self-calm. Camper requested to come home for the night to deescalate. There is a lack of communication between Director and staff. The staff was not aware of camper leaving with parent. Also, director was not aware of the events that were happening in real time. JT and Courtney (camp counselors) did not give encouragement for a more positive self-image or personal responsibilities to the campers. they punish the group by taking away pool time in hot weather. The bunk area dirty and smelled. Camper clothes on the ground in the dirt. Although, the medical accommodations were good. Our camper made friends. read more

Awesome experience for people with disabilities. Great facilities and very caring professional staff. My daughter 's it. She has been attending there for 20 years. read more

Our 2nd summer with Via. The senior staff is fantastic. The counselors are fully dedicated. We love this camp and all it offers. We had a unique opportunity to conduct an unobserved observation of the camp while on a field trip. They happened to have a field trip at our local fair. Which we were attending as well. My child recognized the vans in the parking lot before I saw them. The staff ratio to campers was phonominal. The counselors had very bright shirts to be quickly identified by anyone. They were so on point!!! Well done Via!!! See you soon Sincerely your San Mateo Family read more

I sent my son to this camp. It was one of the few that would welcome him since he has both type 1 diabetes and autism. During his visit, the "nurse" dropped his medication on the floor, spilling all of it. At 10 PM, I drove up the windy road to their camp to bring some more. Silly me, I signed my son up again the following year. It wasn't like I had a lot of choices. And a friend who used the camp swore my experience must have been a fluke. I waited in line at 6AM to register like all the other families, and I secured a spot for my son to go to camp with a friend from school. A few days before he was supposed to go, they called me and said they couldn't handle his diabetes and they were returning my money. No apology, no real expression of regret. Too bad. In spite of this, they continue to say on their website and in all of their marketing material that they welcome kids with diabetes. They refused to answer my calls or respond when I questioned this practice. This is not just about diabetes. This is how they treat families of special needs kids and the clumsiness of their care. I later spoke with other families who had care problems, one mom whose child required antibiotics for an infection developed due to their failure at hygiene. I learned from talking to a variety of others that my experience was absolutely not a "fluke." Bad attitudes, bad care. I was sorry I dealt with them at all: You don't have to be. Susan Walton Founder, Peninsula Parents of Special Needs Kids Northern California read more

My son has been going to Via since he was 5 years old. Via West is safe, friendly, and filled with people who care about my child. He is always so proud of himself when he comes home, and learns a new skill whenever he's at camp. We have done both weekend respite and full-week summer camp, and we'll be going back this summer. The ratio is 1:1 or 1:3 depending on the needs of your kid. Years ago it was very hard to get a 1:1 spot because there are fewer of them, but there is a better system now, no waiting in line for hours. I think registration took less than 30 minutes for this summer's sign up. from Via Services: Via West Campus (formerly Camp Costanoan) offers year-round day and residential programs for children and adults, ages five and older, with physical and/or developmental disabilities and special needs. The programs incorporate developmentally appropriate content reflecting our Living Healthy themes: adaptive and functional skills, nutrition, physical activity, health awareness and self-management. read more

I decided to send my brother since the first camp he went to didn't work out(in his mind) So I signed him up for the 3 day camp to see how things would turn out. For the week that he knew he was going, I heard every 4 letter word there was, especially on Friday when he was suppose to leave. He came back Sunday and the first words out of his mouth were "When do I go back" woohoo hit pay dirt. He said the staff was supportive, fun, outgoing, and helpful. For him to keep wanting to return time and time again shows me just how much he enjoys what they're doing. In fact he has now ventured off into staying the entire week at a time! I will definitely keep sending him until he is worn out!! read more

I have been sending my son to this camp since he was 5 years old. He is now 12. I did not send him last year as I thought the cost was excessive. I sent him this year and our family was excited about the break. I have a son with severe physical and developmental disabilities. He has always had a great time at this camp. I sent a 15 page document explaining in detail all of my son's disabilities and his behavior issues i.e. he bites, grabs, pulls hair etc. if he is overally stimulated or frustrated. He is in a wheelchair so it is easy to manage his behavior if you have an eye on him. I was concerned when I dropped him off as his counselor Spencer, a one to one counselor, was very tired and very relaxed regarding his behavior. This was the last week of camp and he had been there for 9 weeks and I am sure he was counting the days till he could go back to Indianapolis. I personally cannot imagine taking care of special needs kids for 10 weeks straight with only a day off in between each session. Less than 48 hours after we dropped him off we received a phone call that my son had bit the same kid twice and he needed to be picked up. I was shocked. My son is in a manual wheelchair so there is no way he could have approached this child on his own. My understanding of the situation is the other child came too close to his wheelchair and my son grabbed his hand and bit him. I can understand the 1st incident but they should have been on high alert after that. What happened. I picked him up without any communication from the camp director when I arrived. We paid an extra $500 for him to have a 1:1 counselor. We have never had a problem like this before. My suggestion should you decide to send your child to this camp. Go to one of the 1st camps when the staff are fresh. My son's counselor was yawning the whole time I was talking to him when I dropped my son off. I spent an hour and a half with him and I am not sure he heard a word of what I said. They are exhausted at this point and I do not blame them, I would be also. I am sure the information they received regarding the camp made it look like a Hallmark movie. Most of the kids do not fit this fun, down syndrome category. look at the picture on their website. this is not the typical camper. My husband had to pick up some items that were left behind and even he was not impressed with the camp. We had just returned from an amazing family camp in Oregon, camp attitude, which had set the gold standard for us. The counselors were all volunteers and only worked one week so each week the counselors were fresh and so energetic. Also they were volunteers so they wanted to be there, not homeless young adults looking for free room and board for the summer. It will be a long time before we send our son to this camp again. read more

My son has attended Via West since he was 12 years old. He is now 20 and camp just gets better and better. My son has an intellectual disability but no physical limitations or special health concerns and is completely independent. In the last year or two, Via West has enhanced their programming and life skills are emphasized. There is still plenty of fun and typical camp experiences but I really like the focus on life skills especially for teenagers and young adults. Many of their programs mimic what he is learning in his post-secondary program, which I think is just terrific. The camp directors, Leslie and Sandy, are inventive, empathetic and listen to your concerns and respond in a timely manner. The camp administrator, Molly, is top-notch, knows everything there is to know, and responds to emails within minutes! All in all, a great camp that just keeps getting better and better. read more

There are some many great things to say about camp for our 11 year old! He has been going every summer and for many of the year round respite weekend camps and looks forward to it every time. He makes new friends and gets to try new activities and learn to do more things on his own. The counselors, staff and nurses are exceptional and loving and are geniunely happy to be with our kids! Camp Via West has changed our son's life for the better. read more

We have been sending our 12 year old son to Via West since he was 8, both for weekend respite programs and summer camp. It's a great campus located conveniently close to Silicon Valley, and the staff is very caring and enthusiastic about the special kids. If you have a special needs kid, I would highly recommend you take a look. It's hardly babysitting, they work on independent living skills, peer interaction, arts and sports, and now iPads and communication. We are grateful for all Via has to offer. read more

I just have to tell everyone how fantastic this camp is. My cousin has been going here for at least 30 years. He has down syndrome but is high functioning. Every time I drop him off, he is greeted personally by everyone we see. He lights up like a Christmas tree and beams. There are always hugs and catching up with the staff and other campers. He brings home arts and crafts projects and loves to talk about how the plants are going to grow or what picture he is putting in the frame he so proudly made. I must say that the projects he used to bring home were nothing compared to the ones he does now. He went to a dance and had the best time. He got to dance with Leslie, the director, and that was the highlight of the experience. They even had a photographer and he proudly displays his "prom" picture and awards all over his room. He is a very picky eater, but enjoys the food here. He has made so many friends that he keeps in touch with even when he is not at camp and a lot of the counselors have taken him bowling, to togos, or just came over and played video games with him. He feels very special. I give this a two thumbs up/5 star rating in all areas!!!! read more

My son has attended summer camp at Via West many times over the years. He has always had a great time and the people working there have always treated him with kindness and respect. There are a lot of great activities for the campers to do and my son has met so many amazing new friends there. I would recommend this camp because it is a lot of fun for the campers and a safe place for them to be. read more

I wanted to write a review so that other special needs families do not have to wait as long as we did to find and love Via West. Our grandson just attended Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It was his first session. We were very worried as he hadn't spent the night away from home, except at his Aunt's. Now he was going to spend two nights. I expected a call, I expected an email, something telling us to come pick him up. Nothing was received. When we arrived to pick him up, the counselor had obviously bonded with him - he didn't want to go home. He told us about the field trip and brought home tons of stuff that he made. I left a disposable camera there so I could see his experience up close. Just developed the pictures and I couldn't be happier. My grandson was in a mock airplane at some aviation museum. He was eating asparagus in another. Both things which I wouldn't expect him to do without some proddingm definitely did not expect him to do it with a smile on his face. Just three days gave me and my husband time to unwind and actually go to a movie, clean our garage, and begin to feel energized again. Thanks Via West - you all are just the best thing to happen to us in a very long time. read more

We've been coming to Camp Altitude Via West for two years. Before that, it was Camp Altitude founded in approximately 2010. This is a very expensive camp because they cater to children on the Autism Spectrum. My older son attended Camp Altitude 3 years prior to the merge, which our experience was GREAT! They would give you a comprehensive report at the end of camp of what your child did and how they transitioned, participated, prompting, etc. I was really impressed! The first year Camp Altitude merged, which was the Summer of 2015, it still seemed pretty well organized and good. This year, 2016, there was a noticeable difference in less trained staff. They only have one clinician for every 25 kids on site and counselors who are either college students who are studying in related fields of special education, psychology, etc. At least, that's what it says on their website now. In the past, when it was Camp Altitude, they had a behavior specialist, clinical specialist, athletic director who had vast experience with special ed children, camp director who was an OT, and the founder of Camp Altitude, Dr. Marci Schwartz was also on site. This camp was really a great place to send your kids. Our experience this summer was really horrible for my younger son who is 12. He attended the camp the last two summers without incident. However, due to the lack of experienced staff, there became some issues that they could not handle. Their resolution for handling him was to isolate him and have him sleep in the nurses station with a counselor for two nights without informing us of his new sleeping arrangements. We would have never known of this change but because two days later he acted out on the counselor who was sleeping with him in his new sleeping arrangement. The odd thing was that the first day they did call us to ask for advice for a behavior they had never seen before and we did have a conversation about that particular behavior. But we never heard from them again until they contacted us to come pick him up because of the incident that occurred with the counselor. Again, the counselor that the incident occurred with was the same counselor who was sleeping with him in the nurses station. It leaves a parent to come up with all kinds of conclusions, especially when there was no notification of such a change. Of course, when we learned of the new arrangement we were horrified! In addition, the staff could never explain to us what really did occur on why they felt the need to move him initially by way of incident report. However, they were able to produce an incident report on my son's actions. I could go on for days on what else transpired, but hopefully this review gives you an idea of why you should not send your child to this camp. It was very sad for us as we trusted them with our kids in prior years but now, all that trust is gone because of what transpired. So, in the future do not send your kids to this camp, it's really not transparent at all. read more

I just read Susan's negative review and I wonder how long ago her experience was? For many years people needing one on ones for their kids have been able to register via FAX, it has been many years since I have heard of people lined up to register. I have always found them excellent at communication and find it hard to believe there was not an explanation when they had to cancel her sons placement at the last minute. As long as I can remember Sandy has been on the Nursing staff and has now been promoted to a management position, but she remains hands on with the nursing staff and clients needing additional nursing support. There is in recent years much more nursing staff in the form of nursing students and they are incredible, very motivated and interested and interesting and helpful. So I do wonder how long ago Susans experience was? As for the broken vial of insulin, I have been insulin dependent for almost 30 years, I have dropped many vials and broken most that have dropped. If I am traveling I always bring spare vials in a cooler, just in case. I am surprised and a little disappointed that they did not insist on an extra set of vials, just in case. Better to be safe than making phone calls and driving late at night. It just makes sense to be prepared. Over the years we have met many wonderful dedicated counselors from all over the world, they are mostly college students and most return for a few years because they love it, many are planning to go into related fields working with the special needs community. My daughter stays in touch with many of her former councelors. I have seen some burn out at the end of a difficult week with a challenging client, but never ever bad attitude or bad care. Just more of a relief that that one is over with. One time when my son was going thru a difficult time and we hoped that going to his beloved camp would distract him. He ended up having a difficult time at camp, they were in daily contact and supported him thru his meltdowns. Perhaps, because they knew him and knew how out of character his behavior was they were extra supportive, but they were GREAT, the communication was excellent and he made it through to the end of the session. Not everyone enjoys camp, special needs or not, it isnt for everyone! It isnt Club Med. I do recommend anyone interested go and take a tour and talk with the staff before dismissing this experience. This year it sounds like a day camp is also being offered. Sincerely, Peggy Burwell Former President San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Autism Society of America 1990-2000 read more

I have worked with a special needs child who has attended Via West for the past 6 years in both the respite and summer weeks. He is always happy to go and comes home happy and full stories of all of the fun things that he's done. The counselors and upper management have always seemed caring , helpful and organized. I would absolutely recommend anyone I knew to Via West. read more

I was a staff member at Via West. If I had a child with special needs, I would be horrified to see what happens behind the scenes. There is very little supervision of staff; some participants end up left with unbrushed teeth or dirty diapers for too long. Staff who are untrained in restraints often use physical force in an attempt to control participants' behaviors, which is overall reflective of inadequate training. Staff members, including head counselors, drink on premises at night when participants are present. The camp frequently experiences "Charlie Browns," or misplaced participants, including on field trips and at night time; one participant was missing for over an hour and was found at the top of the mountain. Full time counselors complain of being overworked to the point where participants' safety is endangered. The facilities are rarely cleaned, and when they are, the cleaning is only superficial. Staff members were asked to lie to the ACA. Do NOT send your loved ones here! read more