Best Special needs Summer Camps in Connecticut

An overnight summer camp at 127 Babcock Hill Road for campers with developmental disabilities or special needs, offering recreation and respite in two-week sessions across eight weeks. Campers and counselors bunk together in cabins, with swimming, boating, arts, music, performing arts and evening campfires.

As published: Not published (fees refer to a registration policies document)

Ages 4–15 · $257–$328/week

Camp Mansfield is a traditional outdoor day camp run by the Town of Mansfield Parks and Recreation Department for campers age 4 1/2 to 15. It is held on the grounds of Mansfield Middle School, Schoolhouse Brook Park and Bicentennial Pond, with groups set by the grade a camper enters in the fall. The camp states that staff are certified in First Aid, CPR and AED and that it has a campers-with-special-needs inclusion process.

As published: 2026 full-week resident rates: Explorers (grades K-6) $257, Adventurers (grades 7-9) $318; non-resident rates $267 and $328. Shorter first weeks, KinderCamp half days and optional Camp Care cost extra or less.

Ages 7–18 · $65/week

Camp RISE is a Southington Recreation Department summer camp for students with special needs, serving Southington residents entering grades 2–12 (and SHS program participants up to age 21). A Camp Director, adult professional counselors, volunteers, and an on-site nurse staff the program daily.

As published: $130 per child for the full 2-week (8-day) program, or $65 per child for one week

Ages 6–16 · $345–$685/week

A Christian (American Baptist Churches of Connecticut) camp and retreat center on a 270-acre property with a 90-acre lake, marking a 70th-anniversary milestone. It runs a traditional weekly-priced "Traditions Camp" for ages 6–16 alongside a Special Needs Program, a Leaders-in-Training track, and family/adult retreat weekends — a broader, multi-audience programming mix than the purely kids'-camp operations in this set.

As published: 2027 rates (site labels these "tentative, subject to change"), per week: Traditions Camp (ages 6–16) Full Week $685 / Half Week $345; Leaders-in-Training initial week $250; Special Needs Program (18+) $735/week; Family & Friends Camp $295/person (family cap $1,180); Adult Retreat $345/person

Ages 5–13 · $525/week

High Hopes is a therapeutic horseback riding center offering 8.5 weeks of summer horse camps in Old Lyme, including an inclusive camp for children of all abilities and a program for at-risk youth. Counselors are required to be 18+, with preferred knowledge of disabilities/behavior management and prior horse experience.

As published: "Cost: $525" for each one-week camp, Monday-Friday 9-1 (2026 dates)

$1,800–$2,200/week

A residential and day jazz camp run by Litchfield Performing Arts at The Frederick Gunn School, for students age 13 through adult at beginner to advanced levels, including students with learning disabilities. Sessions run one to four weeks with faculty-led instruction in a non-competitive program that includes a big band, core courses and student and faculty concerts. The camp lists 44 teaching artists and an income-based scholarship program.

As published: 2027 one-week tuition: $1,800 day student, $2,200 residential. Four weeks: $6,900 day, $8,500 residential. Early registration and loyalty discounts listed.

Ages 3–16 · $357–$407/session

A traditional YMCA day camp at the Mountain Mist Outdoor Center in Meriden serving ages 3–16, with a broad specialty-program menu (art, cooking, dance, fishing, musical theater, STEM, sports) plus adaptive and Type 1 diabetes-specific camp options and bus transportation for families — a wide-inclusion, community-YMCA model rather than a specialty or premium camp.

As published: "Traditional Camp Pricing (for a two-week session)... Full Member $357, Program Member $407" (2026 info; specialty camps priced separately)