Campers

Welcome, Campers!

CTAS 2024: June 30-July 5

Questions About Camp?

Watch our Camp Welcome Webinar to learn more!

If you are curious about if your camper is a good fit for our camp environment, or want to be added to our email list for updates, please contact us at campinfo@camptwitchandshout.org. While completing your camper’s application, please closely review the CTAS Camper Code of Conduct, which we require all campers to abide by while at camp, to consider if your camper is prepared for a camp setting.

Camp Twitch and Shout (CTAS) is a one-week overnight camp for children ages 8-17 with a confirmed diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome (TS) or Tic disorder. Our Leader-In-Training (LIT) program is available to 17 year olds (or rising high school seniors) with TS/tics, which joins our traditional camp programming with leadership development. CTAS is organized and managed by Tourette Information Center and Support (TICS), in partnership with Camp Twin Lakes (CTL), and is located at CTL Will-A-Way in Winder, Georgia.

The mission of CTAS is to provide a place for children with TS/tics to experience the joys of childhood and grow in their confidence and capabilities in a camp and recreation setting. It is our hope that our campers will experience understanding and acceptance of themselves and others. We want our campers to come together and create supportive friendships that last a lifetime.

At CTAS, we will focus on camper strengths while giving them positive experiences to support their success after returning home. Over the years, CTAS has hosted hundreds of campers from nearly every state in the US, and some international campers as well! We are proud to be an inclusive setting where campers can get to know themselves and learn new skills while connecting with others, regardless of their background.

Throughout the week, CTAS Campers and LITs, along with CTAS Staff and Volunteers dedicated to helping them achieve their goals during the week, engage in activities and challenges focused on helping campers to overcome obstacles and grow in their confidence and capabilities. At its core, camp is a place where our campers can just be kids having fun and making memories. A camper once said, “I wake up every morning thinking that I’m one day closer to camp.” We feel the same way and can’t wait for you to be a part of our Camp Twitch and Shout family!


Expected Costs?

Our full tuition cost is $950. We offer reduced rate and scholarship options, and also offer payment plans spread out from February to June. This tuition covers all expenses for campers when they are on-site, including meals, snacks, daily program activities, cabins, and annual t-shirts. We also offer a scholarship application for those who are interested. Please keep in mind that CTAS is unable to cover any costs for transportation to and from camp. 

Leader In Training Program

The Leader In Training (LIT) program is designed for young adults to gain leadership skills, challenge themselves, and eventually feel confident to return to Camp Twitch & Shout as counselors.

The LIT program is available to young adults 17 years of age diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome or tic disorder. If you want to learn more about yourself, leadership, and working together with a group of teens who truly want to leave a camp legacy – join us as an LIT.


TICS Diagnosis Statement

In 2023, a brave, young individual with tics reached out to Camp Twitch & Shout asking if they could come to camp; even though they had not received their official Tourette diagnosis yet, as they only had a provisional tic disorder diagnosis. This surprised the TICS board of directors, as we felt we were serving the tic community; however, after looking more closely at the requirements for camp, as it currently stands children must have an official Tourette’s disorder diagnosis in order to attend camp.

The medical community uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for short, to communicate amongst medical professionals medical diagnoses and what individuals with these diagnoses might be experiencing. In its current iteration (DSM-5-TR), tic disorders are housed under the neurodevelopmental disorders section, and there are 3 main categories of tic disorders: provisional tic disorder, persistent motor or vocal tic disorder, and Tourette’s disorder (formerly Tourette’s Syndrome). After looking at these three different types of tic disorders, the major differences are:

Having a Tourette’s disorder diagnosis does not necessarily mean that that individual is having more severe or even more frequent tics than another individual with a different type of tic disorder. The differences between tic disorder diagnoses are largely arbitrary and, while there are some nuances, are mostly used to communicate to other medical professionals what the individual is experiencing. For example, if a doctor meets an individual with a provisional tic disorder diagnosis, they know this individual has been ticcing for less than a year and may have both motor and vocal tics or just motor or vocal tics. After one year, this individual will receive one of the other tic disorder diagnoses, depending on the type of tics (motor and/or vocal) they are experiencing.

As many individuals in our CTAS community have experienced, the road to diagnosis can be a long and hard one. Finding a qualified professional for help can be extremely difficult, and the Tourette Association of America has research that supports this. We do not want the long road to a Tourette’s disorder diagnosis to preclude other children with tics from the amazing experience of getting to meet someone else with tics and come to the greatest camp on earth! Because of this, we have decided to open Camp Twitch & Shout to any child aged 8 to 17 with a confirmed tic disorder diagnosis. By doing this, we hope to no longer exclude a child from the magic of camp just because they don’t have both motor AND vocal tics for at least one year. However you tic and however long you have ticced, you are welcome to twitch and shout with us!

If you have any questions about this change, please feel free to email campinfo@camptwitchandshout.org. We are excited to welcome our campers this year, old and new! Get ready for a great summer!