Inclusion is rapidly occurring for persons with disabilities in all areas of living. This is school, work and recreation. Until recently, there was known not so much about inclusionary practices. Also there wasn't known much about their effects on participant outcomes in organized camp and outdoor school programs.

The National Inclusive Camp Practices (NICP) project spearheaded a nationwide study of resident camps. Also they project outdoor schools that operate inclusionary programs. Such study concentrates on identifying inclusionary practices. Moreover this study focuses on outcomes for youth with and without disabilities.

Naturally inclusion refers to accommodating persons with disabilities in programs serving the general population. Inclusionary sites as for the NICP study refer to mainstream camps and outdoor schools. There campers with and without disabilities attend the same session(s). Besides they jointly participate in the majority of program activities.

The NICP study used certain measures to collect quantitative and qualitative data. They used a lot of different methods. It is such as objective assessments, video samples and individual case studies in a nationwide effort. This is in case to determine the effects of inclusionary outdoor programs on youth.

Inclusionary Programs Benefit Campers with Varying Abilities
With the help of such study youth with and without disabilities make significant growth in their outdoor skills. Also there is significant growth at personal development in resident one-week camp and outdoor school programs. The results were a predominant outcome for youth in most measures revealed that self-reliance or independence.