Elijah came to the Early Childhood Resource Center’s SPARK program with a big personality, plenty of energy, and a love of drawing and telling stories.

When he joined SPARK (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids), sitting and focusing through an entire lesson could be a challenge for Elijah. His SPARK Parent Partner in Barberton, Samantha Taylor, learned that taking frequent breaks helped Elijah reset and get ready for the next activity.

After a few visits, Elijah and Samantha developed a good rapport. He began settling into the lessons, was able to focus for longer stretches, and stayed with activities that might have frustrated him before.

One visit in particular is prominent in Samantha’s mind.

During a lesson built around Bunny Cakes, Elijah was asked to write a grocery list. He was already beginning to read some books and work on sight words, so when it came time to make his list, Elijah realized he could write the words himself.

He was proud to complete the entire task on his own. For Samantha, it was exciting to see the work they had been doing on early sight words come together.

Elijah kept building those early literacy skills. He practiced writing the words he recognized, worked on holding his pencil correctly, and strengthened his handwriting. He also became better at staying with an activity when something didn’t come easily.

His mom was doing her part between visits, too. She consistently used suggestions from the SPARK sessions at home, giving Elijah more opportunities to practice what he was learning.

By the time Elijah graduated from SPARK, the child who once needed frequent breaks during lessons could sit and focus on a learning activity for a full hour.

This fall, Elijah started kindergarten. After a recent parent-teacher conference, his mom sent Samantha an update:

“We just got home from Parent/Teacher conferences; he is reading at a 2nd-grade level, and his KRA is 298. His teacher said he is off the charts! I want to thank you for helping him before entering Kindergarten. I talked about you and SPARK to his teacher!”

That is the highest score possible on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment in Ohio, and further proof that the work Elijah put in during his SPARK lessons helped him to develop the foundational skills needed for success in kindergarten, according to Kelley Moffett, SPARK Supervisor for Summit County.

Samantha had watched Elijah’s early reading skills develop during their SPARK visits and was confident in his ability, so hearing how well he was doing made for a pretty rewarding text message.

Elijah hasn’t stopped creating, either. He still enjoys drawing and writing stories and already has an idea about what he might like to do someday: become a TikTok creator.

For now, kindergarten is giving him several new things to read, write, learn, and create.

Our SPARK Kindergarten Readiness Program continues to make a meaningful impact on our youngest learners in Summit and Stark counties. Learn more at www.sparkohio.org.