Tami is a hard-working mom in the medical field with two young boys, Charlie and Noah. Here, she shares a resource that has made all the difference for her and her sons — not only during the summer, but all year round.
I found out about Camp Sparkler during the pandemic when I was looking for things to do with my son Charlie. That’s when I saw flyers about Camp Sparkler on the wall in Douglas Library of Hebron. I downloaded the App and started it with Charlie. He really enjoyed all the activities and specifically remembers Zoo Bingo and Catapult and says, “my favorite activity was Playground Fun.”
The Sparkler App has Ages and Stages questionnaires (ASQs) that track milestones. It was through using the App that I was led on a journey to seek out Charlie’s autism diagnosis. Sparkler really helped me put into words what I was seeing and helped me understand what a developmentally appropriate activity was for him. The activities are easy to understand and for both of us to follow. We love “playing our way” by creating our own activities inspired by Sparkler.
The App also opened the door to other resources and programs, like home-based Head Start and “parents as teachers” programs.
Now, both of my boys look forward to Camp Sparkler every summer. It was through Camp that Noah made his very first peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
I want parents to know that the age range of 0 to 5 is a very important developmental window because the brain makes its full connections by age 5. I want to do whatever I can before age 5 to help my children make as many of those connections as possible.
I really want to thank Sparkler for helping me to not reinvent the wheel and for giving me a scaffold of activities to build on with my kids that make a difference for them, both emotionally and neurologically.
I love the App: it’s easy to use, and because it’s on my phone, I’m more likely to really use it. I like it so much that when my phone ran out of storage, that was an App I chose NOT to delete! Sparkler did a great job of putting a tracker in the App that reminds me when it’s time for me to complete the next set of ASQs. I also love the “scrapbook” feature that shows me a log of all my boys’ past activities, how they started and the improvements and progression they have made.