SPARK – Summer Writing and Spelling Program

SPARK Summer Writing & Spelling Program

Addressing your child’s Writing and Spelling Challenges

If your child is struggling with legible handwriting or spelling, Child Success Center’s SPARK Summer Writing and Spelling Program is here to support you and your child.

Writing is the most complex task that students are required to do in school. When a child struggles with writing, spelling, and putting ideas down on paper, they are at risk of falling behind academically and emotionally.

Writing is a combination of different processing skills, including language processing, visual processing, working memory, and graphomotor skills, and phonemic awareness.   

Why Handwriting?

Students require solid writing skills for much of their school work. The world beyond school also requires strong writing skills and writing pragmatics. By identifying the early signs of writing difficulty,  and with early intervention and the proper support, students who struggle with writing can acquire the skills necessary to derive satisfaction and success from writing.

There are many reasons a child might have messy or illegible handwriting. Handwriting difficulties may be caused by fine motor deficits, visual motor deficits, limited instruction on letter formation and/or the development of bad habits, including pencil grip. Some children do not outgrow their handwriting difficulties, even after years of schooling, and those issues are carried into adulthood. Early intervention is key to significant improvement.

SPARK Writing will engage your child in a fun learning environment while helping them develop:

• greater hand control and coordination – key components for rhythmic and fluent handwriting
• correct letter formation
• consistent sizing and spacing of letters and words

Our highly skilled Occupational Therapists, using a developmentally based curriculum and fun, multi-sensory approach, will support learning and cognitive functions.

The program also improves line control and alignment, overall legibility and most importantly, your child will achieve greater motivation and self-confidence in their ability to communicate. Handwriting will become a natural and automatic skill that will enable students to focus on their work rather than how to form the letters. Students will succeed and have pride in their work!

Signs a child is having a writing or spelling difficulty:

•  struggle to organize and plan their written work
•  struggle to maintain a story sequence when telling a story.
•  struggle to express their ideas in written form, but may be able to express those same ideas orally without any problem.
•  are better at learning sight words than sounding out words.
•  struggle with spelling words with common spelling patterns.
•  avoid any tasks that involve writing, or do the bare minimum when assigned writing tasks.
•  have a smaller vocabulary in comparison to their peers.
•  have “sloppy” or illegible handwriting.

If your child’s writing challenge includes challenges with graphomotor skills or visual processing, his/her individually designed SPARK program will include collaboration with an Occupational Therapist.

This fun, interactive and engaging intensive will give your child the opportunity to acquire crucial skills that will foster and support his/her love of reading and writing. Using research based and results driven learning programs,  children will experience success and pride as they learn about letters and sounds and how to recognize and successfully use them in writing, spelling, reading and communication.

Support Programs for SPARK Summer Writing Program:

Handwriting Without Tears

Spectrum® Writing

Wilson Reading (Phonetic Encoding)

Words Their Way™

Developmental Spelling Inventory

Analyze, Organize and Write

The Child Success Center SPARK Summer Writing and Spelling Program is ideal for elementary and middle school children that can be identified as struggling writers.  Each child’s individualized program will enable them to increase strength in areas like:

• recognizing the symbols and sounds of spelling
• visuospatial, sequencing,  and auditory processing skills
• memory and attention.
• handwriting legibility and fluidity including letter formation, spacing and line orientation
• develop the physical strength and coordination to write without becoming fatigued or stressed
• practice the skill of handwriting, spelling and sharing of ideas on paper

Sessions may be facilitated by both Occupational and Educational Therapists.  This unique collaboration between two disciplines will allow your child to learn crucial writing skills and attain the confidence needed for school re-entry and success in the upcoming year.

Ages: 6-9