On an overcast day at the Longwood YMCA in Macedonia, 7-year-old Jacob Hanna and his friends Olivia and Skylar are talking about summer camp.
“We play tag," Skylar said. "We play hide and seek.”
“And we also play games all together," Olivia said.
"Jacob is the best at hiding," Skylar said.
Jacob is one of six kids with autism who have been able to attend the Akron Area YMCA’s summer camp program this year thanks to an organization his mom, Sarah Kovit Hanna, created. Hanna is a single mom and works full-time as a corporate lawyer. Up until kindergarten, Jacob was able to spend his summers at daycare, she said, but then she ran into a problem.
“Nobody had a full day, full summer, inclusive summer camp program," she said.
So, Hanna took matters into her own hands. She founded a program last year that pairs kids with autism with aides that go to camp with them every day, helping them regulate their emotions and navigate daily challenges.
“Kids with autism need more backup, not necessarily help but backup," Mary Delzell, Jacob's aide this summer, said, "so if there’s any stress or any need to just have a calmer situation, not even a timeout, but like a step away, you need somebody that’s there to help with that.”
Before the program, called Camp for Kids, there were limited summer camp options for children with autism, Hanna said, but it was important to her that Jacob could attend a camp with both neurodivergent and neurotypical children.
“Even though the world is willing to make accommodations, accommodations are only so much," she said, "so both groups, neurotypicals and neurodivergents, have to learn how to strike a healthy balance and be able to work together.”
This lesson is equally important for neurotypical campers as it is for the campers with autism, Jennifer Davis, one of the other aides at camp, said.
“You have to be aware that there are kids who have disabilities versus kids who do not have disabilities, and I think that younger kids should get to know that there are kids out there with disabilities," she said. "So they understand at a younger age that kids are different from kids who are not different. If you are exposed to that at an early age, then you’ll be more accepting and willing to know that those kids are around you.”
Longwood YMCA Childcare Director Jasmine Youngblood was excited to partner with the program, she said, because it embodies one of the Y’s core values of being for all.
“It’s been so exciting because just seeing the look on the kid’s faces and the parent’s faces as well when you tell them that yes, that they can come and that they can be here all day with us," she said. "That I think has been the best part.”
The process to get enrolled in the Camp for Kids Program starts in the winter, when families can apply and then are assessed to see if their kid would be a good fit for camp, Hanna said.
“In the springtime, they get matched up with an aide, who gets to spend time with them, paid for, to develop the relationships needed to hit the ground running and be successful," she said.
Camp for Kids fundraises to be able to provide the aides at no cost to families, Hanna said, while also paying the aides a competitive wage - $20 an hour. Families can either pay for the summer camp out of pocket or find other funding, like through the Summit County Developmental Disabilities Board, which can provide financial assistance to make camp free, she said.
“There are individual grants willing to give families access to camp, but there are no camps to send your children to," she said. "So, it’s kind of cart before the horse, right? We’re creating what there is funding and interest in.”
The Camp for Kids Program is currently operating at two Akron Area YMCAs. Families can also apply for aides for different summer camps, through Hanna's nonprofit, The Positivity Spectrum, she said, or if they’re able, pay out of pocket for aides the nonprofit provides.
Hanna hopes next year they can at least double the number of kids they can send to camp throughout Summit County and beyond, she said.
“We’re looking to go north into Cuyahoga County for summer 2026," she said. "We’re trying to find a partner.”
Camp isn’t just a place for Jacob to have fun during the summer, Hanna said. It’s also a place where Jacob and other kids with autism can continue learning and growing socially, she said.
“The summertime is a time of skills regression for a lot of autistic children, because they’re not around other kids," she said. "They lose the structure of the school day, and you see a lot of them who have IEP [Individualized Education Program] goals that are social and emotional that there’s no opportunity to work on during the summer.”
This is only the program’s second year, and Jacob was the first kid to try out the model last summer.
“What I watched over the 10 weeks that he was at camp was he got more social. He for the first time in his life watched a whole movie," Hanna said. "He went on field trips where he had never been and thrived and learned and tried new things, and I think the biggest moment of validation for me as a parent was when he decided he wanted to have his first ever birthday party and invite some of his friends that he’d made from camp.”
And this year has been no different for Jacob.
“We’ve just been hanging out," he said with a grin. "We’ve been having fun. It’s just been a lot of fun for everyone.”
