Angela Arterberry Sullivan began Camp Yakety Yak in 2010 in response to the lack of accommodating activities for her child with ADHD. Her son, Ethan struggled in traditional camps and she knew there had to be something out there for him. When she couldn't find it– she created it. Angela and a friend held the first year in her backyard with the help of some middle school students. Her first campers were their children and a few neighborhood kids. 

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After three years of running camp as a small business, Angela's vision was for Camp Yakety Yak to become a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization to support campers with different ability levels in a fun and safe environment as well as create a place for future professionals to get hands-on experience working with kids with special needs.

 

Angela's vision has been a success! Camp Yakety Yak provides a fun, safe, and educational camp experience for kids with special needs as well as their neurotypical peers. Camp is also home to college practicum experiences for local graduate students in speech-language pathology and occupational therapy; college interns interested in the "helping" fields of study; and high school and middle school volunteers.

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As camp grew so did the camp's vision. Specialized programs were created as needs arose. "Buddies" was developed for campers with higher needs. The Junior Camp Counselor (JCCs) program came into being as the original groups of campers were beginning to age-out of the kinder-fifth grade age range. As the middle school age campers were aging out of JCCs a new program was developed to serve the needs of high school through 22 year olds, and Yak Apprentice was born.

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After running the camp for an amazing ten years, Angela has passed the torch to the current camp directors and now resides and is enjoying the sunshine in central Florida.