Sparks Adaptive Development Academy opened this summer in the Chatham Heights neighborhood in Stafford.
Danella Kirk’s first job after moving to the United States was as a caretaker to a child with significant special needs.
Though she’d taken care of children from a young age, Kirk, who was then living in New York City, had no experience with special needs, and this child’s needs were so severe that previous caretakers hadn’t stayed long.
“I had no idea how I was going to do it,” Kirk said. She prayed for guidance and just did what felt right to her, which was to spend days forming a relationship with the child and earning his trust.
“By the end of my time with him, he did not require the helmet or compression vest that he’d been wearing,” she said. “You cannot work with children, especially those with special needs, without first developing that relationship.”
That experience never left Kirk and it’s part of what inspired her to open Sparks Adaptive Development Academy, a full-day childcare center exclusively for children with special needs, located in the Chatham Heights area of Stafford.
SADA opened its doors on August 16 after nearly a year of planning and preparation. It currently serves six children and is licensed for up to 16, though Kirk said she will cap enrollment at 12 children, aged 2.5 to 12 years.
The facility welcomes children with developmental delays, learning disabilities, or other special needs, and offers therapeutic interventions along with a social-emotional and academic curriculum developed by educators at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development.
Kirk hired Susan Hacker, who recently retired after 30 years of teaching special education in Stafford County Public Schools, to direct SADA. All staff must have education and experience working with special needs children.
“It really takes that special person,” Kirk said.
Kirk, who moved to the Fredericksburg area in 2018 and first operated a daycare center out of her home, is also the owner and director of Sparks Early Learning Academy, a childcare center and preschool for general education students. She said she often got calls from parents looking for care for their special needs children who couldn’t be accommodated in other centers.
And she always felt a pull back into the field of early childhood special education since her experience with the student in New York.
“It kept drawing me back—that’s how you know something is for you,” she said.
When Kirk first visited the space where SADA is now located, “my mind started going haywire” with plans to establish a facility where special needs children can thrive.
Each student at SADA has an individualized daily schedule and gets plenty of one-on-one instruction from teachers, as well as circle time with peers. Kirk’s goal is for the center to be a “soft cushion” where children with special needs can settle into a learning environment, so they will be prepared to succeed once they enter kindergarten.
“I also want them to feel they are as much as part of society as possible,” Kirk said. Towards that end, she invites community helpers, such as police, firefighters, and nurses, and parents and grandparents into the school to talk with students, and she is partnering with local businesses, such as Milestones Play Gym and Pediatric Therapy to offer programming.
“At Sparks, we see the power of connection, not just with the children we serve, but also with their families and the broader community,” Kirk said in a press release about the August 16 ribbon cutting. “We are committed to providing ongoing support to caregivers, ensuring they have the tools and resources they need to help their children thrive.”
Editor’s Note: Danella Kirk was a panelist at the Advance’s September 12 discussion on challenges and opportunities in childcare. You can watch that discussion here.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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