Special Education Teacher Helps Vulnerable Children Gain Knowledge and Confidence
Special Education Teacher Helps Vulnerable Children Gain Knowledge and Confidence
Unity 4 Orphans’ special needs teacher in Mexico devotes her time and talent to helping children who have experienced abandonment and abuse overcome learning barriers and realize their value.
This year our Mexico team has grown substantially, unified by program director Marco and his wife Anabel. As our programs have grown more robust, we’re able to help more children, and by bringing in key team members, we’re also able to meet the needs of children with disabilities.
Special Needs Teacher Bridges Educational Gap for Children at the Orphanages
With 28 years of experience, Karla brings a wealth of knowledge to her role as a special needs teacher. She has developed strategies to help her students pursue and gain an education despite the hardships they’ve had to endure as a result of unstable guardianship, abuse, and neglect.
We seek to care for children with different disabilities or disorders that they present. It’s important to look for special educational needs and reduce barriers to learning, which allows us to determine what each child needs and what limits us to be able to help them.
–Karla C., Special Needs Teacher
Holistic Teaching Methods Reach Children with Learning Challenges
In her role, Karla first determines the specific limitations or particular educational needs of each child. Facing hardships with having their basic needs for security and stability met, as well as being inhibited by learning disabilities and behavioral struggles, the children find an ally in Karla they may not have experienced before.
Due to the trauma they’ve endured, the kids at our partner orphanages in Tijuana often present disruptive behaviors and mental blocks that keep them from advancing in their education. Karla takes her role seriously and approaches each of her students with an eye for their individual barriers and helps them problem-solve to empower and encourage them.
My role is to search and identify their challenges, help them reduce those limitations, and search for strategies that allow them to advance in terms of pedagogy, literacy, and mathematics, which has to do with mental calculation and problem-solving. They get blocked and don’t want to read, so I support them to help make that task easier and help them read more fluently.
–Karla C., Special Needs Teacher
Dedicated Teachers Provide Relational Consistency for Vulnerable Kids
The positive impact of teachers extends beyond the classroom, where they develop positive relationships with their students and create a safe environment to explore and learn. Karla is encouraged whenever a child accepts and gives affection and feels comfortable enough to share their feelings about day-to-day life and show empathy for others.
We love the children, specifically those with special needs, and have always tried to give them the same level of support, but we faced obstacles because of how they were receiving our help. One little girl had even been sent out of the school system because they weren’t able to teach her. But when Karla joined our team, she began helping our children with special needs and was able to get the girl enrolled in school again. Not only did Karla help her directly, but she also helped our team realize the importance of providing specialized care and what that actually looks like.
–Marco Aguilera, Mexico Programs Director
In empowering our teachers and staff with the supplies and support that they need, we equip vulnerable children with the tools necessary to succeed in their education and build healthy self-esteem. One of the most impactful ways to get involved with U4O is by joining our monthly service trips, where volunteers give their time to children craving connection and community.