Maria R.

Maria is a special needs student, 16 years old, and in her second year of middle school at the INEB school in San Martin Chiquito. She also comes to the Xela Aid computer lab once a week to attend online classes from the Molina de Stahl school in sign language, math, communication, and her regular language lessons in sign language. She also reviews her lessons with her teacher and practices with other students. This level of personalized and specialized assistance is available to very few students in the region.
In her free time, Maria likes to walk and practice sign language with other Xela Aid students who have hearing loss or impairment. She said that learning to sign has been a challenge, and because relatively few people around her have this skill, not everyone can communicate with her. She has a close relationship with her mother and she loves to play with her brothers who are full of fun. She is determined to graduate one day. She has been a LEAP Scholar for a year.