Karla Galván Duque

Language: Spanish

Mexican, with a degree in Graphic Design, she is currently a certified consultant of RDI (Relationship Development Intervention), a methodology created by Dr. Steven Gutstein. She is a mother of three children, one of whom, Lorenzo, was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of two in 2006.

A tireless entrepreneur, she has promoted and founded non-profit centers to help families and children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) in different countries such as the USA and Chile.

After trying various therapies, the RDI methodology changed her family’s life extraordinarily, and in 2007 Karla founded a therapeutic center for children with ASD, called “Journey Learning Center”, in Dallas. In 2010 she became certified as an RDI consultant and gave her first lecture at the “Family for Effective Autism Treatment” association in Texas. Two years later, she moved to Chile, becoming the first RDI consultant in South America. During 2012 and 2013, she worked with parents of children with autism; she gave talks, seminars, and workshops for families and professionals in Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay.

Along with her multidisciplinary team, composed of speech therapists, psychologists, and occupational therapists, in 2014 she created a summer camp for children with ASD, which later became the foundation “Creciendo junto a ti” (Growing Together with You).

Currently, she spends most of her time as a speaker, lecturer, and expert trainer in the RDI methodology, both in Hispanic America and Spain. Consulting and training work with families with children with ASD make up Karla’s daily activities: full communication and mutual learning between family and child with autism, creating multidisciplinary teams adapted to each case, make her a revealing and paradigmatic example in the service of the best educational and learning process for these children.

“Los ojos del cielo” (The Eyes of Heaven) is the first book Karla has written, where you will find tools, tips, and empowerment to help your child reach their maximum potential.

Founder of the Otea Association, where she is also working on the friendly autism project, awareness, training, and inclusive spaces since 2019.

Oteaautismo is a non-profit civil association dedicated to training, raising awareness, and creating inclusive spaces so that people within the autism spectrum (ASD) can feel integrated and supported in society and, therefore, their families.

This association has been developing a newscast for a year in which it disseminates news related to autism and creates the opportunity to give a voice to people who are friendly with autism and want to make a difference. It has trained specialists (ophthalmologists, traumatologists, teachers, tourism, librarians, museums), and currently, we have been pioneers in training and adapting spaces to generate inclusion in the public library of Guanajuato.

We are currently developing a project with civil protection in Jalisco to raise awareness and train people working in civil protection (firefighters, police, health personnel, etc.) so that in case of emergency, they know how to proceed and attend to any person with a disability.

Oteaautismo offers consultations to families immersed in a diagnosis process as well as the search for better intervention and achieving a multidisciplinary team of specialists according to the needs of each individual.