"Making Our World a Better Place"
This is the purpose and motivation behind Self Learning Center
Lucía Barbeyto is the founder and behavioral clinical director of Self Learning Center. Born and raised in Spain, she has been living in Miami since 1999. Lucía is the mother of two young adults, Hector and Lucía. At the age of 2, Hector was diagnosed with autism, and by the age of eleven, Hector developed intractable epilepsy, something that he continues to struggle with.
Lucia graduated Summa Cum Laude from
Keiser University, obtaining a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in international business. She also obtained a Master’s degree in Project Management from the Instituto
Europeo de Postgrado
(IEP) in Spain. For more than a decade, Lucía has held several leadership positions, including finance manager and business consultant. She has a strong background in finance, project management, and business operations. Additionally, Lucía is also a member of the
Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society.
Lucia's mission today is to assist parents and professionals to help people with autism or other developmental disabilities achieve their maximum potential.
As a parent of a severely disabled son, Lucia's life was forever changed in innumerable ways. At the age of two and a half, Hector was expelled from the childcare center he was attending due to his behavior. Due to the severity of his autism and all the issues related to Hector's health, which included a high level of support needed, Lucia had to reassess her personal and professional goals.
In 2016, she became a
Certified Advocate
after she completed the Partner in Policy Making program offered by the Florida Developmental Disability Council. (FDDC). Lucía served from 2018 to 2021 as a Board Member of the Florida State Advisory Committee for the Education of Exceptional Students (SAC) at the Florida Department of Education (FDOE). In 2019, Lucía co-founded a preschool for children 0 to 5 years old with and without disabilities, where she was the director for 3 years after obtaining a Child Care Program Center Director Certification.
Most recently, Lucia became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) after completing a Graduate Certification in Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and a Master's in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of South Florida (USF), where she was nominated as 2022-2023 Emerging Leader Representative.
Lucía is currently a board member of the Autism Society of Florida, from where she is also the director of the parent support group in Spanish. To continue promoting the inclusion of people with special needs, Lucia created a YouTube channel where she occasionally publishes her public advocacy participation on Hispanic social media platforms and local TV channels.
