Your Catholic Neighbor: Corinna Siegler

TEMPE — Corinna Siegler is a special education teacher with a heart for bringing the beauty of the Gospel message to autistic children. This fall, she and a couple of friends are opening a school to prove it.

Her love of helping students with special needs began back in high school when she volunteered at a camp for autistic children. Siegler was deeply touched by the experience and decided then that she would become a special education teacher.

During her high school and college years, Siegler worked in youth ministry at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Phoenix where she grew up. Most of her work consisted of giving talks, planning retreats and youth group evenings as well as leading small group discussions. More than anything, Siegler was drawn to helping young people find God.

After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in special education, she taught for three years at the Chrysalis Academy, a school for children with autism and related disorders. Siegler said that as much as she enjoyed the work, she had a growing desire to teach the Catholic faith.

Her friends’ children as well as her cousins and godson attend Catholic schools and Siegler, who attended public schools, said she was impressed by how much they learned about the faith at an early age.

“I see the value in having daily instruction in the faith,” she said. “I didn’t have that. I also want my co-workers and me to be able to pray together and talk openly about our faith,” Siegler added.

The 24-year-old Tempe resident attends daily Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish and through prayer, couldn’t escape the growing conviction during the last 18 months that God wanted her to open a school for autistic children.

Parents of children whose special needs are not being met by the school district can receive tuition assistance for a private school. The school cannot be a religious institution, however.

Siegler’s solution is to offer a completely voluntary religious-education program after regular school hours. The St. Dominic Savio Academy has already enrolled five students and has room for 11 more.

Desert Palm Church, located at Guadalupe and McClintock in Tempe, is leasing facilities to the newly founded school. St. Dominic Savio Academy will have two teachers — Siegler and fellow special education teacher Sarah Korfonta — and four aides, allowing the school to provide students with lots of individual attention.

Siegler said she the staff will work to reinforce desireable behavior in students. “We’ll be teaching communication skills and vocational life skills along with academics. This type of education is something parents really want,” she said.

The fact that students will be able to receive daily religious instruction after school makes the program for autistic children unique in the Valley. There are a few churches in the area that have Sunday school classes for children with special needs, but Siegler doesn’t know of any that work with children on a daily basis to impart the faith.

“We’re basing a lot of our program on the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd,” Siegler said. “We’re able to bring the faith to them in a way that’s natural to them in a way that’s developmentally appropriate.”

What have you learned from your students?

They’ve taught me so much about love and what love really means and how to be accepting of myself. I think it’s taught me about patience and compassion. I also think it’s taught me a lot about myself and that there really is no “normal;” we’re all so different. We have different strengths and talents for a reason and we have to combine all of these to be effective. It makes us a stronger community.

How does your Catholic faith affect your work?

I think I see my job as a special ed. teacher as so much more than a job. This is what God created me to do with my life. My gifts lie in this area for a reason. When I go to work each day I see Christ in my students, I’m working out my vocation and my call.

How does your work help you grow in faith?

It’s taught me about loving and accepting people where they are and accepting that everyone has a struggle and a cross. I try to remember that going into every interaction. We all are going through things and that makes you see people differently. I try to understand where people are coming from. It’s made me more prayerful.

For information about the school, call (480) 659-5456.

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