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I have previously created both video and blog material surrounding the importance of self advocacy for students with disabilities. But what I want to discuss here is what it really means, and how parents can encourage it in their child.
Self advocacy is the act of speaking up in support of yourself. Sounds simple – but in order for it to be effective there is a lot that has to happen.
If you are going to speak up in support of yourself, you are going to want it to be effective. In other words, the act of speaking up should drive a desired result – otherwise, why speak up?
When you really dissect this, the components of a person’s ability to be an effective self advocate start to surface. You have to:
That is quite a lot to ask of anyone, much less, a student with disabilities. However, self advocacy is important because it is a skill that will provide benefit now, and later in life.
We should also keep in mind that a child’s ability to perform in a self advocacy situation may increase the older they are, or the more experience they get with a situation. So, as parents look at how they can encourage their child to self advocate, different strategies or techniques should be applied depending on the capability of the child.
Let’s take a closer look at at each of the ideas 1-3 above in some more detail.
Understand strengths and challenges
You can help your child understand their strengths and challenges by helping them talk about what they know of their skills and struggles. Particularly in younger children, make it less technical, and relate it more to actual experiences. Make sure they understand that it is acceptable to discuss their challenges. Help your child understand that there are things they are good at, and verbalizing their challenges may become less daunting.
When a child is younger, they might describe their challenge and strength as “I hate math but I’m great at soccer”. As they spend time understanding their challenge they may say, “I have Dyscalculia, so I really struggle with anything involving numbers. But, I never give up at anything”. Families can read informative books together or play games that create an environment where it is normal, and even fun, to understand their disability.
Be aware of supports
For a student to self advocate at any age, understanding HOW they can be helped is an important piece of knowledge. It is likely that you accommodate your child’s disability in your home. Explain to them that a similar thing can occur at school. If they take frequent breaks from stressful situations, talk about how they deal with that at home (head phones, quite space, music…), and help them understand what that could look like in the school environment.
Communicating a need
This is likely the most daunting step for a child in self advocating. You are asking them to speak confidently, and to ask an adult for help. The earlier we can start help a child to understand how to do this, the better.
If a child does not learn this skill, they may end up communicating a need through an outburst of sheer frustration. It is important that a plan to recognize and circumvent what causes certain behaviors is in place. It may be that a student is not really able to be fully “involved” in this step of self advocacy, but rather that their communication is non-verbal, and to a large extent, involuntary. That does not make it any less of a communication tool.
When a student is able, they may participate in the communication of their need by being involved in their own IEP/504 process. If they can, they should attend team meetings with you, and should be an active voice in establishing effective supports and services, accommodations and modifications, to allow them to access their education. The IEP/504 meeting should be a safe environment which allows the student an opportunity to communicate with the adults at school.
It is important for a child to understand their strengths and challenges, and become involved in communicating solutions.
It is also important that we enable this skill in children because it is a skill they need now and later in life. The earlier students are introduced to and practice self advocacy skills, the more successful communicators they will become.
Sometimes families need some support to make this happen within the IEP or 504 process.
I can be that support in your journey. Please get in touch – I offer a free initial consultation
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