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Self Advocacy Skills.
What is self advocacy
and why do deaf and hard of hearing students
need it?
Self advocacy can be
defined as the realization
of strengths
and weaknesses,
the ability to formulate
personal goals,
being assertive,
and making decisions.
Parents and educators
can support the development
of self advocacy skills for their child
or student
by focussing on the following outcomes.
Can the child
describe his or her own skills
and needs?
Are they able to set
their own goals and create a plan
to reach them?
Do they know
the how, the who,
and when to ask for assistance?
And finally,
are they able to make decisions
and then take responsibility
to deal with the consequences
of those decisions?
The end goal is that your student will become
his or her own advocate.
How can parents
and teachers assist in meeting
this ultimate goal?
Innovative parents and teachers
will start this process early.
Even in the
earliest grades, a student can be
encouraged to speak up when
they can't hear or see the teacher,
if they can't see the
interpreter,
or if their FM system isn't working.
Often the simplest barriers
limits a student's full access
to communication.
Our deaf and hard of hearing
children must learn to take action
to avoid missing out
on important academic
and social information.
What does a deaf and hard of hearing student
need to know in order to be a self
advocate?
Without hands-on
experience a student may be
at a loss to know what they are good at
and where they need help.
This is where you come in.
Help your student realize their capabilities
by giving them activities
with trial and error.
A student
who knows their own strengths and
interests has many advantages
over the one who is still
unsure when it comes to education.
Students should be
encouraged to make their own decisions
that effect them.
As an example,
As an example,
let's look at extracurricular activities.
Allow the student
to decide if and what they would like
to participate in.
Are they interested in getting a job?
Are they setting
academic goals?
Are they organizing
and scheduling
their daily lives and routines?
Students can begin to see the outcomes
of the daily decisions and choices
that they make
without the safety net of parents and teachers.
Also, a student might need assistance
in breaking down long-term goals
into short-term
attainable goals.
Can self-advocacy
skills be part of IPP goals?
Yes they can.
When these skills are modelled,
facilitated, and
nurtured, students have
a higher degree of satisfaction
and achievement in the school setting.
A tool you can use when wanting to measure
your students' skills with independence
and self advocacy
is called the Informal
Inventory of Independence and Self
Advocacy Skills.
For further information
on self advocacy, you can
visit the following website.