The Importance of Self Advocacy Why do we need to teach it?

Self Advocacy It is a combination of things that allows students to admit their disability, describe it, and state what accommodations will make them successful in various situations in their lives.

Self Esteem Major building block in developing self advocacy How we feel about ourselves sometimes determines how successful we will be. Students with disabilities usually have very low self esteem.

Why teach self advocacy? Learning- In school we sometimes are the advocates for our students and families because IDEA states that we need to do this. After graduation, students need to be self advocates because post-secondary learning is controlled by ADA.

Continued…. Working- Students need to know when to disclose their disability and state the accommodations they will need to make them successful in the world of work.

Continued…. Living- Students need to identify any modifications that they might need to help them to successfully live in the community.

Career Maturity (Taken from Donald Super) Career Maturity can be defined as the readiness or ability of the individual to participate in the career decision making process.

Career Maturity continued 1. According to Donald Super all of us go through five stages in our life in reference to our careers 2. Growth- We start thinking about what interest us 3. Exploration-We start exploring what career we might be interested in 4. Establishment- We start a new career and stick with it 5. Maintenance- We continue to grow in our career and maintain it for a long period of time 6. Decline- Retirement stage

Career Maturity continued People with high self esteem according to Super have the career maturity to do well in their career paths People that have high self esteem: –Have clearer perceptions of themselves and their vocational goals. –Are better prepared to identify interest, preferences, values, and abilities. –Can make appropriate career choices based on their skills.

Characteristics of Our Students Limited career exploration Limited opportunities to develop decision making abilities Negative self concept Unwilling to explore careers, ask questions and seek out answers Unwilling to seek out resources and utilize them Unable to plan for the near and distant future Unable to accept responsibility for their own life Lack an understanding on how to set and attain goals in their lives

Stop and Think For the next 15 minutes write down a student from your class that displays these characteristics and answer the following question: What can I do to help this student in my class to be successful in finding a career and transition successfully into adult life?

What do we teach to our students? (Taken from Donald Super) The ability to plan for near and distant futures The ability to accept responsibility for one’s own life (locus of control) A healthy perception of one’s self worth An understanding of goal attainment and the time that goal attainment may require

Continued…. The ability and willingness to explore careers The willingness to ask questions and seek solutions The willingness to seek and utilize resources The willingness to participate in community-based and school-based activities

Continue…. Clear demonstrations of self-talk and task- specific strategies Opportunities for students to practice both behavior and thinking skills in authentic situations Feedback Giving and listening to explanations Teaching students to generalize and apply knowledge across various settings and conditions

Most important thing!!! Get the students involved in their IEP Have them take part in their meetings and explain to them why they have an IEP Make sure they can describe what their disability is and what accommodations make them successful Have them notify their regular education teachers about their accomodations

Different Perception of Disability IDEA and ADA are laws that focus on the word disability. In order to qualify for services, students must document their disabilities. We need to focus our students’ thinking on their abilities instead of their disabilities. We must teach them to emphasize their strengths and work on their weaknesses.