Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination Skills for Transition-Age Youth

1. Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination Skills for Transition-Age Youth Amber McConnell University of Oklahoma Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment

2. Advocacy • Speaking-up for an issue, idea, or person • Advocate • Person who does the speaking • Numerous advocates • Parent advocate • Legal advocate • Self-advocate

3. What is Self-Advocacy? Knowing what you need and being able to ask for it.

4. What is Self-Adocacy? A way in which people speak up, voice their opinion, and take responsibility for being equal within society.

5. Prominent Teacher Questions • Why is it important to include self-advocacy skills into my curriculum? • How am I going to find time to do that? • What would I do?

6. Why? • After graduation students will need to advocate for themselves • College • Job • Teach them now while support still available

7. Can your students answer these questions? • Do you understand what your disability is and how your disability impacts you? • Can you explain the impact to people you work with, who you need help from? • Do you understand what things help you do a good job or to participate? • Can you ask for these things from your boss? Coworker? Someone in the community?

8. Can your student Ask for what they need… • How should you ask your boss to explain the new task AND show it to you before she walks away? • How should you ask for someone to reach an item that you are unable to reach? • How should you ask someone to hold a door open if you are having trouble getting into a building? • How should you ask for a ride somewhere?

9. Barriers to Assertiveness/Self-Advocacy Feeling quiet and too shy to speak Feeling frustrated and ready to explode Feeling like I don’t know what to do Feeling afraid of saying the wrong thing Not knowing how someone else will react

10. Barriers to Assertiveness/Self-Advocacy • Wanting to be nice to everybody • Not wanting to cause a problem • Not wanting to draw attention to myself • Thinking that no one will understand me • Not liking the other person enough to try

11. Figure out what your barriers are, What stops you from being your own advocate? then come up with a plan to overcome it!

13. Time? • Take advantage of existing opportunities • IEP meetings • Need to discuss accommodations with gen ed teachers • Need to change schedule

14. What Can I Do? • Infuse into current practices self-determination teaching methodology • Teach students to: • Request own accommodations • Discuss interests, needs, progress, and goals at IEP meetings • Build own transition plan • Build own summary of performance • Attain own goals

15. Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.” • -Mary Anne Radmacher

16. "I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.” • Abernathy, Ralph Civil Rights Activist (1926-1991)

17. Supporting youth to become self-determined… • Teach youth about their impact of disability and assist them to recognize their strengths, skills and support needs. • Teach skills such as: asking for help, making choices, expressing an opinion, and sharing information. • Encourage youth to speak up for themselves rather than relying on an adult to it (i.e., don’t talk for them).

18. Choices • Learn to make choices for yourself • Identify your needs and wants • Share information with someone you trust • Practice what you want to communicate • Speak for yourself; find your voice • Don’t give up if people don’t listen the first time • Celebrate accomplishments

19. How do youth exercise self- determination? • Make choices • Direct your own IEP • Ask for accommodations • Learn to explain your strengths, interests and support needs • Set goals

20. What can you do to become more self-determined? • Take reasonable risks • When an activity didn’t go the way you had planned, come up with ways to do something differently so you succeed next time • Take pride in disability- learn about disability culture, learn about disability history, learn about successful people who have a similar disability to yours • Learn and use leadership skills

21. How do adults support youth to be self-determined? • Provide opportunities for youth to make choices • Encourage assertiveness • Encourage youth to set their own goals • Allow youth to take risks and make mistakes but also facilitate the processing and learning from those mistakes

22. Anyone, regardless of impact of disability, can express opinions, communicate what works and doesn’t work for them, and have some choice and control in their day.

23. Supporting youth to become self-determined… • Include self-determination goals in the IEP: • “Student will introduce herself and describe her strengths, her impact of disability, and her support needs to a familiar teacher, a new teacher, and/or an employer using her portfolio…” • “If needed, the student will also present documentation of her disability (for a medical appointment, for an interview with VR, DD, or college)” (PERC Self advocacy checklist)

24. Supporting youth to become self-determined… • Student will request assistance from (a familiar person, acquaintance, someone in the community) to….. • Describe how the person can best assist you (“When you help me transfer from my chair to this seat, could one person place their hands under my arms and the other place their hands under my knees and lift together?”)

26. “On average, students with disabilities entered higher education nearly three years later than students without Disabilities” George Washington University, HEATH Resource Center, (n.d.). Postsecondary Students with Disabilities: Recent Data from the 2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey. Washington, DC: author, p. 3; retrieved March 9, 2004 from www.heath.gwu.edu.

27. Challenges Include: • Unfamiliarity with what to expect in postsecondary settings • Lack of understanding about differences in the law between K-12 and postsecondary settings • Changing role of students and parents • Insufficient self-advocacy skills

28. What’s Different About College? • Legal obligations of institution IDEA vs ADA/504, student responsibilities vs institutional responsibilities • System for access and accommodations DSS office, self-disclosure, accommodations • Self-Advocacy skills are necessary

30. What Documentation Is Needed? • Check with each individual college to find out exact requirements • Colleges tend to want documentation to be no more than 3 years old • Provision of documentation is the student’s responsibility and not that of the college or the public school system • IEP is not considered disability documentation

31. Why is Self-Identification Important? Many students with disabilities are not taking advantage of disability support services on campus • Anxious to shed the “special education” label from high school • Parent is no longer the primary advocate • May not be aware services are available

33. Students should know and becomfortable with: • Discussing his or her disability • What accommodations are helpful, those that are not, and why • Understanding their rights and responsibilities • Articulating strengths and weaknesses • Discussing what works best for them in an academic environment • Discussing overall learning style

35. Transition File Should Include: • Disability documentation • High school transcripts & diploma • Copy of ACT/SAT test scores • Copies of financial aid forms • Medical (and vehicle) insurance information • College transcripts • Copy of VR paperwork • Important addresses & phone numbers • Copy of birth certificate, drivers license & • Social Security card

36. "All of us have two educations—one which we receive from others; another, and the most valuable, which we give ourselves.” • John Randolph American legislator (1773-1833)

37. Questions?

38. Contact Information : Amber McConnell ambermcc@ou.edu (405) 325-8951