Lesson Audience: This website provides lesson plans to support the development of self-advocacy skills in students with learning disabilities. Many of the activities in these lesson plans are research based and specifically designed to support students in British Columbia, Canada.
Lesson Design: These lessons are designed to be administered as a special education intervention for individuals or small groups of learners with learning disabilities. They are not designed for use in the general classroom with all learners. A special education intervention in self-advocacy instruction is justified for the following reasons:
- Many of the interventions for self-advocacy instruction that have proven to be successful are not necessarily easily integrated in the classroom. Roberts et al. (2014) reviewed empirical studies on self-advocacy from 2004-2012 and noted that students with disabilities have experienced gains when explicitly taught self-advocacy skills while participating in IEP meetings, and through direct instruction and role play.
- Students with learning disabilities require additional explicit support to develop self-advocacy skills. Their peers are able to learn these skills quickly and often in other situations aside from direct instruction and interventions.
- Students need to develop a greater understanding of their learning profile (Test et al., 2005). These students need opportunities to discuss the results of confidential assessments and the way learning disabilities can impact an individual. Students need a individualized and/or supportive small group interventions in order to respect their privacy and generate a richer understanding of self.
- Students also require opportunities to learn about their rights in order to develop their self-advocacy skills (Test et al., 2005). Students need to develop their knowledge of laws and policies surrounding disability rights. This cannot easily be done in the general classroom, as it is not relevant to most learners.
- Research suggests that students will not receive enough time developing self-advocacy skills in the general classroom. Teachers often do not provide enough opportunities due to demands on their time and feeling the need to focus on other topics or concerns (Cho, Wehmeyer, and Kinston, 2011). It is unlikely that a significant curriculum on self-advocacy skill instruction will be robustly integrated into the departmental structures of high school.
Therefore, individuals with learning disabilities cannot rely on a one-size fits all curricular approach to meet their learning needs and will benefit from a special education intervention. However, classroom educators can complement this intervention with classroom activities on self-advocacy skills for all learners. This website includes some classroom activities which can be used to teach self-advocacy skills with UDL principles.
Lesson Administration: Educators will need to choose whether to administer these lessons individually or in small groups. It is the educator’s responsibility to ensure that participating students and their parents/guardians provide consent for participation and that there is a detailed description of the lesson content and information that will be shared among participants. If working with groups of students, careful consideration will be needed to protect privacy and respect individual confidentiality. It is the lesson administrator’s responsibility to ensure that the lesson plan delivery conforms to school district policies and provincial/state/federal laws.
Advantages of Individualized Administration: An advantage to administering the lessons individually is that the lessons may be administered more quickly as they can be personalized. It is much easier to maintain confidentiality and privacy, and to integrate information from IEPs and assessments.
Advantages of Small Group Administration: An advantage to administering the lessons to small groups of students is that an educator can reach more students and can save time. Additionally, many researchers in self-advocacy instruction have successfully used small groups for interventions with students in high school (Lopez, 2017; Prater, Redman, Anderson & Gibb, 2014; Campbell-Whatley, 2008). Mishna, Muska, Farnia & Wiener (2011) successfully used a group approach to develop self-advocacy skills with Canadian students. Mishna et al. (2011) argue that group treatment offers a peer group for youth, fosters social competence, and increases social skills and self-esteem. Working with other youths may reduce the stigma of a learning disability, but educators will have to navigate aspects of confidentiality and privacy while doing so. Best practice would suggest that educators consult with school administrators to determine if individual or group administration works best for your school and school district.
Continue to Lesson 1: Developing Knowledge of Self
Self-Advocacy in High School 