Tacklin' Assessment - Celebrating Independence: Developing Self-Advocacy Skills

 

Summer months are an opportune time to continue providing opportunities for developing those all important self-advocacy skills to increase independence. Hands & Voices references the following definition of self-advocacy in their What Parents Need to Know series: the realization of strengths and weaknesses, the ability to formulate personal goals, being assertive, and making decisions.

Access to family conversations and incidental information in the home and community about thoughts and feelings are key. Restricting this access contributes to the potential for delays in social emotional development and executive functioning resulting in greater impulsivity and poorer emotional regulation, In addition, understanding and use of emotion words may not develop. in addition to an overall less developed vocabulary. It is important to establish an environment that provides access and reduces auditory/visual distractions as well as accommodates for an individual’s language level.

Tracking an individual’s vocabulary growth, social-emotional development, and self-advocacy skills is part of the whole-child perspective as everything has the potential to impact one’s academic progress. Here are two resources for tracking these skills:

• Minnesota Compensatory Skills Checklist: https://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Minnesota-Compensatory-Skills-Checklist-1.pdf
• Student Expectation for Advocacy & Monitoring of Listening and Hearing Technology (SEAM): http://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/SEAM-for-School-Success.pdf

Becoming fully independent takes time. Pay attention to your child’s/student’s development to deter-mine where they are in the process and know that not everyone at a certain age has the skills necessary to accomplish what their peers may be doing. Some might not be emotionally ready to be on their own without the comfort provided by their caregivers who establish a good balance be-tween expected independence and support.