Welcome back to the Self-Advocacy Series where we have been digging into the concept and application of self-advocacy among Autistic students. 

In Part 1 we examined the concept itself while in Part 2 we covered some examples of what self-advocacy can look like. 

In part 3 we are going to cover some ways we can teach and practice self-advocacy skills in the classroom. While the ideas behind self-advocacy might seem simple enough on paper, each individual’s needs are unique enough that it can be difficult to teach a broader version of self-advocacy that applies to every student. But there are some helpful starting points for getting used to the process of self-advocacy, from identifying how we are doing to valuing our own feelings and opinions. 

While this list is far from exhaustive, we hope it can inspire some thinking based on the unique needs of your students!

As we have alluded to in earlier parts of this series, self-advocacy goes beyond merely asking for things or standing up for yourself. Self-awareness - knowing how you are feeling and what if anything might be wrong - is just as crucial a component of the self-advocacy process. 

After all how do we know when we should be asking for something if we don’t really know how we feel. Autistic students in particular might feel so caught up trying to adhere to the expectations of Allistic people who have authority over them that self-check ins might not be the highest priority, and that’s before we even get into people who struggle with interoception! 

One great way to instill this skill is to do regular check ins where students can evaluate how they are feeling about their day and why. Not only does taking the conscious step of checking in actively practice the skill, it also helps it feel more routine, and like something a student could reach for over time even when not actively prompted.

Continuing with our focus on the process of self-advocacy, anothing step that also frequently comes before asking or taking action is connecting how we are feeling or what we need to a specific solution that is both achievable and can help to meet our need. 

Likewise it’s a great place to strategize on how we can get those things done. While it might be intuitive sometimes, that certainly isn’t always the case! 

If a student expresses a need without a clear solution on how to meet that need, that can be a great time as a teacher to work together to find a solution that everyone agrees is effective. Not only does this allow us to practice self-advocacy, it is also centering student autonomy in the process of supporting them!

Here we are entering the more familiar territory of self-advocacy - asking for the things we need or standing up for ourselves! 

While part of this component of self-advocacy definitely has to do with encouraging students to see their own needs as valid and worth standing up for, another crucial component for many people is finding the right words at the right time. 

This can be especially crucial in higher pressure situations where we are feeling nervous about asking or encountering some pushback or feel especially vulnerable. It can help to have some more generic scripts for more commonplace or routine situations, but it can be equally valuable to work together on creating scripts for highly specific situations - specific in context or based on need or based on who we are talking to. 

Not only is practicing specific scripts helpful for specific moments, it also empowers students to create their own unique scripts for future situations where they might not have direct assistance.

If you have followed us for a while then you’ve likely heard us talk about the value of social groups, and one reason they can be so valuable is as a safe outlet for practicing various social skills. 

It just so happens that valuing and sharing our own opinions also happens to be a component of self-advocacy! Some people have no trouble sharing their opinions on things and don’t need any special encouragement, but for those who feel more anxious about what might happen if they share what they think it can help to create some low stakes, safe situations where sharing opinions is encouraged and the topics aren’t particularly consequential. 

It is crucial in these spaces for students to respect each other’s opinions, and over time some groups may feel comfortable engaging in discussion on higher stakes topics too. The important thing is encouraging each student to share what they think when they feel ready, and to reinforce that everyone’s opinions have value and can be shared. 

The more we can practice self-advocacy in safe spaces, the easier it gets in more uncertain situations!

We hope this post has offered some helpful jumping off points for practicing self-advocacy in your own classroom. 

If you have an experience with teaching self-advocacy that you’d like to share or a self-advocacy related topic that you’d like to see covered more in depth then we’d love to hear from you! Just drop us a line at hello@autismgrownup.com and stay tuned for the final part of our series next week where we will talk about best practices for self-advocacy skill building.