Importance of self-advocacy and for children with autism
Learning to advocate for yourself increases your chances of independence and self-esteem. Having tools like visual supports and scripts (statements) available helps our children with autism learn how to self-advocate and eventually have it become part of their self-help skills. visual supports and scripts are evidence based supports that are identified for people on the autism spectrum.
How to teach self-advocacy skills
- Help students articulate What they need and Why they need it. For example: “I need to sit closer because I can’t see the pictures.”
- Use visuals such as a scales and icons.
- Teach scripts (statements) that students can have ready to use when they need extra help. Scripts give students a word-for-word example of what to say in a situation to advocate for themselves.
Self-Advocacy bundle
I created a self-advocacy bundle which you can download from my TPT store. This bundle includes visual supports to help teach students how to advocate for themselves.
The link his here:
Autism Self-Advocacy Center
About ASAN
“The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities. We work to empower autistic people across the world to take control of our own lives and the future of our common community, and seek to organize the autistic community to ensure our voices are heard in the national conversation about us.”
ASAN
To hear what live was like growing up on the autism spectrum please check out my post here: https://wordpress.com/post/spedadvisor.com/289