As parents of children with autism, we are our children’s fiercest advocates. We stand up for them when they don’t know they need to stand up for themselves. However, more importantly, we need to pass along self-advocacy skills.
Whether in school or the workplace, teaching them how to self-advocate will help prepare them for the hardships of life.
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Top 10 Things My Child with Autism Needs in His Life
What are self-advocacy skills?
In its simplest terms, self-advocacy is defined as the act of representing oneself. If someone tries to take advantage of your situation and you stand up to them, you are self-advocating.
It’s important for anyone with the ability to be able to self-advocate. If you communicate your wants, feelings, and desires, others will understand them and can help you find a more comfortable situation.
Developing self-advocacy skills can also be beneficial in both personal and professional settings. Self-advocacy skills have been proven to:
- enhance self-awareness,
- boost self-confidence,
- improve communication skills,
- and foster independence.
Self-advocacy skills can be used to help build healthy relationships with your family, friends, and coworkers. They can also help people navigate social challenges while improving decision-making and goal-setting skills.
Why are self-advocacy skills important for students?
The first place our children with autism will experience a need for self-advocacy skills will be in school. Education is not one size fits all, so it’s important students are able to self advocate if the attempted form of education doesn’t work for them.
Developing self-advocacy skills in these situations can improve student participation in both individual and group projects. It also helps them establish boundaries during group projects.
A lack of self-advocacy skills in a school setting can often lead to low self-esteem making it harder to self-advocate as they grow older and become high school students. Teaching self-advocacy skills early can help them effectively communicate what they need others to know and help children grow as students.
How can you help autistic individuals learn self-advocacy skills?
Learning self-advocacy skills can be incredibly difficult for all of us, but it can be even more difficult for children with autism.
Parents must help their child understand their strengths and weaknesses so they can learn to advocate for themselves. However, there are ways for parents to help teach these self-advocacy skills.
Include students in the IEP process
Many children on the autism spectrum in the US, including both of my own, have something called an individual education plan, or IEP. These IEP plans set goals for the students to try to meet.
As mentioned earlier, education is not one size fits all, and these plans help guide students to the educational process that’s best for them.
During IEP meetings, parents, teachers, and administrators discuss the child’s strengths and weaknesses and how to address them. Including your student in this process can help your child understand and meet these IEP goals and encourage further participation.
Give children freedom
Starting from an early age, offer choices to your children. This will improve self-determination skills as they learn what they like and what they don’t. This can be as simple as asking which school subject’s homework they want to do first.
Giving them a choice in the matter will help them later when a self-advocacy situation presents itself. It will also give both the parent and the child valuable insights into their personal needs with education.
How to practice self-advocacy skills
As children with autism learn self-advocacy skills, they will also need to practice them to be able to apply them in their own lives. This is true whether we are talking about young children, high school students, postsecondary education students, or adults who struggled with self-advocacy in the past.
Some ways to practice these skills include:
- learn the correct person to address,
- practice your strengths,
- understand your sensory needs,
- and participate in appointments.
These steps will help develop self-determination skills, self-awareness, and self-confidence. They also provide support and help set the student up for success.
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Support and understanding: the foundation for self-advocacy
Developing self-advocacy skills is one of the most important tools we can use to teach our children with autism. We may be their fiercest advocates, but they will eventually end up in a situation where they must stand up for themselves. That’s what makes self-advocacy important.
Giving our children these skills will give them the support and ability they need to feel confident in daily life. It’ll be a long road, but it’s something that will help our children when they need it most as they grow into adults.
FAQs
Q: What are some examples of self-advocacy?
A: Self-advocacy is defined as representing oneself. Some examples include when a child who doesn’t like a nickname given to him asks others to stop calling him that name. At a job, self-advocacy can be pushing for more responsibility the employee believes they can handle.
Q: What are self-help skills for autism?
A: As children with autism grow into adults, there are some self-help skills they can learn to make life a little easier. These can include cooking, managing money, shopping, and driving.
Q: How do you advocate for autistic people?
A: Parents and family members can advocate for their loved ones with autism by sharing their diagnosis and helping to dispel myths and preconceptions about autism. You can also help encourage reasonable expectations of your autistic child from others.
Q: What is self-awareness in autism?
A: Much like the autism spectrum itself, the spectrum of self-awareness among autistic individuals varies greatly. Some have a clear understanding of autism from an early age, while others may struggle with autism identification.
References:
Leadbitter K, Buckle KL, Ellis C, Dekker M. Autistic Self-Advocacy and the Neurodiversity Movement: Implications for Autism Early Intervention Research and Practice. Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 12;12:635690. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635690. PMID: 33912110; PMCID: PMC8075160.
Lucker KD. A Review of Self-Help Skills for People with Autism: A Systematic Teaching Approach, by Stephen R. Anderson, Amy L. Jablonski, Marcus L. Thomeer, and Vicki Madaus Knapp. Behav Anal Pract. 2009 Spring;2(1):65–7. doi: 10.1007/BF03391740. Epub 2009 Spring. PMCID: PMC2854062
Ne’eman, A., & Bascom, J. (2020). Autistic Self Advocacy in the Developmental Disability Movement. The American Journal of Bioethics, 20(4), 25–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2020.1730507
Schena, D., Rosales, R. & Rowe, E. Teaching Self-Advocacy Skills: A Review and Call for Research. J Behav Educ 32, 641–689 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-022-09472-7
