An increasing number of students with disabilities spend most of their time in a general education classroom and continuing their education in postsecondary education (Ju et al., 2017). According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2024), about 21% of students with disabilities continued to postsecondary education in 2019-2020, and a majority of them reportedly have learning disabilities (Zeng et al., 2023). Self-determination is an important factor for academic success in secondary and postsecondary education. Self-advocacy is a key aspect of self-determination and refers to the ability to understand and communicate individuals’ rights and responsibilities. The main components of self-advocacy are knowledge of self, knowledge of rights under the law, communication skills, and leadership (McGahee et al., 2021; Roberts et al., 2016; Test &, 2004). Literature reported that self-advocacy skills have been successfully taught through peer tutoring, coaching, transition planning instruction, teacher-developed lessons, workshops, and published curricula. This presentation will share the results of an action research study that taught self-advocacy skills to ten middle school students with disabilities (i.e., 12, 13, or 14 years old). During the self-advocacy training, the participants learned to set their goals, understand their rights, and how to communicate their needs to general education teachers. The results show that the participants learned and practiced self-advocacy skills in general education classrooms and improved their overall academic performance (e.g., grade point average). The presenter will review the literature on self-determination/self-advocacy and share the implications of this study on advocacy training and inclusive education.

Authors:
Yeunjoo Lee, California State University Bakersfield, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Yeunjoo is a Professor of Special Education at California State University, Bakersfield. Her research interests are teacher education, online teaching and learning, assistive technology, and autism.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-lactao-rch-lpt-rgc-92a42240

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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