Instruction, Literacy, and Inclusion
Summary: This article will discuss a classroom team’s approach to addressing self-advocacy competency for augmentative and al- ternative communication (AAC) users with complex communication needs. Discussion will include the definitions of self advocacy and self determination and corresponding skills AAC users need to reach competency in this skill area followed by components of a comprehensive curriculum looking to teach content, develop skills, and provide training to paraeducators. A Middle School Classroom’s Comprehensive Approach to Gaining Competence in Self-Advocacy Skills
Students with complex communication needs (CCN), face significant challenges in expressing their thoughts, desires, and needs, often relying on augmentative and alternative commu- nication (AAC) tools to facilitate interaction. We typically look at four main areas of communication to consider the way an AAC user currently uses their system to communicate and to iden- tify next skills to target; these areas are operational, linguistic, social, and strategic. As a practicing school based speech-lan- guage pathologist with a caseload of students who require AAC as a primary means to communicate, these areas are criti- cal considerations in my therapeutic intervention planning and often drive how I am setting my goals; however, there were still observable barriers to participation, engagement with peers, building relationships, and engaging in larger environments. In addition, progress and generalization of skills were falling short due to ineffective training and coaching of communica- tion partners. As I worked with my multidisciplinary teams to address these challenges, it became evident that self advocacy was an area we wanted to hone in on. In our research we found curriculums, like IEP participation, to be too narrow focused or are limited; however we know students with CCN require a comprehensive approach that combines explicit teaching with in the moment coaching. Additionally, our AAC users require
communication partners who can interpret intentions and messages as they learn effective and efficient communication strategies. With high turnover and limited time for training, our paraeducators were undersupported in this area. As a team we were familiar with the National Joint Committee’s Communica- tion Bill of Rights; we had posters up in the classroom, used it when training new staff members, and referenced it in meet- ings with parents and school districts. We started to consider this not just as a reference tool but as a teaching foundation, to support giving our students and staff the knowledge around their rights as we supported self advocacy skill development. Using what we knew about working with AAC users and stu- dents with CCN, we identified that an effective intervention would involve changes to both the individual’s skills and the environment (Walker 2011, Light, 2015). We chose to look at the Communication Bill of Rights combined with environmen- tal observations to identify access and participation barriers to lay the content foundation for teaching. Selection of necessary skills such as effectively communicating preference, rejection or protest, opinions or feelings, desires, and needs, we created units to comprehensively develop self-advocacy skills, to sup- port our students with CCN. Our goal was to build competency in order to navigate their educational and social environments
AMANDA SCHERIFF HOBSON, M.S., CCC-SLP is a school based speech-language pathologist and department head at a collaborative school in Massachusetts for students ages 3-22. She directly supports students in acquiring and using AAC with a focus in alternative access.
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