Neurodiversity and Advocacy
Working Collaboratively
When working with parents or collegues, it is important to activiely listen to the other persons point of view
Important to keep the lines of communication open
Follow up after an argument to debrief and to resolve issues. Important to document interactions.
If no resolutions can be made, incorporating a facilitator is extremely important
Neurodiversity
Use the strengths of a student to shape instructional and formative assessments
Use technology to assist students to demonstrate their learning such as speech to text technology or AAC devices
Promote neurodiversity language and ensure high expectations for all learners
Transitions Leadership
How
Prepare students before they reach post-secondary to self-advocate for themselves.
Give students more responsibilities in school
Why
they have to self-advocate in post secondary
They have to contact Accessibility Services to register in order to receive accommodations in their classes
They need to provide proper documentation to prove their learning disability
They need to provide two letters to their new teachers to prove they deserve accommodations
Teaching students self-advocacy is important because they can have extra time in class, one exam a day, alternative test taking area etc...
Applied Behaviour Analysis
oppressive
-teaches autistic people to mask behaviour
The facilitator does not care about why a behaviour is occuring, only how to get rid of it
ALTERNATIVES
AAC PLATFORMS
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR ALL
DETERMINE THE ROOT OF BEHAVIOUR
Negative Consequences
traumatic for the student because facilitator can restrict movement
Vulnerable to abuse because in ABA, they are not allowed to say no
Repetitive skills 8 hours a day, denies them free play with peers
Creating IEP's for Moderate to Severe Disabilities
Important to have a conference with parents and to record observations of the student in order to create attainable and functional goals
After each marking period, the IEP goals can be adjusted or broken down into smaller steps if the learning is processing at a slower rate than was anticipated
Need to view the IEP as a working document and record any meetings with parents in regards to the IEP in the "Consultation" section of the IEP
Ensure you store IEP in the OSR
Goals should be functional that they can generalize outside of the calssroom
Goals should be based on students "zone of proximal development"
Goals should be based on how they can become the most independent when they leave the classroom setting
Self-Advocacy
Teachers need to teach students how to self-advocate in high school to prepare for future
Can use role-playing, social stories, problem solving activities as well as group discussions
Create assignments that have students self-identify and brainstorm strategies that help them learn and acheive academic succuss