Promoting Self-Advocacy
Through Mentoring
Center for Community
Partnerships
Department of Occupational
Therapy
ACCESS Project
Supporting the inherent dignity, potential and full
participation of all people.
ACCESS to Postsecondary
Education through
Universal Design
for Learning
AND Self-Advocacy
UDL
Greater
Success
SelfAdv.
Self-Advocacy = Personal Empowerment
Definition of Self-Advocacy
Know
Yourself
Know what
you need
& want
SelfAdvocacy
Know how to
get what you
need & want

Self-Advocacy “…a lifelong personal pursuit
of control over one’s circumstances. It is
the act of advocating for what one wants,
for how one desires to live, for how one
wants to be treated…”
( Shoultz, 2006)

“Research has demonstrated that individuals
who are self-determined are more
successful in achievement of their stated
goals.” (Field, Sarver & Shaw, 2003)
Know Yourself

Know Your Strengths

Know Your Challenges

Know Your Life Right Now
Know Your Strengths

Personality Traits

Learning Styles

Values

Skills, Abilities, Interests
http://accessproject.colostate.edu
Know Your Challenges

Needs

Barriers to Success

Self Talk
Know Your Life Right Now


Look at all your life areas
Figure out strengths and challenges in each
area…
Self-Advocacy is about the
“whole” person… How
balanced is an individual’s
life?
Life Domain Areas

Daily Living –
housing, eating,
sleeping, laundry,
finances,
community access
and services


medication, health
concerns, mental
health, stress

Relationships -
roommate,
sig. other, family
School/Work –
grades, study skills,
test taking,
computer skills,
balancing work and
school
Health – fitness,

Community/Rec.

Spirituality –
meaning, purpose,
vision
Know What You
Need and Want


Based on Your Challenges, What are Your
Needs?
Develop a Vision for Your Life – What are
Your Hopes and Dreams? What do You
Want?
Know How to GET What
You Need and Want

Find Resources

Communicate

Get Organized


Make Decisions



Develop Study and
Test Taking Skills
Solve Problems
(Learn from mistakes)

Develop a Support
Network
Set Goals
Plan for the Future
– Career
Development
(Self-Advocacy to
infinity and
beyond!)
Just Do It!
Get motivated…




Motivation occurs at the “flash point.” The
flash point is the distress felt because of the
gap (or discrepancy) between the desired
and actual performance (Hirsch,2001).
Help students figure out what they desire.
Help students explore and understand
distress.
Help students explore options.
Six Success Attributes that
Correlate with SelfAdvocacy

Raskind and Goldberg (2005) identified six
success attributes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Self-awareness
Proactivity
Perseverance
Goal Setting
The presence and use of Support Systems
Emotional Coping Strategies
•
based on a 20-year longitudinal study of individuals
with learning disabilities.
Three Learning Outcomes
for Mentors/Interns:
1) Understand the Process of
Self-Advocacy
Know Yourself
Know What You Need and Want
Know How to GET What You Need
and Want

2) View self from a holistic
perspective
Identify strengths and challenges
in different life domain areas.
3)
Learn how to support students
through empowerment.
When you do something for someone you teach
dependency; when you help someone develop and gain
the skills to do it for himself you empower!


Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish
and you feed him for a lifetime. - Chinese Proverb
The ideal teacher guides his students but does not pull them
along; he urges them to go forward and does not suppress them;
he opens the way but does not take them to the place. Confucious
CHOICES OF SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS
SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS...
1. ...ACCEPT SELFRESPONSIBILITY,
seeing themselves as the primary cause
of their outcomes and experiences.
STRUGGLING STUDENTS...
1. ...see themselves as Victims,
believing that what happens to them is
determined primarily by external
forces such as fate, luck, and powerful
others.
2. ......DISCOVER SELF2. ...have difficulty sustaining
MOTIVATION, finding purpose in their motivation, often feeling depressed,
lives by
frustrated, and/or resentful about a
discovering personally meaningful goals lack of direction in their lives.
and dreams.
3. ...MASTER SELF-MANAGEMENT, 3. ...seldom identify specific actions
consistently planning and taking
needed to accomplish a desired
purposeful actions in pursuit of their
outcome. And when they do, they tend
goals and dreams.
to procrastinate.
SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS...
STRUGGLING STUDENTS...
4. ...EMPLOY INTERDEPENDENCE, 4. ...are solitary, seldom requesting,
building mutually supportive
even rejecting offers of assistance
relationships that help them achieve
from those who could help.
their goals and dreams (while helping
others to do the same).
5. ...GAIN SELF-AWARENESS,
consciously employing behaviors,
beliefs, and
attitudes that keep them on course.
5. ...make important choices
unconsciously, being directed by selfsabotaging habits and outdated life
scripts.
6. ...ADOPT LIFE-LONG LEARNING, 6. ...resist learning new ideas and
finding valuable lessons and wisdom in skills, viewing learning as fearful or
nearly every experience they have.
boring rather than as mental play.
SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS...
STRUGGLING STUDENTS...
7. ..DEVELOP EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE, effectively managing
their emotions in support of their goals
and dreams.
7. ...live at the mercy of strong
emotions such as anger, depression,
anxiety, or a need for instant
gratification.
8. ...BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES,
seeing themselves capable, lovable,
and unconditionally worthy as human
beings.
8. ...doubt their competence and
personal value, feeling inadequate to
create their desired outcomes and
experiences.
From On Course: Strategies for Success in College and in Life (5th ed.)
By Skip Downing
Wise Choices: Beliefs and Behaviors
SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS…
STRUGGLING STUDENTS...
Positive Beliefs
Negative Beliefs
Effective Behaviors
Ineffective Behaviors
Results in Success
Results in getting
off course
Creator and Victim Beliefs and Behaviors
The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances.
We carry the seeds with us in our minds wherever we go. …Martha Washington
SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS...
STRUGGLING STUDENTS...
fadf
adopt
the Creator role,
believing that their choices
create the outcomes and
experiences of their lives.
Ad
accept the Victim role,
believing that external forces
determine the outcomes and
experiences of their lives.
master Creator language,
accepting personal
responsibility for their results.
use Victim language,
rejecting personal responsibility
by blaming, complaining &
excusing.
make decisions carelessly,
make wise decisions,
consciously designing the
future they want.
letting the future happen by
chance rather than by choice.
From On Course: Strategies for Success in College and in Life (5th ed.)
By Skip Downing
Victim or Creator??






I failed the test because my friends made me stay out
partying most of the night.
My car broke down so I took the bus
I got a grade lower than I expected so I discussed it
with my Professor.
I can’t pass math so I guess I’ll have to change my
major.
My boyfriend kept me on the phone al night and now I
failed the test.
The parking on campus is terrible; that’s why I’m always
late to class.

Carol is smarter than I am.

I need help; I’ll ask Carol to help me study.
Victim or Creator??



My roommate is always playing loud music and I can’t study
so I spoke with the RA to see if I could get another roommate
that better matches my needs. In the meantime, I’ll study in
the library.
I’ll try to do better, but it’s no use.
To improve my grade I’ll take good notes, ask questions,
attend every class, start a study group, and talk to my
Professor. If that doesn’t work I’ll try something else.
What might you do to help empower a student
that seems to be stuck in the “Struggling
Student” (Victim) mode?
• I’m failing Psychology 101; I just can’t do it.
• Can you talk to my Professor about why I got a D on the test?
• I have to drop out; I don’t have the money to stay here.
• I am failing English 101, can you do some editing for me?
• I just can’t function; my boyfriend broke up with me.
Activity: Limiting Beliefs
Draw one straight line that touches all three of the stars below:
Summary: Key Concepts



Self-advocacy: having the ability to
identify and meet one’s needs and wants.
(know yourself, know your needs and
wants, know how to get what you need and
want)
Balance: all areas of life are important and
each one supports the whole.
Empowerment: teach others how they
can succeed according to their own terms.
References



Izzo M. & Lamb M. (2002). Raising the bar, Hertafeld, J.A. &Aaron, J.H.
(2002). Self-Determination and Career Development: Skills for Successful
Transitions to Postsecondary Education and Employment. A paper retrieved
July28, 2003 from
http://www.nceset.hawaii.edu/Publications/iindex.htm#papers
Yuan, F. (1994). Moving toward self-acceptance: A course for students with
learning disabilities. Intervention in School and Cliniic, 29, 301-309.
Field, S., Sarver M., & Shaw S. (2003) Self-determination a key to success in
postsecondary education for students with learning disabilities. Remedial
and Special Education, 24, 339-349.
Books:




Getzel, E., & Wehman, P. (2005). Going to college: Expanding opportunities
for people with disabilities. Baltimore, MD:Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Brinkerhoff, L., McGuire, J., & Shaw, S. (2002). Postsecondary education
and transition for students with learning disabilities. Austin, TX: Pro-ed.
Downing, Skip (2008). On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in
College and in Life. By Houghton Mifflin Company.
Hirsch, G. (2001). Helping college students succeed. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota.
Contact Information




Julia Kothe, CCP, Assistant Director
kothe@cahs.colostate.edu, 491-3469
Cynthia Tate, CCP, Research Associate
cspang@cahs.colostate.edu, 491-6447
ACCESS Project at Colorado State University
• Department of Occupational Therapy
• Colorado State University
• accessproject@colostate.edu
• http://www.accessproject.colostate.edu/
This presentation was developed with funding from the
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary
Education
(Grant # P333A050015).