1. Briefly, describe the individual or group that is/are the focus of your advocacy and the plan you have developed for the advocacy effort. At my site placement, I have a significant population of low-functioning autistic students who are kept in contained classrooms with extremely limited interaction with other students in mainstream classrooms. Some of the students in the school make disparaging and inappropriate comments about the autistic students. From my time spent at my site placement, I believe these comments have arisen because the low-functioning autistic students are in a way excluded from their peers. As I began to notice the frequency of these incidents, I felt obligated to discover a way to have these students collaborate and understand each other s worldviews. Although I do believe some of the seclusion is necessary for their academic success, these autistic students would also benefit from interacting with other students. In order to substantiate this advocacy plan with more data, teachers and administration would have to report incidences to the counseling department. In my advocacy plan, my overall idea was to pair each autistic student with a student from a regular education classroom (with parental consent) to work collaboratively on various projects (i.e. reading, art, music) to promote a positive relationship and improve overall school climate. After additional screening, the student volunteers would preferably be third to fifth grade students and recommended by their teacher. Additionally, each student would complete an application to explain why he/she would be an exemplary candidate for the program. Once the group was selected, I would coordinate times with the involved teachers to decide when the students could meet with their Fish Buddy so the autistic students can become acclimated to the change in their schedules. Also, each pair of students would need an adult supervisor in case they needed to intervene and to monitor students work. As the program began, the students
would collaborate together to complete activities such as reading a book, completing an art project, playing outside, etc. with their Fish Buddy. In order to promote this program my administration and staff, I would discuss how fostering these relationships between these groups of students would improve the overall school climate. Also, to gain more support for the program, I will ask the teachers to provide times that would not be disruptive to their schedules. 2. What issue or issues (moral and/or legal) underpin your advocacy plan? Primarily, my focus is eradicating the stigma some of the students have placed on the low-functioning autistic students. Since some of my students tease and become scared of the low-functioning autistic students, I want to incorporate this program into my classroom guidance curriculum pertaining to accepting differences. As the program began, I would have to consult with the IDEA s procedural safeguards to ensure the safety of well being of the students. 3. What data do you have that supports the need for the advocacy identified in your plan? Thus far I have only monitored teacher and student accounts of incidences. However, I would ask the teachers to collect data and/or report when incidents occur at my school. To ensure it is not inconvenient for teachers, they would be provided with a Google document to input the incident reports. If this data collection is ineffective, I would create a survey to assess the number of incidences the teachers have observed and recommend students for the program. 4. What do you hope to accomplish as a result of your advocacy efforts? What are your objectives? As a result of my advocacy efforts, I hope to create a happier, safer school climate for the students at my school. I categorically believe the regular education students would be more accepting of the low-functioning autistic students if they understand and could empathize with their daily struggles. In regards to my objectives, I would like to reduce the number of reports of
teasing (pertaining to autistic students) and increase the students overall acceptance of others differences. 5. What are the barriers that must be overcome if advocacy is to be successful? In order for this program to be successful, the potential barriers I would have to overcome would be lack of parental and staff support, lack of student interest, and lack of data. It would be difficult to implement the program and schedule meeting times if the staff and other stakeholders are resistant to the program. In addition to this, my program would not function without students volunteering to participate and partner with a Fish Buddy. As for data collection, the teachers might have inconsistent data collection, thus inhibiting the purpose and drive behind the program. 6. Are potential collaborators in the advocacy process included in your plan? Yes; teachers, parents, and administration. 7. What risks are associated with the advocacy effort to you personally and the counseling program? What are the potential rewards? The risks associated with the advocacy to me personally and the counseling program could be the staff becoming frustrated with the interruption in their schedules and the request to collect data. Also, if the program does not end well, the students parents could potentially complain about my program to the administration. However, the potential rewards would be stakeholders support for my counseling program in the future and an overall improved school climate amongst the students and staff. 8. In order to be successful, advocates must have certain dispositions. These are: a. the belief that advocacy is a part of their jobs 9 b. a commitment to their code of ethics 10
c. the belief that the purpose of education and school counselors specifically is to empower students and their family 9 d. the belief that caring should underpin educational and counseling practice 7 e. a passionate approach to helping. 10 Using a 1-10 scale with 1 being low and 10 being high, please rate your dispositions. Will any of your dispositions have to be strengthened for your advocacy plan to be successful? I will have to strengthen my belief that caring should underpin educational and counseling practices. In order to do so, I categorically believe I will have to integrate more systemic change aspects to my comprehensive school counseling program/ 9. Advocacy efforts often require specific skills such as a. assertive communication 8 b. systematic problem solving 8 c. small problem-solving group leadership 9 d. conflict resolution 10 e. forming advocacy teams 9 f. data and information collection 7 g. collaborative leadership skills 10 Using a 1-10 scale, with 1 being low and 10 being high, please rate your skills in these areas. What specific skills will be needed in the advocacy process that you have outlined? Overall, I think each of the aforementioned skills is essential and critical to the success of advocacy efforts. By integrating these skills into the process of creating, implementing, and assessing an advocacy program, the likelihood of creating a successful program would significantly increase.
10. What evaluation method(s) could be used to determine the effectiveness of your advocacy effort? At the conclusion of the program, I would create a staff survey to assess how the school climate had improved and the number of incidences of students teasing the autistic students (including comment section to discuss the program s strengths and areas of improvement). Additionally, I would interview the student volunteers in the program to evaluate if their perceptions of low-functioning autistic students and their acceptance of other s differences had improved.