Ideas for Advocating for Students with Complex Access Needs

- Hey y'all, it's Ayo here with tips and strategies, so you can survive and thrive in SPED. And today we're talking about advocating for students. (upbeat music) All right, so one of the strategies, that you wanna make sure that you use, is to make sure that, your students centered classroom is set up. How do you do that? Well, you wanna make sure that, you're meeting the needs of your students academically, you're meeting the needs, of your students social and emotionally. And also that you're advocating for them, to be in the best placement. And by advocating for that, it means that you are advocating beyond your four walls. That takes us to strategy number two. Awareness is huge. You are going to have to make other people aware, of the needs of the students, and how to best meet their needs. Again, is this in the best interest of kids? Strategy number three. Make sure you're advocating for your student, when they leave your classroom. Your students might be in self contained, going out for specials. They might be out in the greater community for inclusion. They might be going out for lunch and recess. At some point they're gonna leave your classroom, and you have to advocate for them, when they're outside of your four walls too. Strategy number four. Be ready to advocate. Now, when your students leave the classroom, you've gotta be prepared to advocate for them. That means that you're gonna have to ask hard questions, have difficult conversations. And again ask yourself, are you putting students first. Strategy number five. Make sure you include "the Village". You wanna make sure, you're including all of the decision makers. The SLP, the AAT, the OT, all of the T's should be involved, in your decision making process. Because it takes everyone, to make your students successful, and an advocate for what's in their best interest. So there you have it. The strategies you need to implement, if you're gonna advocate for your students, and put student needs first. This is Ayo telling you to stay strong and teach on. (upbeat music).