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How to Advocate Successfully at School for Your Child with Autism
You want what’s best for your child with autism, but you’re not a teacher or a speech and language pathologist. How do you get the school’s special education team to listen to your ideas? What do you do if you suspect your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) is failing...
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Autism Advocacy Advice for Families of Color
Autism occurs equally in people of different races, ethnicities, and income levels, but autism services are not distributed equally, according to research. As a group, children who are Black, Hispanic, Asian-American, or low-income often receive fewer therapies and services for autism.1-2 They...
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Research-Based Recommendations for Building Self-Advocacy Competence
Self-advocacy, an essential ingredient in our quest for satisfaction and fulfillment in life, is a learned skill that involves self-awareness, social and communication strategies, and behavioral competencies. Self-advocating involves communicating a person’s needs so that another person is able...
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Using Explicit Instruction to Teach Self-Advocacy
Those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can benefit from alternative pedagogy, and the utilization of different approaches for more abstract skills should be a primary focus. Self-Advocacy is a set of skills that involve executive functions, social communication, and adaptive functions....
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Autistic Lived Experience: When I Learned that Helen Keller Believed in Eugenics
To say that learning about this for the first time felt like a punch in the gut is a gross understatement. Though I heard it from what I consider to be a credible source (the PBS documentary series The U.S. and the Holocaust), I nonetheless could not bring myself to believe the truth because I...
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A Call to Action: The Need for Advocacy in Healthcare Access in Autism
Although specific estimates vary substantially, autistic children and adults have a higher prevalence of comorbid medical conditions than those reported in non-autistic individuals. Among the most commonly reported comorbid medical conditions are neurological disorders, including epilepsy,...
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Using Storytelling as a Self-Advocacy Tool
I have always tried to advocate for myself, but I noticed from a very young age that I had difficulties doing so verbally. It takes a while for me to organize my thoughts to be able to speak, and I often say that even though my speaking and writing comes from the same brain, it seems like...
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“Putting Me in My IEP”: Encouraging Self-Advocacy in Younger Students
Parents and guardians may not know that students can participate in their Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meetings at any age and not just during post-secondary transition planning in high school. In describing the IEP team, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act states “the...
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Opportunities for Disability Employment
One of the biggest misconceptions we address as financial advisors to neurodivergent clients is that people with disabling conditions cannot work and receive government benefits and supports. Not only that but that government is trying to make sure that you don’t work if you have a disability....
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Autism Without Fear: A Major Flaw in College Autism Programs
I currently run New York University’s (NYU) Connections Program for Global Students with Autism. But I’m relatively new to higher education. I have a much longer history as a consultant, writer, and Executive Director, and back when my non-profits were engaging in the political battles of the...
