The Effects of Self-Advocacy Instruction on the Self-Reported Feelings of Belonging in the Inclusion Classroom Among Middle School Students with Disabilities

Rationale

The purpose of this study is to examine the academic self-concept of middle grades students with disabilities at an academically rigorous, high - performing school and how self-advocacy instruction impacts their academic self-concept. Oftentimes, students with disabilities struggle to meet academic expectations due to a lack of self-advocacy skills and ultimately, feel disconnected from the school culture. Further, students with a disability often require accommodations to help them perform to grade-level expectations. Accessing accommodations requires students to effectively manage his or her learning environment. Engagement in self-regulatory practices is also a critical key to success in the classroom, as self-regulation is not a fixed measure, like intelligence. Self-regulation, and ultimately self-concept, involves emotion, environment, behavior, and cognition. Therefore, engaging in self-advocacy and self-regulatory behaviors for students with disabilities is critically important because their academic skill deficits may hinder their self-concept and restrain them from engaging in behaviors of self-advocacy.

Self-concept is also closely tied to grades in the classroom, the principal means for which students receive feedback from their teachers. In the middle school years, students are just beginning to learn more about their disability, how it may be impacting them in the classroom, and how to ask for accommodations appropriately and confidently. It is important for teachers and schools to understand how to foster a positive self-concept for students with disabilities and be aware of instructional models to help them. Self-advocacy instruction may help students with disabilities gain a sense of control over their learning outcomes and feel a greater sense of belonging with their peers, their teachers, and their school community.

Context

The participants in this study attend a University Lab School in South Florida. This presents a unique setting, as students are often accepted as they enter Kindergarten and stay at the school through 8th and/or 12th grade. As a university lab school, the mission and vision is to (1) demonstrate best practices in teacher education; (2) innovate, develop, and provide students a challenging curriculum, balanced with innovative academic support; and (3) conduct and support emerging educational research. This study will focus on a small group of students with disabilities at the school. Students with disabilities represent 5% of the total school population. Further, the participants in the study are enrolled in a Learning Strategies class each year from 6th through 8th grades. This is the only class during their school career where students are pulled from their inclusion setting, and students in this class have a diagnosed disability and must have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Self-advocacy lessons embedded in the class and this study will be accompanied by student “challenges” that they will generalize across school settings to show application of skills.

Supportive Literature

Self-Advocacy can be defined as a component of self-determination. Self-Advocacy can be defined as a combination of four facets: (1) knowledge of one’s abilities and needs  sufficient to recognize problems and ways to address them (2) preparedness to pursue the fulfillment of these needs and the solution to these problems; (3) aptitude to communicate to others to solve problems and fulfill needs; and 4) the skills needed to be assertive and the initiator of change (Martin & Huber-Marshall, 1995; Test et  al., 2005). Self-Advocacy skills are also linked to more favorable post school outcomes, and self-advocacy skills are linked to stronger leadership qualities, better problem-solving abilities, and increased independence. For students with high-incidence disabilities, such as Learning Disabilities (LD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD), explicitly taught self-advocacy skills are imperative to academic and social self-concept. Further, self-advocacy skills infused within school curriculum can be more impactful on an individual’s self-concept than experiences with parents, siblings, and in the community. Therefore, self-advocacy training that happens within the school environment can be linked to greater peer acceptance and general academic success.

Learning to independently advocate for their needs and assuming control over their own lives can contribute to success both in the classroom and social emotionally. To significantly impact school and post school outcomes for students with disabilities, the amount of self-advocacy training should be systematic, explicit, and should extend throughout a child’s school career, particularly into the middle and high school grades. Studies also prove that self-advocacy instruction should include opportunities for participants to mentor their peers in self-advocacy training situations (Roberts et al. 2016). Further, best practices in self-advocacy instruction include reinforcement of material by reminding students to apply acquired skills in various situations. When planning self-advocacy instruction, teachers and schools should examine multiple areas in children with disabilities, as problems in one area (e.g. self-concept) can influence others (e.g. mental health, academics, peer groups). Instruction should also start earlier than the identified “transition” years as defines by federal and state legislature. Self-Advocacy instruction should be started earlier in a child’s school year rather than later, to avoid barriers such as decreased motivation and already impaired self-concept commonly seen in middle and high school (Gans et al., 2003).

Research Methods

The research question: “What is the impact of self-advocacy instruction on self-reported feelings of belonging in the inclusion classroom among middle school students with disabilities?” explores the impact of social constructs on students who are labeled with a disability (i.e. Learning disabled, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, etc.) and its impact on an individual’s sense of self and overall academic outcomes. This research also explored themes related to the research question such as the relationship between academic and social self-concept and the impacts of social feelings of belonging on academic achievement and self-advocacy skills.

Study participants were first given a pre-survey with a series of questions to examine their self-reported feelings of belonging at the school level, the teacher/classroom level, and the peer level. Data was then analyzed, and student interviews were conducted based on results of the survey. Students were then provided with 6 weeks of targeted, self-advocacy instruction with associated opportunities to practice and generalize their self-advocacy skills as they related to each lesson. Further, after each opportunity, teachers were interviewed to assess the outcomes of the assignments and student’s abilities to generalize newly learned skills. Students were then provided with a post survey to assess the effectiveness of self-advocacy instruction and any changes in their self-concept. Students were also provided with feedback surveys throughout the instructional weeks to assess their completion of self-advocacy assignments and their perceived self-advocacy skills.

Students were also routinely asked open-ended questions after each lesson including: a) What did you like most about this lesson? b) What did you learn from this lesson? c) What did you like least about this lesson? d) What did you learn from this lesson that you plan to use in the classroom? Student responses were recorded in a google document and some student responses were recorded in the researcher’s journal as the student dictated their answers orally to the researcher. This allowed me to ask clarifying questions if needed and probe students to expand on their answers in a way that they often did not in their typed responses.

Each lesson also had accompanying activity pages or handouts to complete. Student completion for each activity was recorded and this provided me with valuable information about the student’s true understanding of the purpose of each lesson and their learning.

Results

Results indicated that there was a difference in student self-reported feelings of belonging in the classroom before and after implementation of the lessons. Improvement was evident among student self – concept on the peer and classroom/teacher level, however, there was no improvement among student feelings of belonging on the school community level. Further, results from the post-survey indicate that girls felt a stronger sense of belonging among their peer groups regardless of academic performance. Boys reported a lower sense of belonging among their peers due to differences in academic achievement levels. Interestingly, boys also reported a preference for working collaboratively with peers in the classroom rather than on their own when compared with girls. The pre-survey data revealed 65% of students have a positive association with the school community and their sense of belonging. Conversely, only 43% of students have a positive sense of belonging among their peers in the classroom. Further, most students (53%) reported that they need more help and practice asking for their accommodations and 68% of students feel that their accommodations help improve their grades. This shows a disconnect between a student’s ability to self-advocate and their ability to be successful in the classroom. 50% of students reported that they feel confident in their ability to communicate with their teachers, but only 37.5% feel comfortable asking all their teachers for their accommodations when needed.

Implications

An important part of this research was examining the student’s ability to generalize skills across academic settings, with little to no support from their special education teacher. Self-advocacy instruction occurred in the self-contained ESE classroom, with the expectation for students to practice skills in their general education classes. In the future, it would be important for teachers to learn more about the characteristics of students with high incidence disabilities in their classrooms and to take advantage of naturally occurring incidences for students to practice their self-advocacy skills. This would lead to more opportunities to practice; help increase the awareness of teachers in the school setting about their students with disabilities and foster more positive relationships and better school outcomes for students with disabilities. Teachers should also have realistic expectations and remember that the rate of application and skill attainment is based on individual skill levels. Teaching self-advocacy skills should be individualized and each student will require a different level of support or different method of instruction to generalize skills. Updated research about the importance of inclusion practices and student self-concept is important to keep up with the changing landscape of education. With a bigger push for more inclusive schools and classrooms, student self-concept cannot be overlooked. Studies show that children with disabilities who showed more confidence in their abilities and rated themselves as feeling a greater sense of belonging are the ones with more learning needs than their other learning disabled peers. Therefore, it could be determined that students with LD intentionally cope with their academic struggles by trying too hard to fit into peer groupings, rather than improving their academic outcomes at the risk of being socially outcast. As more and more schools push for inclusivity, the impacts of self-concept on academic outcomes should be closely examined and the benefits and potential drawbacks of inclusive settings should be considered.

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