Self Advocacy
What does it mean to self-advocate?
Speaking up or expressing your wants and needs.
What does flexible thinking mean?
Being able to adjust your thinking/plans when they change and accepting it.
Why is having good hygiene, routine, and self-care important?
It improves your confidence, allows yourself to know what is coming next, builds a good foundation/relationship with yourself.
What does emotional regulation mean?
Managing your thoughts and feelings.
Why is it important to explain why you need help?
It helps others understand your request and gives them a clear picture.
Bonus Question: what is one thing you are looking forward to this summer?
Sounds fun!
Does the relationship with yourself effect other relationships (e.g. family, friends, community members, etc.)?
Yes!
Name 2 strategies you can use to calm down?
A variety of answers (e.g. take a walk, drink water, breathing strategies, break, etc.)
What are some important things you should remember to do when advocating?
Ask yourself what you are going to ask/what are my needs?
Use respectful words.
Thank them for their time.
What is rigid thinking?
Not accepting the change and becoming upset because it didn't go as planned.
Can positive self-talk improve your confidence, if so why?
Yes, thinking positively improves the way you think of yourself and boosts your confidence.
What's the difference between a calming strategy and alerting strategy?
Calming strategies: Helps calm you down when you are feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, etc.
Alerting strategies: Help wake you up and get your body more alert.
Give an example of a time you advocated for yourself while at school?
A variety of correct responses
How do you advocate with the people around you? (e.g. in person, over email, text, online platforms, etc.)? Does it look different between people?
Great!
What's the difference between growth mindset and fixed mindset?
Growth Mindset is thinking that you can always improve. Accepting that you will make mistakes, but you can learn from those.
Fixed mindset is thinking you are who you are and you can't improve your skills.
One strategy you can use is thinking of your "happy Place". What is your happy place?
Awesome!
During a group project, you are given a task that you are not comfortable doing. You know that there are other tasks open and want to ask to change. What is a good way to advocate for yourself in this situation?
Calmly ask to change your task and state that you don't feel comfortable doing the one you currently have.
You plan to get homework done in the morning when you wake up but your teacher unexpectedly plans a mandatory meeting at the same time. How do you handle this situation in a flexible way?
Change my homework plans and attend the meeting. Plan a new time for homework.
Bonus Question: what has been your favorite topic/most interesting topic we covered this year?
Thanks for working hard all year!
You are playing video games and in the middle of a game the power goes out. You get super upset because that is the farthest you have ever made it in the game. What strategy would you use or how would you react in this situation?
Use a calming strategy, walk away, breath, etc.