Department of Audiology Faculty Articles

Title

Parent Advocacy, the Professionals' Role—From a Parent's Perspective

ResearchID/ORCID ID

0000-0001-6770-4377

ISBN or ISSN

2381-473X

Volume

18

Issue

2

Publication Date / Copyright Date

10-2008

First Page

63

Last Page

68

Publisher

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

DOI Number

10.1044/hhdc18.2.63

Abstract

One might ask, what is advocacy? How do parents learn how to advocate for their child's needs. If a parent doesn't advocate for her child's needs, who will? Can advocacy skills be taught? If so, how do you teach someone to become an advocate? What are some for the tools that are useful when advocating? As a parent, where do you start? As a professional, how do you guide the parent and lead them to fulfill their role as an advocate? Let's step back for a moment and consider some possible answers to these questions.

What is advocacy? Bartleby's American Heritage Dictionary defines advocacy as "the act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such a cause, idea or policy; active support" (2008). Therefore, the parent advocate can be defined as a parent who argues in favor of technology, intervention, services, and educational accommodations that they believe best meet the unique needs of the individual child. Can advocacy skills be taught? The best answer to this question is one that comes from the voice of experience. Nan Ellen East, parent of a 40-year-old son with hearing loss and executive director of the Arkansas Disability Rights Center shares her perspectives on parent advocacy.

Disciplines

Communication Sciences and Disorders | Medicine and Health Sciences | Speech and Hearing Science | Speech Pathology and Audiology

Keywords

advocacy, educational accommodations, hearing loss, intervention services, parent advocacy, technology

Link to Full Text
Peer Reviewed

 
COinS