Department of Audiology Faculty Articles
Parent Advocacy, the Professionals' Role—From a Parent's Perspective
ORCID
0000-0001-6770-4377
Publisher
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ISSN
2381-473X
Publication Date
10-2008
Keywords
advocacy, educational accommodations, hearing loss, intervention services, parent advocacy, technology
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.
DOI
10.1044/hhdc18.2.63
Volume
18
Issue
2
First Page
63
Last Page
68
Disciplines
Communication Sciences and Disorders | Medicine and Health Sciences | Speech and Hearing Science | Speech Pathology and Audiology
NSUWorks Citation
East, Nan Ellen D. and Nicholson, Nannette, "Parent Advocacy, the Professionals' Role—From a Parent's Perspective" (2008). Department of Audiology Faculty Articles. 67.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_aud_facarticles/67
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