Supporting Self-Advocacy Through Strategic Conversations: A Guide for College Instructors Working with Students with Disabilities

Why Do I Have to Write That?: Compositionists Identify Disconnects between Student and Instructor Conceptions of Research Writing that Can Inform Teaching

Self-advocacy skills are essential for students with disabilities to effectively communicate their needs and obtain necessary accommodations, which are crucial for their academic success and independence. Despite the importance of these skills, students with high-incidence disabilities, including learning disabilities (LD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), often enter the postsecondary education environment lacking the self-advocacy skills required to request accommodations. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of self-advocacy instruction using the Self-Advocacy and Conflict Resolution (SACR) training on the self-awareness of college students with LD and ADHD regarding their self-advocacy knowledge and skills. Participants were three first or second-year college students with high-incidence disabilities who had minimal experience requesting academic accommodations. Using a pre/post survey, the study measured participants' perceptions of their self-advocacy abilities before and after instruction. The results demonstrated a significant increase in participants' self-reported confidence and skills across several domains: self-identification, requesting and using accommodations, communication, and conflict resolution. Potential implications for self-advocacy instruction are discussed.

Abstract: This survey study investigated understanding and use of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), self-advocacy, self-determination, and campus resources by college students with disabilities. Thirty-one students registered with a student disability office at a Midwestern state university completed an anonymous survey. Thirty-two percent of participants reported that they knew how to advocate for their own education before beginning college. A majority of participants displayed strong understanding of self-determination, self-advocacy, and campus resources, but reported a weak understanding about the ADA. Participants reported stronger agreement on their use of self-determination and self-advocacy skills than on campus resources. Their lowest score was for their use of self-advocacy skill when their legal rights had to be voiced. These students’ lack of understanding of their legal rights and limited self-advocacy skills in protecting their legal rights suggest implications for both transition services in high school and support services at the college level.

Critical thinking (CT) in sustainable higher education: Ensuring consistent CT perception-practice and identifying gaps between college instructors' and students' perceptions in advanced academic writing courses in the UAE

Many college campuses are striving to recruit and retain a diverse student population, and one population making its presence known are students with disabilities. As a result of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, students with disabilities are ensured equal access to education through the removal of architectural barriers and the provision of reasonable accommodations. Despite the existence of these laws, however, many students with attention deficit disorder (ADD) choose not to request classroom accommodations from professors. Students choose not to disclose out of fear of having inaccurate labels placed on them, being accused of faking their disability to obtain an unfair advantage in school, and experiencing non-supportive classroom settings where professors appear cold toward students with disability needs. To help understand why some students choose to disclose while others do not, this study explored student comfort levels and self-advocacy skills in requesting classroom accommodations among students with ADD at a large public four-year university in the southwestern United States. Four specific research questions guided this investigation: (1) What has been the student's comfort level in sharing confidential information with faculty? (2) What is the student's knowledge about ADD and does it appear to be sufficient for the student to self-advocate for classroom accommodations? (3) Do students find the campus environment supportive in providing academic accommodations? (4) How does a student's comfort level, self-advocacy skills, and satisfaction with the campus environment, together with student demographics, influence disclosure? To answer these questions, this study applied both quantitative and qualitative research techniques to survey data collected from 97 students with ADD. The results of the analysis suggest that students with ADD disclose on a need-to-know basis; however before making the decision to disclose, students usually evaluate the classroom environment. Furthermore, students are not very familiar with Federal laws that ensure them reasonable accommodations, and not surprisingly, are not very effective in describing their ADD to professors. However, students have found professors fairly willing to provide classroom accommodations, even though they are only somewhat knowledgeable on disability issues.

Many individuals with an intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are attending postsecondary education programs, yet they are not always proficient in using self-advocacy skills, such as requesting an academic accommodation. Access to these accommodations is vital for success in the postsecondary settings. Literacy based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) use a combination of print, visuals, and rehearsal and are an effective tool for teaching a range of skills including job skills to this population, but have not been investigated with a self-advocacy skill. In this study, a pre-service teacher was taught to deliver an LBBI to postsecondary students with IDD so they would learn to request and use a free online tool to record class lectures. Results showed that students were able to master the skill with the pre-service teacher delivered LBBI and maintain the skill after removal of the LBBI.

The purpose of this research was to assess the extent to which the college instructor is able to influence the opinions of his students in evaluating a task. The Ss were enrolled in seven college classes of a standard course in science methods and materials. The familiar task to be evaluated was a television lesson in science. By in troducing the lesson with positive or negative comments, the instructor was able to exert a significant influence on the students' evaluations of the lesson. The instructor's influence, positively and negatively, was enhanced through the support of a student confidant. The findings of this study point to the relative ease with which a college in structor can manipulate the judgments of his students. IN STUDYING opinion change through the manipulation of social settings, many investiga tors have concentrated on the effects of group in fluence on individual Asch (2) main tained that all the social sciences take their de parture from the observation of the profound effects that groups exert on their members. While few researchers would find fault with this position, the effects exerted by individual status leaders on the group should be worthy of equal attention. That groups can and do exert profound influ ences on molding individual opinion has been demonstrated in numerous experiments. For ex ample, Asch (2) found that when groups of col lege students, through prearranged instructions, gave incorrect answers to simple perceptual prob lems, a significant number of individuals, not a party to the prearrangement, responded to group pressure by giving incorrect answers in line with the unanimous responses of the group. Although the subjects in these experiments were college students, the situation was not that of a true classroom group. Because the results of many such experiments are not derived directly from true classroom situations, we must exercise cau tion in interpreting these findings in terms of classroom behavior. Moreover, this type of re search does not reveal the extent to which a status leader or authority figure, such as the teacher in a classroom, can influence the opinions of his students.

College students with disabilities experience significant challenges during the transition from high school to college. Between changes in social and academic demands, along with differences in accommodations available at the college level, college students with disabilities are vulnerable to negative outcomes in postsecondary education. Transition planning at the high school level can help students prepare for and adapt to the demands of college. Additionally, perceptions of a positive campus climate are associated with better outcomes for students with disabilities. This study utilized a single school quasi-experimental design to investigate the relationship between quality of transition programming and college outcomes, including student engagement and effective learning strategies. Also investigated was the relationship between campus climate perceptions, student engagement, and effective learning strategies. Finally, differences in the reported experiences of students with various disability diagnoses were compared. Participants were 190 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at a four year public institution. All participants completed The Student Engagement Instrument, The College Students with Disabilities Campus Climate Survey, and The College Learning Effectiveness Inventory. The 85 participants who reported receiving special education services in high school also completed the Quality of Transition Planning Inventory. Higher quality transition planning was positively related to self-advocacy skills, perceptions of faculty teaching practices, and negatively related to feelings of stigma surrounding disability diagnosis. Self-advocacy skills were positively associated with a number of outcome variables, including cognitive engagement, academic self-efficacy, emotional satisfaction, and GPA. Differences were noted in the reports of students with different disability diagnoses. Students with physical and sensory disabilities reported the most self-advocacy, and best perceptions of campus climate and faculty teaching practices, along with the least perceptions of stigma. Students with mental health disability diagnoses reported lower levels of peer support and perceptions of campus climate, along with higher levels of stigma associated with their diagnosis. Implications for practice for high school transition planning teams as well as college disability services personnel and faculty are discussed.

Disability advocacy messaging and conceptual links to underlying disability identity development among college students with learning disabilities and attention disorders

To assess the prevalence and risk factors of cigarette smoking and khat chewing. College based cross sectional. Four colleges found in north west Ethiopia namely Gondar College of Medical Sciences, Gondar College of Teachers Education, Bahr Dar University Engineering Faculty, and Bahr Dar University Education Faculty. All instructors in these colleges. Prevalence of cigarette smoking and khat chewing. Seventy six (42.0%) instructors were either lifetime smokers or lifetime khat chewers or both. The current prevalence rates of cigarette smoking and khat chewing were found to be 13.3% and 21.0%, respectively. The majority of the instructors started smoking (56.8%) and khat chewing (40.0%) while they were senior high school or first year college students. Most of the instructors (82.1%) knew that cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung diseases including lung cancer. Statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was seen between the outcome variable and the independent variables faculty, religion, education status, income and family history of khat chewing. The prevalence of cigarette smoking seemed to decrease among university instructors but the prevalence of khat chewing is almost the same as it was some years ago. Instructors knew the common health risks associated with cigarette smoking. The high schools and colleges should inform their students about the health and socioeconomic problems associated with cigarette smoking and khat chewing. Additionally, college students need counseling service on ways of coping with their problems.

For students with learning disabilities (LD), and /or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) the transition from secondary to postsecondary education presents additional challenges, particularly in acquiring and utilizing academic accommodations. Self-advocacy skills are essential for successfully navigating these educational environments. This study investigated the impact of Self-Advocacy and Conflict Resolution (SACR) instruction, taught in a small group setting, on the ability of three college students with LD and/or ADHD to request and negotiate academic accommodations. Using a single-subject, multiple probe, ABC design, findings indicated an increase in level and trend between SACR instruction and students’ improved accommodation requests during role-play and generalization conditions. Social validity survey data indicated participants found the intervention helped them explain their needs and better understand their disabilities. Limitations, implications for practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

BackgroundThe rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is promising novel contributions to treatment and prevention of mental ill health. While research on the use of conversational and embodied AI in psychotherapy practice is developing rapidly, it leaves gaps in understanding of the impact that creative AI might have on art psychotherapy practice specifically. A constructive dialogue between the disciplines of creative AI and art psychotherapy is needed, to establish potential relevance of AI-bases technologies to therapeutic practice involving artmaking and creative self-expression.MethodsThis integrative review set out to explore whether and how creative AI could enhance the practice of art psychotherapy and other psychological interventions utilizing visual communication and/or artmaking. A transdisciplinary search strategy was developed to capture the latest research across diverse methodologies and stages of development, including reviews, opinion papers, prototype development and empirical research studies.FindingsOf over 550 records screened, 10 papers were included in this review. Their key characteristics are mapped out on a matrix of stakeholder groups involved, elements of interventions belonging to art therapy domain, and the types of AI-based technologies involved. Themes of key significance for AT practice are discussed, including cultural adaptability, inclusivity and accessibility, impact on creativity and self-expression, and unpredictability and imperfection. A positioning diagram is proposed to describe the role of AI in AT. AI’s role in the therapy process oscillates on a spectrum from being a partner in the co-creative process to taking the role of a curator of personalized visuals with therapeutic intent. Another dimension indicates the level of autonomy – from a supportive tool to an autonomous agent. Examples for each of these situations are identified in the reviewed literature.ConclusionWhile creative AI brings opportunities for new modes of self-expression and extended reach of art therapy, over-reliance on it presents risks to the therapy process, including of loss of agency for clients and therapists. Implications of AI-based technology on therapeutic relationship in psychotherapy demand further investigation, as do its cultural and psychological impacts, before the relevance of creative AI to art therapy practice can be confirmed.

Digital distractions are an important and prevalent aspect of college students' lives. Using a self-regulated learning perspective, this chapter provides an in-depth understanding of students' digital distractions in academic settings and highlights how college instructors can empower their students to manage digital distractions and self-regulate their own learning. In particular, the chapter discusses both the causes and consequences of engaging in digital distractions with a focus on the impact of multitasking. In addition, the chapter argues that students' engagement in digital distractions is closely connected to their motivation and emotions. This chapter highlights how college students can regulate their digital distractions throughout the learning process during each phase of self-regulated learning. Finally, the chapter reviews the ways college instructors can support students' management of distractions through their instructional approaches.

CLARK Kerr, former chair of Carnegie Council on Higher Education, recently described community col leges as the great, surging of higher educa tion providing youth service opportunities that bring together now separate streams of work and educa tion (4). Yet, as one reviewer noted, this great surging segment was left out of A Nation at Risk, a controver sial 1983 report on nation's high schools. Prepared by National Commission on Excellence in Educa tion, report scores four-year colleges and universi ties for neglecting to provide leadership in setting standards and monitoring programs that would raise sights of those who set high schools' curricula (Healy 14). The omission of community colleges from report is striking not simply because community col leges currently employ one-third of all college teachers and enroll one-third of all college students but because they have been successfully engaged throughout their century-long history in doing exactly what report claims colleges and universities have failed to do: facilitating entry of high school graduates into worlds of education and work. Why do so many educators continue to discount role of community colleges in higher education despite valuable youth service function they provide? De spite record-setting enrollments in 1970s? Despite innovative approaches to student recruitment and basic skills instruction that have gradually worked their way into even most select universities (Cross 34)? Howard London, in his study of attitudes of community col lege teachers, believes that educators' lack of interest in work of two-year colleges is partly due to these in stitutions themselves. Because recent growth spurt among two-year colleges has been a gangling, awkward, adolescent one complete with problems of self consciousness and self-identity, community college in structors find themselves in a limbo between high schools and four-year colleges and thus have enormous ambiva lence when defining their own roles (London 64). This in-between status is reinforced by hiring practices of community colleges; administrators generally recruit teachers from education layers that sandwich their institutions since there are only about a hundred pro grams expressly designed to train community college in structors. A 1976 survey by Center for Community Colleges shows that 33% of teachers come from high school faculties; 11% from four-year college faculties; 25% from graduate schools (with or without completed degrees); 5% directly from undergraduate institutions; and remaining 25% from trades, government, and industry (Weddington 39-41). Unfortunately, diver sity of two-year teaching personnel and pragmatism Linda Ching Sledge

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face unique challenges transitioning from high school to college and receive insufficient support to help them navigate this transition. Through a participatory collaboration with incoming and current autistic college students, we developed, implemented, and evaluated two intensive week-long summer programs to help autistic students transition into and succeed in college. This process included: (1) developing an initial summer transition program curriculum guided by recommendations from autistic college students in our ongoing mentorship program, (2) conducting an initial feasibility assessment of the curriculum [Summer Transition Program 1 (STP1)], (3) revising our initial curriculum, guided by feedback from autistic students, to develop a curriculum manual, and (4) pilot-testing the manualized curriculum through a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test assessment of a second summer program [Summer Transition Program 2 (STP2)]. In STP2, two autistic college students assumed a leadership role and acted as “mentors” and ten incoming and current autistic college students participated in the program as “mentees.” Results from the STP2 pilot-test suggested benefits of participatory transition programming for fostering self-advocacy and social skills among mentees. Autistic and non-autistic mentors (but not mentees) described practicing advanced forms of self-advocacy, specifically leadership, through their mentorship roles. Autistic and non-autistic mentors also described shared (e.g., empathy) and unique (an intuitive understanding of autism vs. an intuitive understanding of social interaction) skills that they contributed to the program. This research provides preliminary support for the feasibility and utility of a participatory approach in which autistic college students are integral to the development and implementation of programming to help less experienced autistic students develop the self-advocacy skills they will need to succeed in college.