10/1/16

In the 5 specific areas of self-advocacy, past blogs looked at Preferential Seating and Equipment Management.  Let’s consider Self-Knowledge.  Why should we spend time working on this?  At IEP meetings, I’ve been asked “Why should Susie be pulled out of the classroom to work on this?”  My answer lies in social-emotional development – specifically self-esteem.

In my experience children who don’t think highly of themselves or value themselves don’t use their accommodations and don’t repair communication breakdowns.  They worry about what others will think if they call attention to themselves in this manner.  There is a further consequence to this:  research has shown that we act in accordance with what we believe about ourselves.

Let’s look closer at what self-esteem is:

              

 

I have had students tell me they are stupid or think it’s their fault they have a hearing loss because they do not have the basic factual information of how we hear and how their ears work differently.  Here are some resources that I’ve used to teach this information.

 

I love these three books because of their positivity of their message.

The overall goal of Self-Knowledge is for the student to understand and manage his hearing loss in the context of positivity.