Tips for Effective Advocacy

The term “advocate” comes from the Latin word for legal counsellor. It means one who supports, pleads the case of, defends, or vindicates someone else. At one time or another, parents of gifted children find that they need to advocate for their children. This necessity can arise at anytime in the educational journey - in the early stages of the identification process, during placement decisions, when requesting additional support from the teacher, or asking for different programming to meet the child’s needs. Advocating for change to their children’s education can be overwhelming and intimidating for parents. Parents may feel powerless to effect change within the school system, which has many layers of reporting relationships, mountains of policies and procedures and years of historical status quo.

Being an effective advocate starts with approaching advocacy as a methodical process. In December 2002, Lynn Ziraldo, Executive Director for the Learning Disabilities Association York Region, came to speak at the ABC York Region South parents’ meeting about effective advocacy. The following summarizes her “Tips to be an Effective Advocate” with elaboration from several articles about advocating for gifted children.

1. Believe in yourself – one person can do a lot. You must not feel defeated before you start and you must enter each exchange feeling that you are an important part of the solution.
2. Identify the unmet needs or rights. Dr. Joan Franklin Smutny writes in her article “Communicating Effectively with Your Gifted Child’s School” that the best place to start is with your child. She advises that you should talk to your child about whatever problem they are having in school and try to get them to be as specific as possible. Talk to your child about the action you would like to take and discuss the options. Ask them what they would change to make school more interesting and you may be surprised at the answers. Karen B. Rogers, Ph. D. writes in her article “Tips for Parents: Preparing Schools for Your Highly Gifted Child” that it is important when approaching the school to come prepared with evidence of your child’s gifts or talents. You will need to show evidence of your child’s cognitive functioning levels, current subject matter interests, learning preferences, and personal characteristics. That way, you are prepared to answer factually when you are asked why you think your child is gifted.
3. Be systematic – know and build your case by narrowing down the problem, doing your homework and documenting the facts. Narrowing down the problem could involve further testing of the child to uncover areas of strengths and needs, providing concrete evidence of untapped potential that goes beyond the usual symptom of boredom in the classroom. Doing your homework involves finding out what your school board’s policies are for identifying and meeting the needs of gifted students. It is also useful to review the Special Education portion of the Education Act on the Ministry of Education web site to understand what legislation is currently in place to meet the needs of gifted children. It can be found at www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/regs.html. Of interest, another author Toni Goodman, states that parents should “never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity”. Acknowledging the difference between ignorance and malice is critical if parents are to advocate effectively for their children. This is another reason why it is important to do thorough research into what your child’s rights are and stick to the facts of the case you are presenting. It is entirely possible that the teacher and/or principal may not always be aware of what the school board or government legislation requires them to do in terms of support for exceptional children.
4. Know your resources and allies – identify the key players in the decision making process. This includes starting with the teacher. Knowing a little bit about the teacher’s attitude toward gifted education can help you plan your strategy as you move forward. You may find an ally or you will gain some insight to the reasons for the resistance you may encounter as you work through the process. Dr. Smutny elaborates that teachers face many demands on their time and do not respond well to being told outright that they are not doing enough in the classroom. On the other hand, the gifted child has legitimate needs that the school should address and it is your job as a parent to go and advocate for change when these needs are not being met. Instead of stating “my son is really bored in math” a more productive approach would be “my son already knows this material in math and since he really loves this subject, I wondered if we could discuss other options”.
5. Be assertive and communicate well – an assertive person clearly states a viewpoint but takes into account other viewpoints as well, working for the right outcome co-operatively. Smutny advises that parents should keep the discussion focussed on the specifics of the child’s characteristics and needs rather than on a general philosophical debate about gifted education.
6. Establish a strategy – formulate a desirable solution, put in the time needed for refinement, compromise and debate, and negotiate clearly. You may find it useful to review a book about effective negotiating, like Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In by Fisher, Ury and Patton. It is important to respect the “chain of command” and start with the teacher, proceeding upwards until you reach an acceptable solution for your child. This can mean meetings with the principal, touching base with your SEAC representative, and potentially meetings with the Special Education Co-ordinator, Superintendent of Schools, Superintendent in charge of Special Education for the school board and in some cases, Education Officers with the Ministry of Education.
7. Develop problem solving and conflict resolution skills. Remember to separate the people from the problem, focus on interests not positions. Try to work together to create options that will satisfy both parties. In her article “Supporting Gifted Education through Advocacy”, author Sandra L. Berger outlines the pitfall of using an adversarial rather than a persuasive approach. She states that the attitude of trying to win through intimidation almost always backfires. She elaborates that it is very defeating for advocates to display obvious contempt for the school administrators yet expect to receive accommodation to meet their child’s needs. Such actions are destructive to any progress and can be particularly deadly if the advocate is speaking on behalf of a gifted child, as the words gifted, talented, and exceptional can evoke fear of elitism.
8. Keep a paper trail – your record-keeping can help keep you on track and can also be a tool to inform others. The Learning Disabilities Association of Toronto publishes an advocacy workbook called Under the Rainbow Advocacy Workbook. It was written by Cora Koculym and Georgina Rayner and is an interactive profiling diary where parents can keep track and organize paperwork regarding assessments, preschool history and family milestones, pertinent medical information, testing reports, and the school experience. While written for parents of children with learning disabilities, the advocacy process is equally applicable to parents of gifted children. Particularly useful are the sections about developing useful needs statements and keeping track of Individual Education Plans, Report Cards and the section of tips for effective communication called “Let’s Talk Talking”.
9. Follow-up – you need to monitor any change, evaluate, adapt, and build. The communication feedback loop is important, and you should establish a timeline for evaluating the progress of any changes. You may be blazing a trail for others to receive better programming. You must be patient as change takes time. You may not get agreement to all of the changes you are requesting within the same school-year, sometimes change takes place over many years and it can be taxing to be patient while it is a child’s needs that are going unmet.
10. Learn from others – join advocacy groups. Networking with other parents who share similar concerns can help. Schools can be reluctant to make changes for just one student but may be more interested in providing modifications to the status quo if there is a broader need. Start with your local ABC chapter and you should also contact your ABC SEAC Representative (Special Education Advisory Committee) who can provide advice about procedures and protocols for specific service alternatives in your school board.