Self-Advocacy Coaching Guide
Help students build the understanding and confidence to communicate their learning needs and ask for support.
This guide includes simple activities designed to help you support student self-advocacy skills. Through practical coaching activities, ready-to-use sentence starters, and real-world scenarios you can help students build confidence in requesting support, and effectively communicating their accommodations to staff and teachers.
Guide
Self-Advocacy Coaching
Resource Audience
Resource Type
Participants
# of Participants
Task Length
What’s Included
- Implementation Guidance & Discussion Prompts: Simple steps to embed self-advocacy into advisory or check-in sessions, including core definitions, key pillars (Know Yourself, Know Your Rights, Speak Up), and initial discussion questions.
- Student-Friendly Sentence Starters: Ready-to-use scripts for students with IEP/504 plans to practice asking for accommodations, handling forgotten supports, overcoming hesitation, and emailing teachers.
- Real-World Role-Play Scenarios: Practical, high school-level scenarios—such as missing visual aids, quiet test spaces, or substitute teachers—complete with reflection questions to build confidence.
- Self-Advocacy Reflection Sheet: A fillable activity sheet helping students identify their learning strengths, pinpoint challenges, map out personal accommodations, and set advocacy goals.
- Parent & Caregiver Guide: A one-page takeaway for families offering strategies to coach students at home, co-write emails, and practice everyday independence skills.
Explore the Know. Support. Advocate. Resources
Help students understand how they learn and communicate what they need.
These tools are designed for educators who support students with IEPs and 504 plans, including special education teachers, case managers, and 504 coordinators. They help turn formal supports into meaningful conversations about learning, accommodations, and self-advocacy. These tools are flexible, strengths-based, and designed to support meaningful collaboration. Use them in the way that best fits your students, your setting, and your existing practice. Use the tools on their own or together to strengthen student voice, shared understanding, and everyday support.
Make Accommodations Meaningful
Learn How to Make Accommodations Meaningful
Mid-Quarter Check-In
This mid-quarter check-in provides an opportunity for case managers to sit down with students and reflect on how their accommodations are working across their classes.
Student Learning Profile
A practical, student-centered tool designed to empower students by helping them to understand their unique strengths, challenges, and learning needs, while giving them a voice in their own education.