Teach your older students to effectively self-advocate in any setting or situation with this Self-Advocacy Life Skills Worksheet Activities and Social Problem Solving Scenarios Lesson.

I am a high school speech language therapist in a special education school. I work with many students who find social emotional learning and executive functioning skills challenging. One way we tackle this is by practicing self-advocacy skills. My goal is to foster independence speaking up and advocating for themselves to get the help they need in all settings.

I wanted a way to help them not only learn to self-advocate, but to do it effectively. Many of my students have learned to express themselves over the years, but are vague in their expression and forget to include enough detail. They haven't quite mastered what to say in different situations to ask for help and inform others exactly what they need. This leaves others confused and the students' needs unmet.

This self-advocacy lesson breaks speaking up into a simple and easy-to-follow self-advocacy formula. Students will quickly learn the 3 steps of the formula and be able to:

- Understand self-advocacy and locate self-advocacy details within various statements and questions.

- Discriminate between self-advocacy statements/questions that are effective
and detailed/specific and those that are too vague and do not tell others what you need and how they can help you.

- Apply this self-advocacy formula to various problem solving scenarios at home, school, work, and in the community. Students will learn to problem solve what to say in various functional situations and settings.

This lesson/activity includes:

- A Color and a B&W version

- Mini-lesson/Self-Advocacy Formula

- Many examples to model effective use of the self-advocacy formula

- Worksheets to understand and recognize effective self-advocacy

- Scenarios to practice using the self-advocacy formula - written tasks and role play scenario cards included

- Self-Advocacy Formula Template

- Printable and has been designed to easily be used digitally on any interactive whiteboard with any digital annotation tool or app.

I am seeing significant improvement in my own students now that they are using this self-advocacy formula. Breaking it down into its parts and then practicing expressing themselves with detail is getting much easier for them! I hope it does the same for your students!

Thank you for your interest! Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Looking for more Self-Advocacy/Problem Solving Resources?

• Self-Advocacy VISUAL AID - For All Ages
• Self-Advocacy Picture Card Practice Activities & Games - 5 Activities - 2 Task Card Activities and 3 Card Games
• Self-Advocacy At WORK - Self-Advocacy at Work Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy At SCHOOL - Self-Advocacy at School Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy in the COMMUNITY - Self-Advocacy in the Community Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy at HOME - Self-Advocacy at Home Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy SEASONS & HOLIDAYS - Self-Advocacy Seasonal and Holiday Scenario Cards Expansion Pack

You may also be interested in:

• Master Email Skills - Formal Email Writing with Scenarios, Parts of an Email, Email Templates, Email Time Management, Public vs. Private, Online Safety Skills
• Perspective Taking To Guide Actions and Words - SEL Perspective Taking Skills Activities | Lesson, Visual Aids, 80 Scenario Cards
• Nonverbal Communication Social Cues Dice Games - Dice Games with a Focus on Facial Expressions, Tone of Voice, and Intonation

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Follow my page for updates and discounts on products! 

• My Speech Therapy Go-Tos

This Self-Advocacy Activities & Games |Social Problem Solving Picture Scenario Cards resource provides multiple engaging and fun ways to help your students practice turning their thoughts and feelings into expressive self-advocacy statements.

I use these self-advocacy activities with my special education students in middle and high school who benefit from extra practice expressing their thoughts, feelings, and needs. Each card has a picture to represent the scenario for additional visual support.

Don't let your students struggle in silence! Empower them with the confidence to self-advocate in all settings and situations and get their needs met and their feelings heard!

Self-Advocacy Picture Card Topics include:

• Feelings
• Self Regulation
• Sensory Needs
• Accommodations
• Getting Help
• Wants and Needs

Self-Advocacy Activities and Games Included:

3 Decks of Cards:

A) Multiple Choice Picture Scenario Task Cards (30 Cards) - Given a thought, choose the most effective self-advocacy statement from a field of 2.

B) Open-Ended Picture Scenario Task Cards (30 Cards) - Given a thought, create an effective self-advocacy statement/expression.

C) Picture Card Games - 60 Cards (3 Ways to Play - Directions Included)

1. Matching Game - 1+ player(s)

2. Memory Game - 1+ player(s)

3. Group Card Game - 2+ players

All activities include the same 30 scenarios to allow students to maintain familiarity with the cards and gain independence as they move through the different skill levels and activities.

* It is highly recommended to download the Self-Advocacy Sentence Starter Prompts Visual Support, as it pairs well with this resource to assist students as they learn to independently generate self-advocacy statements in a variety of situations and settings.

Thank you for your interest! Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You may also be interested in:

• Nonverbal Communication Social Cues Dice Games - Dice Games with a Focus on Facial Expressions, Tone of Voice, and Intonation
• Classmate BINGO - Social BINGO Game Customized to Your Students' Personal Information and Interests

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Follow my page for updates and discounts on products! 

• My Speech Therapy Go-Tos

Teach your students to effectively self-advocate with this Self-Advocacy VISUAL SUPPORT Asking for Help Sentence Starter Prompts SEL Skills resource. Help your students speak up and get the help they need with these sentence starter prompts.

This visual aid will best serve students if used across various settings - in therapy rooms, classrooms, worksites, at home, and beyond. The more carryover, the more generalization will occur!

Students can quickly reference it when they need help self-advocating. It is designed in a simple way to quickly and easily guide students as they generate self-advocacy statements.

Help increase your students' confidence to get their voices heard, ask for help, and get their needs met!

Color and B&W versions included.

Thank you for your interest! Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Looking for more Self-Advocacy/Problem Solving Resources?

• Self-Advocacy Skills BUNDLE - A collection of resources dedicated to helping older students confidently and effectively self-advocate in a variety of settings.
• Self-Advocacy - Learn to Self-Advocate - Lesson and Practice Activities for Older Students
• Self-Advocacy At WORK - Self-Advocacy at Work Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy At SCHOOL - Self-Advocacy at School Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy in the COMMUNITY - Self-Advocacy in the Community Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy at HOME - Self-Advocacy at Home Scenario Cards Expansion Pack
• Self-Advocacy SEASONS & HOLIDAYS - Self-Advocacy Seasonal and Holiday Scenario Cards Expansion Pack

You may also be interested in:

• Nonverbal Communication Social Cues Dice Games - Dice Games with a Focus on Facial Expressions, Tone of Voice, and Intonation
• Describing Action Photos | WHO WHAT WHERE Sentence Building Template Visual Aid - A visual aid designed to help students easily describe action photos and target sentence expansion.
• Classmate BINGO - BINGO Game Customized to Your Students

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Follow my page for updates and discounts on products! 

• My Speech Therapy Go-Tos

These Nonverbal Communication Social Cues Facial Expressions Tone of Voice Dice Games are an effective and fun way to teach your students to use and understand hidden feelings / meanings disguised behind nonverbal communication / cues. These social cues dice games focus on facial expressions, tone of voice, and intonation.

These dice games are helpful for students who have difficulty picking up on nonverbal communication or social cues, such as body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and intonation.

Students will strengthen their social inferencing skills. They will gain practice listening to tone of voice / intonation and observing facial expressions to detect and infer what a person is REALLY feeling and thinking.

Students will also learn to effectively use nonverbal communication / social cues to change the meaning behind their own words.

What's Included?

• 1 mini lesson about tone of voice and intonation
• 1 facial expressions / emotions visual aid
• 4 different games to provide a ton of practice both receptively and expressively! (One of the activities alone provides 108 unique practice trials!)
• Feelings included: confused, upset, angry, excited, nervous, annoyed, calm, bored, amused
• Color and BW Versions

Thank you for your interest! Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You may also be interested in:

• Perspective Taking To Guide Actions and Words - SEL Skills Activities | Lesson, Visual Aids, 80 Scenario Cards
• Self-Advocacy - Lesson, Activities, & Scenarios for Older Students
• Classmate BINGO - BINGO Game Customized to Your Students
• Data Collection Sheet & Attendance Sheet BUNDLE - Quickly & Easily Keep Months of Data on 1 Sheet / Log Attendance for the Entire School Year on 1 Sheet

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Follow my page for updates and discounts on products! 

• My Speech Therapy Go-Tos

This Perspective Taking & Empathy Activities Social Problem Solving Scenario Cards resource will teach your older students the self-reflection skills necessary to make good decisions that will have a positive impact on others. Your students will learn to be proactive thinkers and consider others' feelings, thoughts, and point of view.

Your Students Will:

- Learn to use self-reflection and self-talk to guide what they say and do in real time.

- Make positive and responsible choices that will lead to positive outcomes.

- Learn to quickly assess any situation in real time.

- Gain stronger self-awareness, self-regulation, self-control, understanding, situational awareness, and social awareness skills.

- See an improvement in empathy, maturity_, professionalism, responsibility, relationships, friendships, and self-esteem._

What's Included?

1. Perspective Taking Lesson

2. One-Page Self-Reflection Flow Chart Visual Aid - Easy-to-follow Perspective Taking Steps To Guide Actions & Words

3. One-Page Self-Reflection Graphic Organizer Worksheet

• Great for use with the scenario cards or custom scenarios
• I love to use this in real time with my students when they are struggling to self-monitor and break down their plan.

4. Perspective Taking Steps Visual Support Boards - 3 Differentiated Levels of Support to reach all learners

• Maximal Support
• Moderate Support
• Minimal Support

5. 80 Perspective Taking Scenario Cards (covering a variety of people in a variety of settings):

• Family, Relatives, Friends, Neighbors, Teachers, Therapists, School Staff, Classmates, Community Workers, Strangers, Co-workers, Bosses Supervisors, etc.
• At Home (24 scenarios), At School (24 scenarios), In the Community (16 scenarios), At Work (16 scenarios - for HS students)

This Resource...

* is Printable for hands on engagement

* can easily be used digitally on any interactive whiteboard or with any digital annotation tool or app.

* is most useful for teaching perspective taking skills to middle school and high school students.

How to Use This Resource:

1. Choose a scenario card - Each scenario is presented as something you are ABOUT to do or say.

2. Consider if your plan will have a positive or negative impact on others by answering proactive thinking questions (use the one-page graphic organizer worksheet or the visual support boards to guide your self-reflection).

3. Based on your answers, decide if you should KEEP or CHANGE your plan.

Perspective taking can be difficult for many students, especially those with executive functioning challenges. Perspective taking requires a person to think ahead and beyond their own desires and viewpoints to gain a deeper understanding of others, the world around them, and their impact on people.

This social emotional skills scenarios and practice activity resource will equip students with understanding and respect for perspective taking, empathy, flexible thinking, situational awareness, and social problem solving. Through guided steps, it emphasizes proactive thinking in real time. It helps shape students into empathetic thinkers who consider others' feelings and thoughts BEFORE choosing actions or words.

* I use this Perspective Taking & Empathy resource DAILY with my high school students. It has led to a different more empathetic way of thinking for them. It is incredibly rewarding to watch my students learn to self-monitor and grow into mature, kind, patient, and understanding young adults right before my eyes. I hope you have the same success with your students!

Thank you for your interest! Enjoy!

* This resource is part of a Social Emotional Learning and Executive Functioning Practice Activities BUNDLE - Check it out to see this resource and more (and to save!)

You may also be interested in:

• Self-Advocacy VISUAL AID - Self-Advocacy Sentence Starter Prompts For All Ages
• Self-Advocacy MEGA BUNDLE - Lesson, Visual Supports, Games, Activities, and Scenario Cards for Older Students - Scenarios covering a variety of situations that could arise at home, in school, in the community, at work, and during different seasons and holidays.  
• Nonverbal Communication - Mini Lesson & Dice Games - Facial Expressions, Tone of Voice, Intonation
• If You Could Only Choose One - Social Questions Opinion Sharing Game
• Master Email Skills - Formal Email Writing with Scenarios, Parts of an Email, Email Templates, Email Time Management, Public vs. Private, Online Safety Skills

Follow my page for updates and discounts on products! 

• My Speech Therapy Go-Tos