Don’t Wait Self-Advocate! Self-Advocacy for Students with Hearing Loss

Self-advocacy helps students with hearing loss ask for the support they need in school, online learning, and everyday life. When students learn to speak up early, they are better prepared to succeed academically, socially, and after graduation

One of the biggest challenges in educating students with hearing loss is advocating for the need for self-advocacy and self-determination instruction, especially for students in the inclusive setting. They will always miss more than their peers; effective self-advocacy is necessary for true inclusion. Individual Education Plans should include BOTH academic and functional skills that are necessary for the student to be successful in the inclusive setting. While IDEA stipulates that students should be assessed using a variety of assessment measures, oftentimes, academic skills take precedence over the need for development in functional skills such as self-advocacy. IEP teams must assess and determine if the student is on track for mastering the skills necessary to go from a system of entitlement to a system of eligibility. Students should not be dismissed from special education services (hearing support) just because their academics are acceptable. This slippery slope can only be navigated with the support of professionals who are able to advocate with IEP teams about the need to educate students on appropriate self-advocacy skills.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s never too late to advocate,” but is it ever too early to advocate? The simple answer is “no”; it’s never too early to teach children with hearing loss to advocate for their needs. The Minnesota Compensatory Skills Checklist, the IOWA Expanded Core Curriculum, and our Guide to Self-Advocacy Skill Development have laid out the necessary skills for building a child’s advocacy toolkit. Starting as early as pre-school, educators and parents can begin helping a child identify their needs and learn how to advocate for what they need for equal access in the school and community.

Self-advocacy skill development is hierarchical. Therefore, what is appropriate to teach in the elementary years is expanded on throughout the students’ K-12 (or age 21) years. For example, in elementary school, a teacher of the deaf and HH (TODHH) might work on helping a student develop their skills for understanding their hearing loss by encouraging the student to identify which ear is the “better” ear or locate sources of background noise, while that same student will be taught in high school that they have rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They’ll learn how to advocate for their needs by being able to explain aided and unaided hearing loss or how their hearing loss impacts their ability to access information across a variety of environments.

The key is ACCESSibility! Empowering students to know their rights and understand their needs related to hearing loss is paramount in building and developing self-determination.

“Some of the most critical soft skills (i.e., nontechnical, interpersonal skills that impact personal performance in an environment such as school or the workplace) that students must acquire as they mature are the skills to act or cause things to happen in their lives. Providing instruction to increase these skills, all part of self-determination, has been found to predict better in-school and post-school outcomes.¹

As students learn about their hearing-related needs, they should be able to develop the ability to self-advocate. Once a student masters a skill, they should have the necessary supports to practice advocating in a variety of settings. Having a support system is critical to the development of self-determination. Students should be learning the skill, practicing the skill, and then adjusting as necessary. According to an article in Odyssey Magazine,² promoting The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction, students develop skills in the categories of “decide, act, and believe.” (Millen et al., 2021)

• Decide:
  • Choice Making
  • Decision Making
  • Problem Solving
  • Goal Setting

  

• Act:
  • Goal Attainment
  • Self-Monitoring
  • Self-Advocacy
  • Problem Solving
• Believe:
  • Self-Awareness
  • Self-Knowledge

According to the article Decide, Act, Believe: Teaching Self-Determination Skills, students should be able to identify goals based on their preferences and abilities. Having the students monitor their own progress allows students to be engaged in the process by seeing the results of their efforts.

The Council for Exceptional Children³ updated the national standards for teachers of deaf and HH students to include teaching and assessing students’ self-determination skills.

All students with hearing loss should have the opportunity to learn age/grade-appropriate self-advocacy skills that will enhance their knowledge of their hearing loss, hearing technology, and communication, and to develop an understanding of appropriate social-emotional skills that are needed for advocacy and self-determination. For more information, go to the articles in the “For Professionals” tab, under self-advocacy skills for children with hearing loss, or click HERE.

Educator Self-Advocacy Skills Checklist

Can the student:

• Explain their hearing loss?
• Describe the accommodations they need?
• Request clarification when information is missed?
• Explain how hearing technology helps?
• Identify communication barriers?
• Participate in IEP discussions? Understand ADA and accommodation rights?

What additional data should be gathered?

• Progress on standards-based goals.
• Progress on curriculum-based measures (CBM).
• Comparison to age-anchored skill development (listening, self-advocacy, device use).
• Observation data (qualitative and quantitative).
• Teacher reports on functional, behavioral, developmental, and academic performance.
• Parent information (e.g., language survey).
• Language samples (spoken, signed, written).
• Student interviews and checklists (e.g., LIFE-R).
• Social-emotional measures.
• Daily records of hearing technology use.

Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Advocacy for Students with Hearing Loss

What are self-advocacy skills for students with hearing loss?
Self-advocacy is a student’s ability to independently manage their learning environment. For a child who is deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), this includes:

• Understanding their specific hearing level and listening limitations.
• Communicating their clear acoustic access needs to teachers and peers.
• Managing personal assistive technology (like FM/DM systems).
• Repairing inevitable communication breakdowns when they occur.

What is the difference between self-advocacy and self-determination?
While closely related, these terms represent different scopes of independence:

• Self-Determination (The Umbrella): The overarching framework of taking ownership of one’s life. According to the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), it requires three pieces: Decide (goal setting), Act (problem-solving), and Believe (self-knowledge).
• Self-Advocacy (The Action): A specific subset inside self-determination. It is the literal act of speaking up, explaining an accommodation, or troubleshooting a device.

Why should self-advocacy be taught at an early age?
Skills must be built early because of a massive legal shift that happens the moment a student graduates high school:

• K-12 System (Entitlement): Under IDEA, the school district is legally responsible for identifying the child’s hearing loss and providing all accommodations.
• Postsecondary System (Eligibility): Under the ADA (college or workplace), the entire burden shifts to the individual. The student must independently self-identify, present documentation, and request their own accommodations.

What age-appropriate milestones should students master?

• Preschool & Kindergarten:
  • Ages 3-5.
  • Identify which ear is their “better ear.”
  • Recognize loud background noise sources.
  • Choose basic device features (like picking earmold colors).
• Elementary School:
  • Ages 6-10.
  • Put on and maintain their own hearing aids or cochlear implants.
  • Hand the FM/DM transmitter microphone to the teacher daily
  • Ask for clarification or repetition when directions are missed.
• Middle & High School:
  • Ages 11-18+.
  • Explain the functional difference between their aided and unaided hearing levels.
  • Participate directly in annual IEP planning meetings.
  • Coordinate real-time captioning (CART) or remote note-taking support.

Should self-advocacy goals be included in an IEP?
Yes, absolutely. Under IDEA, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must address both academic achievements and functional development. Because a student cannot access a mainstream curriculum without actively managing their listening environment, IEP teams should use targeted checklists to write measurable, trackable self-advocacy goals.

How can teachers and parents support a student’s self-advocacy?

• Mainstream Teachers can: Create a safe classroom culture where reporting a dead device battery is normalized, use open-ended checks for understanding, and invite the student to share what visual setups help them learn best.
• Parents can: Encourage independent problem-solving at home, let the child practice ordering their own meals at restaurants, and give them opportunities to explain their hearing technology to extended family members.

References

1. Mazzotti, V., Rowe, D., Sinclair, J., Poppen, M., Woods, W., & Shearer, M. (2016). Predictors of post-school success: A systematic review of NLTS2 secondary analysis. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 39(4), 196-215.
2. Bloom, Carrie Lou, et al. “Decide, Act, Believe: Teaching Self-Determination Skills.” Odyssey, vol. 22, no. 2021-22, 2022, pp. 1–92.
3. Council for Exceptional Children. (2018). Initial specialty set: Deaf and hard of hearing. Retrieved from https://exceptionalchildren.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/Initial%20Specialty%20Set%20%20DHH%20%20Revalidated%202018.pdf

Additional Resources:
Self-Advocacy Apps
Self-Advocacy as a Stand-Alone Service
Self-Advocacy Skill Development is required in Full Participation in the Classroom
Self-Advocacy Skills for Students with Hearing Loss
The Ultimate Goal: Self-Determination 
Teen Transition: A Necessary Part of Future Success

Originally published: Feb. 2023
Last update: June 2026

Additional Image Credits:
Image credit #1: A 3D white figure leaning thoughtfully on a large red question mark, symbolizing the choice and journey of developing self-advocacy skills. Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Image credit #2 (GOAL): The word GOALS in bold outline text with a colorful dartboard target replacing the letter O, showing a dart hitting the bullseye to represent student self-advocacy milestones. Image Source: Public Domain / Royalty-Free Graphic (Used for educational purposes)