| dc.description.abstract | As the special education process can be difficult for parents to navigate, special education advocates have arisen to help. Yet because there is no formal training required to become a special education advocate, there is a need to research how to best train these advocates. This study serves as part of a second wave of research into the effectiveness of a special education
advocacy program. Looking at the pre-tests and post-tests of 108 participants across three years, this study found that there were certain areas of strength and weakness within measures of advocacy. Specifically, respondents rated lower items that included systems-change advocacy (such things as getting in contact with legislators and getting legislators to listen to their ideas). We also found that several measures—especially the degree to which they felt themselves "insiders" in the disability world and their degrees of empowerment--were correlated at the pretest, post-test, and pre-to-post-test measures. Implications for future advocacy trainings are discussed. | en_US |
