Evaluating the Efficacy of a Special Education Advocacy Training Program

Abstract

Increasingly, parents are relying on advocates to ensure that children with disabilities receive appropriate educational services. As agencies begin to train advocates to work with families, it is necessary to evaluate the efficacy of such advocacy training programs. This study evaluated the efficacy of the Volunteer Advocacy Project (VAP), a 40‐h training workshop that has been delivered since 2008 to six cohorts live and via webcasts. The aim of the study was to determine whether the VAP increased the knowledge and advocacy skills of its trainees and how trainee and training characteristics related to the effectiveness of the training. This study examined changes from pretest to posttest knowledge and advocacy skills of 90 trainees of the VAP. We also examined interactions between pre/post change and trainee and training characteristics. Participants demonstrated significant gains from pre‐ to posttests in their knowledge of special education and in their advocacy skills. Those participants who partook of the training in latter cohorts and at distance sites showed more progress in special education knowledge. Increases in advocacy skills differed by type of participant: compared to parent participants, professionals demonstrated significantly greater pre/post test increases in advocacy skills. This study has important implications for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

Training Parents of Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Advocate for Adult Disability Services: Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

“…We examined the extent of parents’ knowledge about the adult service system through a scale developed for this project (based on a measure developed to evaluate the VAP; Burke et al, 2016). The measure consisted of 25 multiple-choice questions asking factual information about adult disability services and the adult disability service system.…”

“…We assessed the degree to which parents felt comfortable and skilled in advocating for their son/daughter with ASD (Burke et al, 2016). The measure was comprised of 10 items, on which participants responded on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all; 2 = below average; 3 = average; 4 = good; 5 = excellent).…”

“…VAP attendees learned about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the American Rehabilitation Act, and other federal laws and court cases; special education rights and procedures; the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) process; and non-adversarial advocacy. To date, the VAP has been shown to boost attendees’ knowledge about rights under special education law and their advocacy skills (Burke, Goldman, Hart, & Hodapp, 2016). …”

“…Both knowledge and skills-comfort were also targeted in the original VAP, and have been shown to be sensitive to the intervention (Burke et al, 2016). For the VAP-T, we focused on knowledge because parents need to know about the adult service system before any change is possible in their son/daughter’s receiving services.…”

Correlates of Sustained Volunteering: Advocacy for Students with Disabilities

“…In addition to these topics, sessions on non-adversarial advocacy and dispute resolution are presented by local experts from the state Protection & Advocacy agency (P&A) and The Arc. The VAP training has been shown to be effective in increasing participants’ special education law knowledge and comfort with non-adversarial advocacy activities such as effectively participating in IEP meetings (Burke, Goldman, Hart, & Hodapp, in press). …”