Abstract
Historically, the advocacy of parents has been instrumental in creating system structures and programs for children with disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents of children with ASD report that they regularly engage in advocacy for their children, and view this as a necessary part of their lives to ensure that their children receive the supports and services to which they are entitled. Increasingly, parents are finding that they need to extend their advocacy efforts beyond just advocating for their own children to advocating for systems change, to build the capacity of school systems and programs for children with ASD. This chapter reviews the research on parental advocacy, systems change and capacity-building. This is followed by a case study of two mothers, which illustrates the ways in which parents utilised the Cycle of Learning to advocate for systems change for children with ASD across one education region. Working together, these parents established a group that has progressed a grass-roots collection of disgruntled parents to engage in an ongoing collaboration with the local Department of Education resulting in a regional advisory group and program for children with ASD.
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Webster, A., Cumming, J., Rowland, S. (2017). Parent Advocacy with Schools: A Success Story. In: Empowering Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2084-1_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2084-1_11
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