Our Stories, Our Choices: Centering Student Voice through Self-Determination

How do we empower students with disabilities to express their goals, preferences and experiences? This collaborative session offers frameworks and strategies for teaching self-determination and self-advocacy across diverse learner profiles. Participants will explore instructional tools that honor communication diversity, build self-knowledge, and position students as narrators of their educational journey. Participants will be able to: 1. Apply the Success Tree frame and Motivational Interviewing techniques to promote goal-setting and self-discipline in youth with SLD. 2. Design a routine and structure for small-group meetings and writing lessons that empower students with extensive support needs to share their stories. 3. Identify and describe at least two specific light-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) strategies or classroom opportunities that facilitate complex communication (e.g. expressing feelings, self-determination) beyond simple requesting or labeling.