Ivymount speech-language pathologists and their teams have worked with more than 70 students and their families to create the This is Me (TiME) self-advocacy tool. This is Me, is a personalized, digital tool designed to support self-advocacy for neurodiverse individuals. “Over the years, I have enjoyed seeing students put their heart and soul into a project that represents their strengths, preferences, and strategies,” says Dani Evans, a Program Specialist and Speech Language Pathologist, who created the tool.
Several years ago, Dani and Ann Kern, director of Ivymount’s Speech Language Therapy Department, noticed valuable information about their students’ support strategies was often lost during transitions when working with new communication partners and in novel environments. As these students graduated from Ivymount, they needed a way to share this information as independently as possible.
TiME supports individuals in sharing their unique skill sets, strengths, and interests, as well as advocating for communication and behavioral supports and strategies to promote inclusive environments and interactions with novel communication partners. The tool allows students to teach new adults in their lives about themselves by sharing pictures and video clip examples. Instead of their job coach or 1:1 showing new adults how to provide supports, This is Me allows individuals to share this information independently.. While originally developed for transition-aged students at Ivymount, the tool has been broadened for use in clinical settings as well.
Ivymount School students have enthusiastically embraced This is Me. For example, Jaleah Plunkett said, “My story makes me happy because it tells people more about me.” Increased confidence and self-esteem is another positive outcome of using the tool. One Ivymount educator said of watching students as they share This is Me, “You can see how proud they are of it and how excited they are to start having really meaningful interactions with new people.”
Employers also benefit from viewing This is Me, and several have mentioned that viewing students’ TiME tool changed the way they saw students. For example, one employer said, “It made me see him in a different way that I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t sat with him and viewed his story. The story stepped up my impression of what he’s capable of.”
Dani and Ann have presented at local and national conferences, co-authored three peer-reviewed articles, and developed a related online “how-to” guide. They’re excited about the interest among professional colleagues in using This is Me to support self-advocacy with neurodiverse students transitioning to adulthood.
Learn more about This is Me and read the how-to guide.
Read about how Ivymount Staff Share What Works.
