Do you work with kids with disabilities or interact with them on a regular basis? Maybe you are a special education teacher or a camp counselor. Maybe you are the parent of a Gen Z or Gen Alpha adolescent with an intellectual disability. In any youth-serving role, it is important to support young people with disabilities in developing leadership skills so they can interact appropriately with others, advocate for themselves and others, and, ultimately, be successful once they leave school and enter the community.
For the past ten years, I have been researching school social inclusion interventions, particularly youth leadership in K-12 schools. This includes how adults view leadership roles and opportunities for youth, how the youth themselves think and feel about being a leader, and even what parents see or support at home. From this work, I make three recommendations to adults serving adolescents with intellectual or developmental disability and looking to support or enhance their development as a leader:
- Teach skills adolescents associate with leadership
One of the best ways we can support our youth in developing strong leadership skills is to teach them skills in the areas they associate with being a leader. Over the years adolescents have attributed a leader, above all, as someone who is helpful, but also someone who sets positive examples, is responsive to events happening in their environment, and someone who is respectful. Therefore, skills such as empathy, compassion, respect, responsibility, advocacy, and mentorship are skills that could teach adolescents how to be the type of leader they might aspire to be. Focusing on these areas will better engage youth in developing skills over the long term because they understand and value what they are working on in a personally relevant way, not learning something an adult told them to do. Cooperative learning activities that put students with intellectual disability alongside peers to strengthen these skills are a great place to start!
- Expand our definition of what a leadership role is
While theories of leadership among adults emphasize specific characteristics necessary for being a leader, youth views on leadership often differ from these perspectives as youth tend to put less importance on individual traits and focus more on the idea that anyone can be a leader at any given moment (Mortenson et al., 2014). Furthermore, youth are more apt to define leaders as positive role models, while adults put more emphasis on specific characteristics and talents such as responsibility and communication skills (Culp & Kohlhagen, 2000). Thus, a broader definition of what a leadership role is may help more youth, such as those with intellectual disability, feel they can be a leader. Students with intellectual disability may not “fit” into traditional leadership contexts (such as a club president), and, more importantly, these may not be the roles that best utilize their strengths among their peers. By cultivating a broader mindset of youth leadership, we can make room for non-traditional leadership roles in schools and after school programs to support all students and develop diverse youth leaders for tomorrow.
- Provide inclusive youth leadership opportunities
One of the most successful ways I have observed schools developing youth leadership skills is by creating inclusive programs where students with and without intellectual disability come together to share a leadership role and co-lead events or activities. Students with and without intellectual disability have observed that this inclusive environment provides a safe space to learn new leadership skills and provides learning opportunities they would not otherwise have. For students without intellectual disability this could look like mentoring a peer with intellectual disability, and for students with intellectual disability this could include teaching others about disability and supportive ways to interact.
Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools has been facilitating inclusive youth leadership opportunities from preschool to college since 2008 and has helpful resources to get you started or support your ongoing efforts.
By Holly Jacobs, Director of Evaluation at the Center for Social Development and Education