04/06/2025
YES! Such a great example of how self advocacy is a skill that builds over time as children regulation develops & how important it is to honour all forms of communication!
This diagram of the Sensory Self-Advocacy Ladder is a visual representation of how kids can self-advocate for their sensory needs across different stages of development or regulation.
It begins at the bottom of the ladder -- not because the bottom is "bad", but because it's the *earliest* that human beings typically can access -- with instinctive, sensory-driven reactions. Things that often get labeled as “behavior” (which is itself a euphemism for “misbehavior”). These responses, like crying, fleeing, or covering ears, are not the child making a decision, but rather acting to intuitively defend themselves. We can interpret the actions as communication telling us that something in the setting is intolerable from a sensory perspective, which helps us shift our focus from controlling their behavior to understanding what it is they need.
The ladder then moves through gestures, simple words, and expressive language. Along the way, kids may use language that sounds disrespectful or abrupt—like “shut up!” or “I hate that!”—especially when they’re overwhelmed and the logic and language centers in the brain have begun shutting down.
These moments are still self-advocacy!
They represent the child reaching for words, even when reaching for words is incredibly difficult, and accessing the best words they have available at the moment. When they’re not in a moment of such distress, they’ll have access to better, more polished words.
It’s important to remember that words don’t have to be spoken by mouth. Sign language, spelling to communicate, pushing buttons on a device, and other forms of AAC use are other ways that children may express their needs. These have a similar growing process, too. Kids might use a simple “help!” sign or repeatedly push a button for “loud loud loud loud” before they get to a stage where they can interpret their body’s signals and communicate self-advocacy in a more mature way.
This ladder visual was created alongside the latest in-depth article I wrote for ClimbRx about Teaching Kids to Advocate for their Sensory Needs, to help caregivers recognize the different stages and styles of self-advocacy and see how all ways of communicating and self-advocating are meaningful.
More in the comments if you want to read through the whole thing! 😊
[ID: An image of the Sensory Self-Advocacy "Ladder", using a ladder metaphor/visual to represent climbing up the rungs developing first from instinct, to gestures, to simple words, to expressive language as people emerge in their ability to self advocate. It is illustrated with simple pictures of the axolotl character Sora from ClimbRx's different character mascots who all have different sensory processing styles. End description.]
