When will students start advocating for themselves?  That is the million dollar question.  Some students begin telling teachers what they need as early as elementary school.  Others still have a hard time advocating for themselves in high school and beyond.  When this happens, depends not only on the child...but also on the disability.  It seems as though students with a physical disability such as a hearing loss, begin advocating for themselves earliest.  Perhaps the child does not have any shame or embarrassment regarding the physical impairment.