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SRV Theory Implementation Plan

Kimberly Harris
6800229

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SRV Theory Implementation Plan

Having the chance to create an implementation plan for Social Role Valorization is
exciting to me because one thing that I am passionate about it helping each of my students to find
something that they are good at, something that they can be proud of and share with the world.
Wolfensberger & Thomas (1983) wrote, social devaluation is the process of attributing less
value to a person or group of people that is accorded to typical or most persons and groups,
usually because the devalued person or group is perceived as having some undesirable
characteristic which differentiates them from other people or groups (p.21). I see examples of
social devaluation in my school every day and with my newly acquired knowledge of Social
Role Valorization I plan to continue helping some of my students that experience devaluation
acquire roles that are valued by their peers as well as adults in their lives.
I will now explain just one of my plans to help a student at my school acquire a role that
not only she will value, but the people around her will value.

Key Issue and Goal Statement
The school that I am currently teaching at is a middle school with students from grade 5
to 9. One student that came to mind immediately when creating my implementation plan is a
fourteen year old girl in grade 9 that is devalued because of her delayed cognitive ability. For the
purpose of this paper, I will refer to this student as Kate. This student is extremely friendly and
well-liked by her peers but is often cast in to roles because of the way she thinks and behaves.
She is often thought to be an object of pity which Race (1999) explains as a person or group
being seen as suffering from their situation, and thus others act to relieve that suffering out of
pity (p.58). Another role that is often cast upon Kate is what Lutfiyya & Updike (2013a)
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describe as eternally childlike. This role is obvious in many of the activities that are planned
for Kate and even in the way her peers speak to her as if she is much younger than them.
Lutfiyya & Updike (2013b) have stated that the main premise of SRV Theory is that by
helping those who are devalued, or who are at risk of being socially devalued, to obtain and
successfully retain valued social roles, we can help to minimize the negative manifestations of
social devaluation. By holding valued social roles, individuals are more likely to be able to take
part more fully in the life of their community in a number of interesting and mutually enriching
ways. This is the overall purpose of SRV: to help people have a good life. I believe that this is
something educators can and should do for their devalued students.

I, Kim Harris, will implement a plan in which a grade 9 student, who is devalued, acts as
an assistant coach to my grade 5 & 6 basketball teams in the gym, every Tuesday and Thursday
by April 8, 2014.

Rationale
My grade 9 student is devalued by her peers due to her delayed cognitive ability. It is
important to note, that Kates classmates are quite kind to her. For the most part, Kate is treated
with patience and compassion. She does not experience a lot of bullying or mean gestures, as one
might think. However, Kate is definitely treated differently by her peers. She doesnt have
friends like other middle school students have friends. She is seen as a child by many of her
peers and teachers and much of this stems from Kates interests, the conversations that she is
most interested in and by her appearance.
Wolfensberger (2013) stated that social roles may be reviewed as a combination of
behaviours, functions, relationships, privileges, duties and responsibilities that is socially
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defined, widely understood and organized within a society, and is characteristic or expected of a
person who occupies a particular position within a social system (p. 45). I wanted to create a
role for Kate to fill in which she could act as a leader among a group of students. One thing that
Kate excels in is sports. She has finished first in a number of Special Olympics events over the
years and loves to compete. I decided to use something that she is great at, sports, to help her to
fill the role of an assistant coach. She will be helping students that are younger than her, that
could most definitely use her assistance.
Lutfiyya & Updike (2013b) have said that social roles require certain skills and
competencies in order to be performed. It is important to be both competent in fulfilling all of the
elements of the social role and to be seen by others as able to actually perform the role. The fact
that basketball is something that Kate is good at ensures that she will be competent in filling this
role. The areas that Kate may struggle with, including practice planning and time management,
will be mainly the head coachs responsibility, with the assistance of Kate.
In thinking about just how significant this role might be for Kate, it is worth quoting
Lutfiyya & Updike (2013b) at length.
There are a number of factors that help determine how prominent or important any particular
role may be in the life of an individual. First, the longer one has held a particular role, the more
likely one is to be shaped by that role and likely that others will closely identify with that role.
Second, the more a role has to do with significant life activities, then the more prominence it
will have in a person's identity. Third, the degree to which an individual is seen as entrenched
and connected to a social role will relate to the significance of that role. Fourth, the degree to
which a role is fixed, then the more importance it has. Last, the more visible a role is, the
greater its significance.
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I worry that this new role for Kate will be too short-lived. Basketball season is only so long,
however if all goes well, this may be something that we could facilitate for Kate with other
sports and possibly in the community with Special Olympics events. This role certainly relates to
her personal identity because I know that being an athlete is something that Kate is extremely
proud of. Lastly, I hope to make Kates new role visible to staff, students and of course, her
athletes. I will do this by posting pictures of practices, referring to her as an assistant coach
rather than helper and having her involved and active, right in the midst of every practice.
One pointer that Wolfensberger (2000) gives about implementing Social Role
Valorization plans is that holding one valued role often leads to others, a small valued role can
sometimes serve as a springboard to a bigger or larger one (p. 120). I can only hope that this
small role can lead to something bigger for Kate.

Resources Needed
One thing that I really love about this plan is the support that I have received from the
people that I work with and from Kates parents. They are ecstatic that she has been given more
responsibility at school and of course, they love how proud she is when she talks about her new
role as Assistant Coach of a basketball team.
The resources that I have needed have been minimal. Certainly, I need space and
equipment to implement this plan, but we are using space and equipment that would have been
there anyway. The resources that I have needed have been a small group of people that all care
about Kate and her well-being as well as her development. Two Educational Assistants that each
work half days with Kate will be instrumental in reminding Kate of her responsibilities, sending
agenda notes home to remind Kate to have gym clothes as well as simply talking to Kate about
her new role and kind of pumping her up. The resource teacher in my building will continue to
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help me implement this plan by communicating with Kates parents as well as facilitating a
meeting in which Kate will be offered the position.

Personal Support Plan
I plan to share what I have learned in a number of ways. First, I have already started to
share my plan with my Student Services Department. We have discussed this idea at length and
the benefits it will have for both Kate and the students that she is coaching. Secondly, I plan to
share my idea and knowledge of Social Role Valorization at a staff meeting. This
implementation plan was not something that was overly difficult. I want my co-workers to
understand that Social Role Valorization does take thought and consideration, but often the plans
themselves can be quite easily executed. I would bet that many of my co-workers have similar
plans in place already and just dont know what to call it.
Lastly, I plan to share this experience with the school. Our school holds assemblies every
two weeks and we have an amazing projector and screen. I dont plan to share the experience
with the students in the same way that I do with the adults. The words Social Role Valorization
wont make it in to this presentation. I plan to ask some of the grade 5 and 6 students to publicly
thank Kate, their coach, and possibly show a few pictures of her at practices running drills and so
on. This will not be something out of the ordinary for our assembly, in fact coaches are often
thanked and even presented with a memento. However, this will be the first time that Kate is
called up and recognized for the leadership role that she filled.


Conclusion
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The plan that I have created excites me. We have facilitated one trial practice in which
Kate attended, helped out just a little and then we discussed some of her responsibilities.
Everything went well and she is very excited about her new responsibility. One of the best parts
for me was to see the grade 5 students, many of them who understand that Kate is different from
them, taking her suggestions and pointers in to consideration. They will learn basketball skills
from Kate, there is no doubt about that, but these children will also learn that Kate has something
of value to offer them and the world.



















References
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Lutfiyya, Z. & Updike, M. (2013a). EDUA 5600 Study notes unit 1. University of Manitoba,
Distance Education.

Lutfiyya, Z. & Updike, M. (2013b). EDUA 5600 Study notes unit 2. University of Manitoba,
Distance Education.

Race, D. G. (1999). Social Role Valorization and the English experience. London, England:
Whiting & Birch.

Wolfensberger, W. (2000). A brief overview of Social Role Valorization. Mental Retardation,
(38)2, p. 105-123.

Wolfensberger, W., & Thomas, S. (1983). PASSING: Program analysis of service systems
implementation of normalization goals. Toronto, Canada: The Canadian National
Institute on Mental Retardation.