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theses

Self-determination has been identified as a major contributing factor to positive post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities. However, the arduous transition from eighth grade into high school makes the acquisition and application of self-determination skills very difficult for this group. The purpose of this dissertation was to: 1) assess the extent to which ninth grade students with disabilities possess the self-determination skills necessary to be successful in high school, and 2) design a program to address this need. Nine students in total participated in the needs assessment. The needs of the target population were assessed through the completion of both educator and student versions of the American Institute for Research (AIR) Self-Determination Form. Students also were interviewed by the investigator. The results of the interview were analyzed through the Constant Comparative Method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Results indicated that students lack the capacity and opportunity to perform all of the self-determination behaviors. Furthermore, students were generally not aware of the nature of their disability or of the critical components of their Individualized Education Program that help to address their specific academic needs. A program called “Take Action” was designed based on the results of the needs assessment. The program consisted of ten weekly sessions that focused on the explicit teaching of self-determination skills such as goal setting, decision-making, self-awareness and advocacy. The program used lessons from the Choice-Maker Self-Determination curriculum (Martin et al., 1996). In addition, instructor-made lessons were used to develop a student’s sense of disability awareness and knowledge of critical IEP components. Suggestions for future research and school psychology practice are also discussed.

ETD_4736

Psy.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Nicole Gleen Osher

doi:10.7282/T3FX77FT

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.