Self-determination is a vital skill for individuals with disabilities and provides significant benefits, like more positive adult outcomes and greater qualities of life. Recreational sports participation is another fundamental aspect of life for individuals with disabilities, as it leads to increased physical activity, enhanced self-esteem, and…

Self-determination and self-advocacy are critical skills for students with disabilities (SWD). Around the world, practitioners and educators express concerns that students transitioning from school to post-high school settings often lack the awareness to discuss their strengths, preferences, and needs. To improve self-determination, a one-year…

Background: Self-determination is a key construct to guarantee the development of skills that allow people with disabilities to acquire control over their lives. However, people with intellectual disabilities may have premature ageing processes that make it difficult to exercise these skills. This study seeks to determine the self-determination…

Every year, an increasing number of autistic youth enter a complex and underfunded adult service system after graduating from high school. Executive function (EF) challenges commonly co-occur with autism, especially related to flexible problem-solving and planning, and are linked to poor outcomes in post-secondary education and employment. The…

Several barriers exist that inhibit the success of students with disabilities in postsecondary education environments, one of which is the lack of self-advocacy skills to effectively request academic modifications and ask for other supports when needed. In this study, we used a single-subject multiple-probe across participants design to examine…

Background: People with intellectual disabilities are at risk of experiencing stigma and require the skills and confidence to deal with stigma in their daily lives. Method: Development and piloting of a 5-session manualised psychosocial group intervention designed to increase the capacity of people with intellectual disabilities aged 16+ to manage…

Background: To combat stereotype threat, several school-based field trials have leveraged self-affirmation theory (Steele & Liu, 1983; Liu & Steele, 1986), wherein affirming one's important beliefs and values can buffer against identity threats. Self-affirmation theory posits that individuals are motivated to maintain a positive overall…

Self-advocacy is an important skill, especially as students transition from high school to postsecondary settings. In this study, five high-school students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) were taught to use a self-advocacy intervention to learn to request academic accommodations. A multiple-baseline across participants design was used to…

Successful social engagement is one of many important outcomes for deaf youth as they transition from high school to adult life. This study examined the effect of self-advocacy and social/life skill trainings in secondary school settings on social engagement after high school using propensity score modeling and data from the large-scale and…

According to the National Council on Disability (2015), an estimated 2 million undergraduates have an identified disability and are, by law (i.e., the Americans with Disabilities Act [1990]), entitled to accommodations. The use of academic accommodations is positively correlated with increased grade point average (GPA), higher persistence rates,…

An integrated program to teach self-advocacy techniques to students with disabilities was implemented in one Louisiana School District. Students (171) with mild disabilities were exposed to explicit instruction in self-advocacy skills. Student's GPAs were compared from one semester in the 2018-2019 school year and one semester in the 2019-2020…

The literature on postsecondary students with disabilities stresses the importance of self-determination skills on the college experiences and outcomes of these students. However, the theoretical framework undergirding much of this research emerged largely from the K-12 special education literature, and differs from the Self-Determination Theory…

This paper investigates the role of leadership training in developing voice in adult learners. Twenty-one (21) adult education programs were randomly selected for evaluation: 13 programs received an 8-hour leadership training and 12 subsequently completed a leadership project; the remaining eight served as control programs. Qualitative methods…

Research findings illustrate the strong connection between self-determined learning and reading performance for students with or at risk for disabilities. Students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LDs), who are at increased risk for academic failure, may benefit from instruction to promote self-determination skills. Causal Agency Theory…

One factor that may contribute to the success of students with disabilities in postsecondary educational settings may be their ability to advocate for academic accommodations. By incorporating self-determination practices into the curriculum and transition process during high school, students with disabilities may acquire the self-advocacy skills…