Teacher and Parent Practice on Fostering Self-Determination of High School Students with Mild Disabilities

Abstract

Self-determination skills are important for students with disabilities to make a successful transition from school to work. Developing these skills, however, demands extensive time and effort by teachers and parents. This study investigated teachers' and parents' engagement in recommended practices for fostering self-determination skills of high school students with disabilities. Personal contacts were the means of data collection. Participants rated how frequently they engaged in each of eight behaviors that foster student self-determination. Fewer than half of the parents frequently engaged in the recommended behaviors, more than half of the teachers engaged frequently in most of the practices, teachers' ratings of their behaviors were higher than parents' ratings, and student demographic variables did not significantly affect participants' ratings. Recommendations for future studies and practices are offered.