Parenting Styles and Practices in Enhancing Self-Determination of Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Parenting styles and practices are crucial in promoting the self-determination of children. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of parenting styles and practices in enhancing the self-determination of children with/without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The present study was carried out with a sample of 243 parents of children with/without IDD in Türkiye (Turkey). The results indicated that an authoritative parenting style and autonomy-supportive parenting practices positively affect the degree of child self-determination, whereas permissive and overprotective parenting practices may limit child opportunities in fostering self-determination. The study results also showed that urbanization, higher income, and higher education level of parents positively impacted the degree of child self-determination. Parents of typically developing children reported higher levels of overall self-determination for their typically developing children when compared with children with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. On the other hand, parents of children with mild disabilities reported a higher level of self-determination than both children with moderate and severe disabilities. The results were discussed within the cultural context of the current sample.

Parental habitus in promoting self-determination of children with/without intellectual and developmental disabilities in Türkiye.

BACKGROUND: Enhancing the self-determination of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is a prominent factor in their daily, community, school, or post-school outcomes. Parental practices play a crucial role in promoting self-determination of children with IDD. Families worldwide engage in parenting practices determined by each family's beliefs and values filtered through cultural experiences related to the place of origin, social structure, and living area. AIMS: This study investigated the impact of parental habitus as structured within social and cultural capital on family ratings of child self-determination in two distinct regions of Turkey (Türkiye). Our assumption is that the gap in terms of social, economic, and cultural capital between different districts of the same country affects parental habitus in fostering their children's self-determination. METHOD: Researchers collected information from 232 family members regarding the degree of their children's self-determination in two different geographic areas of Türkiye. We used the American Institutes for Research (AIR) Self-Determination Scale - Parent Form (AIR-SDS-PF questionnaire and a socio-demographic form to collect data. We employed the univariate analysis (two-way ANOVA) to identify the main and interactional effect among variables. RESULTS: Parental habitus depending on where families live, socioeconomic level, and child's disability status was influential in promoting self-determination for their children with IDD and counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Regional or micro-cultural differences impacting parental dispositions should be considered in developing or planning self-determination interventions for children with/without IDD in the same country.

The Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

It is important to continuously support families to improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their family members. Using a life course approach to address strengths and needs of families, a National Community of Practice, infused with the Charting the LifeCourse framework, focused on systems change to improve policy and practices to enhance the lives of families. A qualitative analysis used the Value Creation framework to evaluate both process and product outcomes of 16 state communities of practice as to changes in knowledge and practices. Results emphasize the relative effectiveness of aspects of policy and overarching practices designed to support people with disabilities and their families in participating states.

Student-directed learning: A catalyst for academic achievement and self-determination for students with intellectual disability.

In this single-case experimental design study, eight adolescents with mild intellectual disability (ID) participated in a 3-month intervention with the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction. Findings indicate that student-directed learning may enable students with ID to increase their academic achievements, and the authors explore how this may lead to enhanced self-determination over time. Further data analysis suggests that student-directed learning first of all may have an impact at the level of the environment, such that teachers start to perceive their students with ID as capable agents who can take an active role in their own learning process. This change in teacher perception may lead to students getting more opportunities to practice and refine self-determination skills, which in turn may lead to increased capacity for self-determination. Findings from this study are uplifting, as even brief student-directed learning interventions may trigger positive effects on students' self-determination.

Supporting Families Through the Charting the LifeCourse Framework.

Supporting families who have family members with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as they move through life is a critical need ( Reynolds, Palmer, & Gotto, 2018 ). The phrase, supporting families, juxtaposes the typical family support paradigm in response to the ongoing shrinkage of federal and state dollars and the recognition that parents and caregivers need services and supports to support their family member with IDD at home ( Amado, Stancliffe, McCarron, & McCallion, 2013 ). Within the family support movement, families are defined in the broadest terms, including those living in the same household, people who are affiliated by birth or choice, and others in the role of helping individuals with IDD succeed in life ( Reynolds et al., 2015 ; Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, Soodak, & Shogren, 2015 ).

Foundations for Self-Determination in Early Childhood: Preliminary Preschool Study.

Foundations for self-determination begin in early childhood for children with disabilities with the onset of self-regulation and engagement in activities at home, school, and in the community. This article describes the development and preliminary results of an intervention model that encourages collaborative practices for parents and teachers around short-term goal setting to adjust environments for young children with special needs or at risk for delay. The Foundations Intervention was used with 48 children in authentic early childhood settings and involved parents, teachers, and a facilitator to enhance children's self-regulation and engagement at home and school. Results showed feasibility of the intervention; positive child outcomes in goal attainment, self-regulation, and engagement measures were also evident. When parents and teachers communicated about a child's strengths and needs within routines at home and school, this appeared to strengthen parent and teacher connections and helped children become more engaged or regulated in daily activities.

Progress Monitoring in Inclusive Preschools: Using Children's School Success+Curriculum Framework.

Progress monitoring in inclusive preschool classrooms should describe all children's progress towards general curriculum outcomes and individual children's unique outcomes or IEP goals. This research study used the CSS+ Curriculum Framework and progress monitoring process to assess the outcomes of 73 children on these dimensions. Children's progress monitoring data were analyzed within groupings based on instructional need level (i.e., low, medium, or high) in academic content and social domains. Progress monitoring findings for both the academic and social support level of need groups showed significant progress pre- to post-test on most academic outcomes, but some variation with less consistent gains within the social emotional domain. Goal attainment scaling data demonstrated children's gains toward achieving their social goals (IEP or specific learning goals) were at the expected level between 50% and 71% of the time. Academic-focused goal attainment was at or above the expected level of between 54% and 76% of the time, based on the learning grouping. Teacher implementation of CSS+ Curriculum Framework appeared to impact change in classroom and instructional practices pre-post intervention.

The Impact of Medical/Behavioral Support Needs on the Supports Needed by Adolescents With Intellectual Disability to Participate in Community Life.

As adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) transition to adulthood, there is a need to plan for effective community-based supports that address the post-school life. There is also a need to plan for the impact of factors (e.g., medical/behavioral support needs) on supports needed for community participation. Data from the Supports Intensity Scale-Adult Version (SIS-A) was used to examine relations between medical/behavior support needs and support needs assessed in the standardized portion of the SIS-A. Results suggested that the presence of medical/behavioral needs had a strong impact on supports needed to participate in the community activities, and that more intensive medical support needs were related to higher support needs in the Home Living, Community Living, and Health and Safety domains.

Establishing a Causal Relationship between Interventions to Promote Self-Determination and Enhanced Student Self-Determination.

Promoting the self-determination of adolescents with disabilities has become best practice in secondary education and transition services, but to date there have been no studies establishing a causal relationship between efforts to promote self-determination and enhancement of the self-determination of youth with disabilities. This article reports a randomized trial, placebo control group study of 371 high school students receiving special education services under the categorical areas of mental retardation or learning disabilities. Students were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group (by high school campus), with students in the intervention condition receiving multiple instructional components to promote self-determination. Latent growth curve analysis showed that although all students in the study showed improved self-determination over the three years of the study, students in the intervention group showed significantly greater growth, though specific intra-individual variables impacted this growth. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.

Effect of Intervention with the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction on Access and Goal Attainment.

Promoting student self-determination has been identified as best practice in special education and transition services and as a means to promote access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities. There have been, however, limited evaluations of the effects of interventions to promote self-determination on outcomes related to access to the general education curriculum. This article reports finding from a cluster or group-randomized trial control group study examining the impact of intervention using the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction on student academic and transition goal attainment and on access to the general education curriculum for students with intellectual disability and learning disabilities Findings support the efficacy of the model for both goal attainment and access to the general education curriculum, though students varied in the patterns of goal attainment as a function of type of disability.

An Evaluation of the Beyond High School Model on the Self-Determination of Students with Intellectual Disability.

Students with intellectual disability are often served in community-based services to promote effective adult outcomes in employment, community inclusion, and independent living (Gaumer, Morningstar & Clark (2004). Beyond High School (Wehmeyer, Garner, Lawrence, Yeager, & Davis, 2006), a multi-stage model to promote student involvement in educational planning, was effectively used by 109 students with mild and moderate levels of intellectual disability between 17.8 and 21 years of age to increase student abilities. Results are discussed in regard to improved transition opportunities for individuals with intellectual disability such as those afforded through post-secondary education.

Impact of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction on Self-Determination: A Randomized-Trial Control Group Study.

Promoting self-determination has become best practice in special education. There remains, however, a paucity of causal evidence for interventions to promote self-determination. We conducted a group-randomized, modified equivalent control group design study of the efficacy of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction to promote self-determination. Data on self-determination using multiple measures was collected with 312 high school students with cognitive disabilities in both a control and treatment group. We examined the relationship between the SDLMI and self-determination using structural equation modeling. After determining strong measurement invariance for each latent construct, we found significant differences in latent means across measurement occasions and differential effects attributable to the SDLMI. This was true across disability category, though there was variance across disability populations.