Teaching Self Determination To Students With Significant Disabilities DECEMBER 2005

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Teaching Self Determination To Students With
Significant Disabilities DECEMBER 2005
New Hampshire Alternate Assessment
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Self Determination The Opportunity For
In Relation To The Targeted Skill
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4 Components of Self Determination in Learning

• Choice Making - Taking some control
• Planning- Thinking about the future
• Monitoring- Thinking about right now
• Evaluation- Reflecting back judging

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Instructional Choice Making

• As students grow in independence and
  understanding, they begin to make decisions to
  exercise some control over the learning process
• Students can make decisions about learning a
  specific skill.

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In NH-Alternate Assessment -

• The student must have a chance
• to make instructional choices that are related
  to the targeted skill.
• The teachers job is to
• provide opportunities for the student to make
  instructional choices and to show how the student
  does this.

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Instructional Choice Making

• Provide opportunities for the student to
  implement his/her choice in terms of
• Materials (flashcards, book,computer)
• Methods (read silently, listen to other read)
• Places (library, computer lab, study hall)
• Supports (with a friend, group, adaptations,
  assistive technology)
• Scheduling (order of activities)

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Instructional Choice Making

• Choice making in relation to the targeted skill
  can begin with one of the following questions
• What will I do today?
• What do I want to do first/next?
• Who do I want to work with?
• What do I want to work on?
• Where do I want to work?
• How do I want to learn?
• What help do I want?

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Instructional Choice Making

• Opportunities for instructional choice making
  help the student gain control over the
  instructional components and facilitate ownership
  over learning.
• The teacher should
• Provide choices that are readily available, (i.e.
  the student gets to do what was chosen), and
  relate these choices to the targeted skill.
• Provide instruction to guide the student to make
  appropriate choices.
• Document the students choice.

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Instructional Choice Making

• The teacher may need to provide
• Limited choice options, (field of 2 or 3).
• Concrete representations of choices, (i.e.,
  actual objects with text/Braille, photos with
  text, icons with text).
• The student with instructional choices (in
  relation to the targeted skill), on a regular
  basis, so that the student is able to learn how
  to make an instructional choice.

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Planning

• Planning requires a student to think about the
  future
• Identifying the materials or supports that will
  be needed to complete the chosen activity.
• Identifying the steps/parts of the chosen
  activity that will need to be completed.
• Determining where the chosen skill will be
  practiced, or the chosen activity carried out.

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Planning

• The student may be able to verbalize their
  response to the question, What will you need?
• The teacher may have to offer choices,
• Will you need this or this?
• The teacher documents the students response.
• The students response may be incorrect. The
  teacher will document, and then instruct.

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Monitoring

• Monitoring asks the student to think about right
  now
• The student considers their own performance on
  the skill as its being learned. Student may
  just describe or may rate their own performance
  along the way
• How
  am I doing now?
• What
  do I need to do now?
• Am I
  on task?
• Did
  I do better on this activity than I did the last
  time?
• Note Students description or rating may not be
  accurate.
• Teacher documents students self-rating, and then
  instructs.

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Monitoring

• Monitoring describes whats going on now, and can
  be
• A general statement such as Im doing a good
  job learning my words today, or Im doing a
  good job paying attention today, or I am tired
  and not working well right now.
• A specific statement such as, I think I my
  answer is right, Im not sure if my answer is
  right, or I am saying more words today, or I
  am almost done.

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Monitoring

• For some students the monitoring response must
  be represented visually or with a
  representational object.
• Pair a reinforcing object with the concept of
  good job and a non-preferred object with I
  could do better.

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Evaluation

• Asks the student to look back and judge how well
  they have done in relation to the targeted skill.
• Show how the student reflects on how they
  performed the targeted skill (not just the
  activity)
• I finished all of my subtracting problems today.
  I got 3 hard ones right.
• This time I missed some letter sounds. Next
  time I will try to (sound out the words, look
  at the first letter, etc.)
• I need to work harder on (name parts of the
  skill)

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Evaluation
General behavioral statements such as I need to
listen better, or I need to sit, do not
provide students with the specific information
they will need in order to improve their
reading/literacy, writing, or math
skills. Students need specific information, and
direct instruction, so that they will know what
strategies to implement/practice, in order to
improve their reading, writing, or math skills.
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Instructional Strategies to Teach Evaluation

• Use some type of visual representation of
  performance (e.g. graph, work sample,etc.), to
  assist the student in learning how to evaluate
  his/her work.
• Choose what to work on next time based on
  performance.
• Provide choices of strategies.
• Provide feedback on performance when a specific
  strategy was implemented.

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Use of Evaluation
If the students performance improved in the area
identified in evaluation, a different subskill,
strategy, material, etc. might be chosen. If the
students performance improved, you might also
want to keep everything the same but increase
expectations DO NOT CHANGE THE TARGETED SKILL!!!
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Samples

• Completed Examples
• Blank Self-determination Sheets

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Need to Know More?

• References
• Kleinert, H., Denham,A., Groneck, V., Clayton,
  J., Burdge, M., Kearns, J., Hall, M. (2001).
  Systematically teaching the components of
  self-determination. In H. Kleinert J. Kearns
  (Eds.), Alternate assessment Measuring student
  outcomes and supports for students with
  disabilities (pp. 93-134). Baltimore Paul H.
  Brookes Publishing Co.

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Need to Know More?

• Web References
• http//ericec.org/digests/e632.html
• http//www.ericdigests.org/
• 2003-4/severe-disabilities.html

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Need to Know More?

• Web Resources
• Samples Templates
• www.ed.state.nh.us/specialEd/nheiap-alt.htm
• www.measuredprogress.org
• www.johnsdesk.com