Recommendation: Increase the cultural diversity in the special education teacher workforce. 2. In... more Recommendation: Increase the cultural diversity in the special education teacher workforce. 2. In order for students with disabilities to obtain, generalize, and apply selfdetermination skills in life and during IEP meetings, parents need to be aware what encompasses self-determination, why it is important, and ways for their child with a disability to use it (Grigal, Neubert, Moon, and Graham, 2003). Recommendation: Provide training to parents on self-determination, its importance, and how to support the development of skills. 3. Since student involvement in IEP development is required by age 16, secondary teachers may have more exposure to student-led IEPs and the acquisition of selfdetermination in their training program or in-service training. Elementary teachers may be less aware of strategies or programs that can be used to incorporate student involvement in IEP development and self-determination compared to secondary teachers. Even though some elementary teachers may believe that younger students may not be emotionally capable to carry out self-regulating or autonomous behaviors of self-determination, it is important for elementary teachers to begin to develop these abilities to build the foundation of a lifelong focus of self-determination (Wehmeyer & Palmer, 2003). Recommendation: Provide pre-service training and technical assistance and training to elementary in-service teachers on self-determination and student involvement in IEP development. 4. Special education teachers' responses indicated that they could use more training in teaching self-determination/self-advocacy skills. iv Recommendation: Provide pre-service training while in academic programs on how to incorporate self-determination concepts in clinical settings and to have exposure to self-determination skills throughout their academic program inclusive of all clinical aspects (practicum and internships). 5. Special education teachers have noted through this research study as well as other studies and articles (Wehmeyer, et al., 2000; Hawbaker, 2007) that lack of time to formally teach self-determination and student-led IEPs is an issue. Recommendation: Target school administrators to improve the capacity of teachers to teach self-determination skills and implement student-led IEP meetings. The principal conclusion of this research is that self-determination skills are essential for life after high school. The progressive success of student-led IEP meetings forms the basic infrastructure of confident, advocating adults, who have an understanding of their disability and what accommodations they will need in order to be successful as they begin their journey in life, work, leisure, and recreational pursuits. v Research Questions .
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