Paraprofessional Involvement in Self-Determination Instruction for Students with High-Incidence Disabilities (Report‪)‬

Over the past 2 decades, self-determination has emerged as an important construct within the field of special education and secondary transition services. This emphasis on promoting students' self-determination is now evident within legislative and policy initiatives (i.e., Field & Hoffman, 2002; Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, 2004), state standards (Konrad, Walker, Fowler, Test, & Wood, 2008; Wehmeyer, Field, Doren, Jones, & Mason, 2004), and professional competencies (Council for Exceptional Children, 2009; National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition, 2005). Concurrently, mounting empirical evidence suggests that self-determination is strongly associated with improved postschool outcomes (Test, Mazotti, et al., 2009; Wehmeyer & Palmer, 2003), and numerous studies have demonstrated that self-determination can be effectively taught to students with high-incidence disabilities (Carter, Lane, Crnobori, Bruhn, & Oakes, 2011; Test, Fowler, Brewer, & Wood, 2005; Wehmeyer, Palmer, Lee, Williams-Diehm, & Shogren, 2011). As a result, best and recommended practices now highlight the importance of providing students with disabilities with meaningful opportunities to develop the skills, attitudes, and behaviors that can enhance their self-determination (Carter, Lane, Pierson, & Glaeser, 2006; Cobb, Lehmann, Newman-Gonchar, & Alwell, 2009; Landmark, Ju, & Zhang, 2010). Instructionally, self-determination is often addressed at the level of the following component skills: choice making, decision making, problem solving, goal setting and attainment, self-advocacy and leadership, self-management and self-regulation, and self-awareness and self-knowledge (Wehmeyer, Agran, & Hughes, 2000; Wehmeyer & Field, 2007). Opportunities to develop greater capacities in each of these areas can be provided formally and informally through an array of curricular materials, instructional strategies, and naturalistic approaches embedded throughout the school day (Konrad et al., 2008; Wehmeyer et al., 2004). However, relatively few studies have explored the avenues through which students with high-incidence disabilities are provided opportunities to develop these skills through school.