Steps To Self Determination

"There is not available a more comprehensive book in the area of self-determination." —Melinda Pierson, Department of Special Education California State University, Fullerton "Unique because it provides direction for teaching and supporting self-determined behavior across all age groups and also within the general education classroom and curricula." —Marianne Mooney, Senior Research Associate TransCen, Inc., Post-Secondary Learning and Careers Give students with disabilities powerful tools for success in school and in life! Michael Wehmeyer and Sharon Field present research-proven instructional strategies that empower special needs students at all grade levels to make their own decisions. Self-Determination offers detailed and current practitioner-oriented approaches in combination with extensive teacher reproducibles—all within the context of inclusion, standards-based reform, and access to the general curriculum. Linked to the IDEA requirement for individualized transition plans, this user-friendly resource assists practitioners in teaching the skills necessary for making decisions about employment, job skills, further schooling, and independent living. Educators will discover how to: Encourage students to become their own advocates by practicing assertive behavior Use needs-assessment techniques to determine the level of instruction required for each student Teach effective choice making, problem solving, and goal setting Support both families and fellow educators in their efforts to teach self-determination skills Special education teachers, general educators, and administrators will find this handbook an invaluable guide for helping students establish their own goals and plan for a strong and healthy future!

As I begin to write this Preface, I feel a rush of excitement. I have now finished the book; my gestalt is coming into completion. Throughout the months that I have been writing this, I have, indeed, been intrinsically motivated. Now that it is finished I feel quite competent and self-determining (see Chapter 2). Whether or not those who read the book will perceive me that way is also a concern of mine (an extrinsic one), but it is a wholly separate issue from the intrinsic rewards I have been experiencing. This book presents a theoretical perspective. It reviews an enormous amount of research which establishes unequivocally that intrinsic motivation exists. Also considered herein are various approaches to the conceptualizing of intrinsic motivation. The book concentrates on the approach which has developed out of the work of Robert White (1959), namely, that intrinsically motivated behaviors are ones which a person engages in so that he may feel competent and self-determining in relation to his environment. The book then considers the development of intrinsic motiva tion, how behaviors are motivated intrinsically, how they relate to and how intrinsic motivation is extrinsically motivated behaviors, affected by extrinsic rewards and controls. It also considers how changes in intrinsic motivation relate to changes in attitudes, how people attribute motivation to each other, how the attribution process is motivated, and how the process of perceiving motivation (and other internal states) in oneself relates to perceiving them in others.

Primarily a prof vol for leaders in spec ed - researchers, scholars, teacher educators and their students. Should also appeal to researchers & scholars in psych, educ psych, and sch psych who are int'd in app's of self-reg learning theory to spec pop's.

Heutagogy, or self-determined learning, redefines how we understand learning and provides some exciting opportunities for educators. It is a novel approach to educational practice, drawing on familiar concepts such as constructivism, capability, andragogy and complexity theory. Heutagogy is also supported by a substantial and growing body of neuroscience research. Self-Determined Learning explores how heutagogy was derived, and what this approach to learning involves, drawing on recent research and practical applications. The editors draw together contributions from educators and practitioners in different fields, illustrating how the approach can been used and the benefits its use has produced. The subjects discussed include: the nature of learning, heutagogy in the classroom, flexible curriculum, assessment, e-learning, reflective learning, action learning and research, and heutagogy in professional practice settings.