Colleen A. Thoma

Experiences of College Students with Disabilities and the Importance of Self-Determination in Higher Education Settings.

Although the literature is clear that self-determination is an important component of the transition planning process for students with disabilities preparing for postsecondary education, further studies are needed to explore what self-determination strategies these students use to remain in college and successfully meet the challenges in postsecondary education settings. This article describes a study conducted with postsecondary education students in 2- and 4-year college settings to (a) identify skills that effective self-advocates use to ensure they stay in college and obtain needed supports and (b) identify the essential self-determination skills needed to remain and persist in college. Findings from the study and implications for postsecondary education and secondary education are discussed.

Self-Determination in Teacher Education A Model to Facilitate Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities

Although best practices recommend that transition plans from school to adult life for students with disabilities be developed based on student preferences and interests, evidence from student transition planning meetings has demonstrated that students are not involved in or even present for many of these meetings. One hypothesis for this occurrence was that teacher preparation programs had not included instruction in this area for the majority of special educators. Results of a survey of faculty members at institutions of higher education supported this hypothesis. The authors developed a course on transition planning that uses best-practice recommendations from teacher preparation literature to ensure that special educators obtain the skills, knowledge, and dispositions necessary to support the development of self-determination skills in the students they teach.

Secondary Students' Perceptions of School Life with Regard to Alienation: The Effects of Disability, Gender and Race

Student alienation is a major cause of dropping out of school, gang activity and poor peer, school-student, and teacher-student relationships. A considerable amount of research has focused on factors that distinguish between students who are engaged in the learning process and those who are not. This study examined the relationship between students and their perceptions of school life. A survey was distributed to over 200 students at two high schools in a large, urban school district in the southern United States. Results suggest that gender, race/ethnicity, and placement in special education are all strong factors in influencing whether students perceive school and/or life in general as alienating. The limitations of the study as well as future research directions and implications for practice are discussed.

Teaching Self-Determination to Students With Disabilities Will the Literature Help?

This article describes results of a literature review of articles addressing self-determination published in 24 journals between 1995 and 2002. The purposes of the study were to (a) identify professional journals most likely to contain articles on self-determination useful to teachers, and (b) categorize the articles to help teachers locate information related to the instructional needs of their students. Results indicated that the majority of articles published on self-determination were located in four research-oriented or disability-specific journals. Few articles were published in practitioner-oriented journals or provided information to teachers regarding educational practices to help students acquire the core component skills of self-determination. Implications for teaching self-determination to students with disabilities are provided.

Transition Assessment Practices in Nevada and Arizona Are They Tied to Best Practices

This manuscript describes the results of a research study conducted in tWo Western states, investigating special educator knoWledge and use of various transition assessment strategies. Eighty-four special educators responded to a survey on transition assessment that asked questions about What they kneW about transition assessment strategies and Which ones they used. Assessments Were divided into three main categories: standardized, informal, and alternative. Questions Were also asked about student roles in the transition assessment process and the use of various self-determination assessment and curricula packages. Although most educators indicated that they Were aWare of all types of assessment strategies, they still relied heavily on those that Were either standardized or teacher-prepared. The results of the study indicated that special educators did not use transition assessment strategies that had been demonstrated to support student self-determination in the process (i.e., person-centered planning, student-led meetings, and self-determination curriculum-based instruments). More Work is needed to ensure that teachers have access to, and knoW hoW to use, these strategies in their classrooms.

“The John Jones Show” How One Teacher Facilitated Self-Determined Transition Planning for a Young Man With Autism

There has been a great deal of research reaffirming the power of self-determination Within the process of planning for the transition from school to adult life for a student With disabilities. Much of the focus of that research has been on teaching core component skills or changing parts of the process such as the transition Individualized Education Program meeting itself. Although these strategies are effective, they only begin to scratch the surface of What is necessary to facilitate self-determined transition planning throughout the year. This article describes the efforts of one teacher to infuse self-determination throughout both the curriculum and the school year.

Employment Social Skills: What Skills Are Really Valued?.

Although social skills have long been recognized as essential in promoting employees’ employability (e.g., maintaining employment), there has been little research about work-related social skills for the last two decades. A systematic replication of Salzberg, Agran, and Lignugaris/Kraft’s investigation of critical social skills was conducted. Specifically, a national sample of secondary teachers was asked to rate the importance of social skills in employment settings and the extent to which instruction was provided to teach these skills. Among the skills rated as most important were seeking clarification for unclear instructions, arriving at work on time, refraining from inappropriate touching of others, carrying out instructions needing immediate attention, notifying a supervisor when assistance is needed, responding appropriately to critical feedback, and interacting well with customers/clients. Interestingly, the skills perceived to be the most important were not the skills that were most frequently taught. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Transition to adult life for students who are Black and have disabilities: What do we know and what do we need to know?

BACKGROUND: Although there is considerable research that has identified effective strategies to support the transition from school to adult life for young adults with disabilities, post-school outcomes for culturally linguistically or economically diverse (CLED) students with disabilities, particularly students who are Black and have disabilities, remain abysmal. OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the literature on transition practices for students who are Black and have disabilities to determine what is known about their unique challenges, as well as what can be done to improve their postschool outcomes. METHODS: The current published literature was reviewed to identify articles that examined the impact of transition practices on postschool outcomes for students who are Black and have disabilities. RESULTS: Although the research literature on students who are Black and have disabilities in transition programs is limited, a number of practices were identified as improving transition planning and services for these students, including several that enhance student self-determination in the process. CONCLUSIONS: As the postschool outcomes for this group of youth students who are Black and have disabilities continues to be abysmal, this review of the literature revealed that there is a need to conduct research to further identify barriers and effective practices needed to overcome them. Implications for practice as well as further research are discussed.

Implementing a UDL Framework: A Study of Current Personnel Preparation Practices

Young adults with intellectual disability (ID) continue to experience the least successful postschool outcomes among transition-aged youth ( Sanford et al., 2011 ). Experts disagree on the most effective approach to improve outcomes such as employment, postsecondary education, and community living. In 2015, the National Goals Conference brought together educational researchers to set an agenda to guide the field in terms of research, practice, and policy ( Thoma, Cain, & Walther-Thomas, 2015 ). One of their recommendations, based on promising research and practices, urged the field to identify effective personnel preparation and professional development practices that ensure general and special educators can implement a UDL framework ( Thoma, Cain, et al., 2015 ). This study surveyed program coordinators at accredited universities to determine what is currently being done to prepare educators to implement a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, the extent to which a UDL framework is being incorporated into preservice courses in higher education, and how a UDL framework is being used to improve postschool outcomes for youth with ID.