In the past decade, self-determination has increased the attention from the researchers in the field of special education. Self-determination is important because it affects the quality of life, essential for inclusion and community integration, and ...
In the past decade, self-determination has increased the attention from the researchers in the field of special education. Self-determination is important because it affects the quality of life, essential for inclusion and community integration, and directly affects adult outcomes for the individuals with mental retardation. Because self-determination is a relatively new concept that was applied to the field of special education, there were few research studies specifically devoted to the self-determination of individuals with mental retardation before 1990. Generally, recent research studies on self-determination can be classified into seven areas. In this study on seven areas, the purpose was to investigate the effect of a self-determination instruction on self-determination abilities of high school students with mental retardation.
The concrete purposes are to clarify : (1) Does self-determination instruction affect the self-determination abilities of the students with mental retardation? (2) Does self-determination instruction affect the autonomy of the students with mental retardation? (3) Does self-determination instruction affect the self-regulation of the students with mental retardation? (4) Does self-determination instruction affect the psychological empowerment self-determination abilities of the students with mental retardation? (5) Does self-determination instruction affect the self-realization of the students with mental retardation? (6) Does parent's assessment has a relation with the self-determination abilities of the students with mental retardation?
The sample for this study consists of 157 high school students with mental retardation. Among them, 76 were experimental group and 81 were control group. Participants in the experimental group received self-determination instruction over a 10-week period with 'Self-Determination Instruction Program'. 'Self-Determination Scale' was used as the instrument of the study to measure their self-determination abilities. The research design was 3 factor design with group(2)·gender(2)·age(3). Statistical tests conducted includes analyses of 3-way ANOVA, t-test, and pearson correlation coefficient.
The conclusions drawn from the results and discussions were as follows :
First, there was significant difference between the mean scores of the self-determination abilities of the experimental group and those of the control group after the intervention. Therefore, self-determination instruction is needed to improve the self-determination abilities of high school students with mental retardation. And there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the self-determination abilities of the male group and those of the female group after the intervention. Moreover, there were significant differences between the mean scores of the groups based on age for self-determination abilities mean scores.
Second, there was significant difference between the autonomy scores of the experimental group and those of the control group after the intervention. Therefore, self-determination instruction is needed to improve the autonomy of the high school students with mental retardation. And there was no significant difference between the autonomy scores of the male group and those of the female group after the intervention. Moreover, there were significant differences between the groups based on the age for autonomy scores.
Third, there was significant difference between the self-regulation scores of experimental group and those of the control group after the intervention. Therefore, self-determination instruction is needed to improve the self-regulation of the high school students with mental retardation. And there was no significant difference between the self-regulation scores of the male group and those of the female group after the intervention. Moreover, there were no significant differences between groups based on the age for self-regulation scores.
Fourth, there was significant difference between the mean scores of the psychological empowerment of the experimental group and those of the control group after the intervention. Therefore, self-determination instruction is needed to improve the psychological empowerment of the high school students with mental retardation. And there was significant difference between the psychological empowerment scores of the male group and those of the female group after the intervention. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the groups based on the age for the psychological empowerment scores.
Fifth, there was significant difference between the self-realization mean scores of the experimental group and those of the control group after the intervention. Therefore self-determination instruction is needed to improve the self-realization of the high school students with mental retardation. And there was no significant difference between the self-realization scores of the male group and those of the female group after the intervention. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the groups based on the age for self-realization scores.
Sixth, the parent's evaluation on self-determination abilities and the parent's cognition level on self-determination behavior of their children have relation with the student's self-determination abilities, autonomy, and self-realization. However, these have not relation with the student's self-regulation and psychological empowerment. And parent's evaluation on the self-determination abilities has relation with the parent's cognition level on self-determination behavior of their children. Moreover, the parent's evaluation on the self-determination abilities and the parent's cognition level on self-determination behavior of their children have significant difference between pretest and posttest.