Technology and Self-Determination in Transition Planning: The Impact of Technology Use in Transition Planning on Student Self-Determination

Abstract

Promoting student involvement in transition planning and the self-determination of youth with disabilities has become best practice in secondary and transition services. Increasingly, a critical feature of efforts to promote student access to and involvement with curricular content, including transition-related content, has involved the use of universally designed instructional technologies. The extant research does not, however, provide a causal link between efforts to teach skills related to student involvement and self-determination utilizing technology. This study utilized a randomized-trial control group design to examine whether or not the use of cognitively accessible technology would improve outcomes related to self-determination for students receiving instruction in transition planning designed to promote student involvement. We also evaluated the impact, over time, of instruction in transition planning designed to promote student involvement on student self-determination. Participants were 194 high school students receiving special education services in multiple disability categories in school districts in six states. About half the students received instruction with the support of cognitively accessible computer software programs designed to support greater independence in decision making and to facilitate exploration related to transition. Results provided support for the relationship between student involvement in transition planning and enhanced self-determination and provided evidence of a causal relationship between student involvement combined with technology use and enhanced self-determination.