Self-determination: What do rehabilitation counseling students know and where do they learn it?

Abstract

Promoting self-determination is now widely recognized in the literature as a best practice in special education services, particularly in relation to facilitating students' transition from high school to adult life, and, increasingly, in vocational rehabilitation. The present study reports a survey of rehabilitation counseling preservice students in two states to determine: 1) what rehabilitation counseling students know about self-determination; 2) where they learned to facilitate self-determination; 3) what strategies (curricula, assessments, and/or person-centered planning tools) they heard about and/or used to facilitate self-determination; and 4) how important the core competencies of self-determination were in their own lives. The results of the survey are highlighted and implications for professional development in vocational rehabilitation, research, and dissemination of further research related to self-determination are noted.