Universal Design for Secondary Education and Transition Planning: Empowering Students to Access the General Education Curriculum and Quality Lives: A Roadmap for Planning and Instruction - Softcover

Thoma, Colleen A.; Bartholomew, Christina C.; Scott, LaRon Antwoine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557669104 ISBN 13: 9781557669100

Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co, 2008

Synopsis

This book guides educators in the use of technology, or more specifically, universal design for learning in secondary education for students with disabilities, supporting both their inclusion in general education classrooms and achievement of academic goals as well as their transition to adult life.Universal design for learning is the idea that material is presented and learned in multiple formats, appealing to the strengths of each learner in the classroom. Throughout this book the principles of universal design and individualized assistive technology is discussed and applied. By understanding and incorporating this philosophy into their classrooms, teachers will find it easier to reach all students and help them to achieve their academic goals.

About this title

About the Author

Colleen A. Thoma is Director of Doctor al Programs, School of Education, and Associate Professor, Department of Special Education and Disabilit y Policy, Virginia Commonwealth University. Christina C. Bartholomew is a doctor al candidate, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University. LaRon Scott is a special educator, Tucker High School, Virginia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpted from Universal Design for Transition: A Roadmap for Planning and Instruction
By Colleen A. Thoma, Ph.D., Christina C. Bartholomew, Ph.D., & LaRon A. Scott, M.Ed.

Chapter 2: Universal Design for Transition and Student Self-Determination
© 2009. Brookes Publishing. All rights reserved.

Teacher's Voice

Self-determination is important for everyone. The premise behind self-determination is that everyone has a right to choose his or her own destiny, to work toward making his or her dreams a reality. It’s been important in my own life and has to be taught and nurtured for students with disabilities as well. Unfortunately, there are still members of our community who have their lives controlled by those around them. They are told what they will eat for breakfast, how they will dress in the morning, where they will work, how they will play, and where they will live. This is especially true for students who have greater support needs. Let’s face it, it’s more difficult for those students to communicate what they want and more difficult for their teachers to imagine the possibilities. That’s where UDT needs to start and end: with finding a way to ensure that students are actively involved in the entire process, from choosing their longterm and academic goals to choosing the supports that will help them achieve and maintain those goals. It’s something that has to happen across the school day, not just when we talk about transition planning. I do that by ensuring that I have resources available that help students learn what they are interested in, communicate those interests to their families and the individualized education program (IEP) team, and create educational goals that help them get there.

In Chapter 1, the concept of UDT was introduced and characteristics of the approach were outlined. This chapter focuses on one of those characteristics— student self-determination—and its role in balancing the universal nature of this approach with the individual needs of students with disabilities. Successful transition outcomes for individual students are usually clearly tied to the selfdetermination that they demonstrate in the transition process. When individuals are the causal agents for finding supports, instruction, and services in their own lives, they have an increased chance of achieving their goals (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997).

Self-determination helps individuals with disabilities to find their voice so that other transition planning team members hear their goals for adult life. Voice in this scenario refers not only to the spoken word, but also to the many other ways that individuals with disabilities communicate their preferences, including nonverbal body language, behavior, and augmentative and alternative communication devices or systems. This chapter will introduce you to strategies that can be incorporated into a UDT approach to instructional planning, delivery, and assessment to ensure that students also develop the self-determination skills that are so critical to achieving their postsecondary outcomes.

SELF-DETERMINATION 101: WHAT IS IT?

As noted in Chapter 1, Wehmeyer defined self-determination as “acting as the primary causal agent in one’s life, free to make choices and decisions about one’s quality of life, free from undue or unwanted external influence†(1992, p. 13). He later described 12 core component skills that fit under the umbrella of self-determination (1997): choice making; decision making; problem solving; goal setting and attainment; risk taking, independence, and safety; self-regulation; self-instruction; internal locus of control; positive perceptions of self-efficacy and outcome expectancy; self-advocacy and leadership; selfknowledge; and self-awareness. Each of these skills is important for the development of overall self-determination.

UDT and technology may help students learn new skills, improve existing skills, or use their existing skills in new ways. Of course, the use of a UDT approach does not necessarily mean that technology will be used; however, a range of technological supports can make the instructional delivery or assessment process more accessible to a range of students. Table 2.1 provides some examples of technology that may enhance the development and use of the selfdetermination core component skills.

With UDT, instruction covers the broadest range of transition domains, resources, perspectives, self-determination supports, and learner needs for instruction and assessment. Before enhancing, expanding, and refining the curriculum, educators should spend time focusing on what they are required to teach. Often, educators are already teaching many of the core component skills of self-determination but, when embedded in academic standards, they do not always recognize these skills.

LaRon Scott’s first step in finding options to enhance student self-determination skills was to familiarize himself with the content-specific standards he was already required to teach, identifying which self-determination core component skills were already there. Many teachers miss this step and wrongly believe that any instruction they provide to enhance students’ self-determination skills will be instruction that is supplemental to the academic curriculum. For example, LaRon found

• Math standards that asked students to solve problems
• Health standards that focused on learning to make good decisions and setting goals for a healthy lifestyle
• English standards that required students to advocate for themselves or persuade others through speech or writing
• History standards that described one’s role in society (leadership)
• Science standards that demonstrated an individual’s relationship to the world around him or her (internal locus of control/self-efficacy).

LaRon’s second step in finding options to enhance student selfdetermination skills was to identify the core component skills that were not included in the instruction. He then identified ways to teach the missing skills, either through direct instruction or UDT-oriented instructional delivery and assessment. For example, LaRon identified self-observation/selfevaluation as a core component skill of self-determination that was not part of the academic standards he was responsible for teaching. However, a lesson in a chemistry laboratory could be universally designed to include selfobservation/ self-evaluation by providing step-by-step instructions to students through a variety of methods (e.g., pictures; recorded verbal instructions; written instructions on a computer or handheld device; PowerPoint presentation with words, sounds, and pictures that students follow on their laptops). Students could also have a method of evaluating their performance on each step by checking off what they were able to complete on a list. Using this lesson, LaRon was able to teach

1. a functional skill that typical adults use on a regular basis (organizing/scheduling their work)
2. a critical self-determination skill (along with an opportunity for students to use it)
3. a component of the general education curriculum.

These goals are not mutually exclusive; when a UDT approach is used, teachers can meet a variety of students’ needs.

The last step in helping to ensure student self-determination is discovering the individual goals that students have for their own lives (and the need to enhance their own self-determination skills) that are not covered in the UDT lessons and instruction developed for the whole class. As your skill in applying the UDT approach improves, you will most likely need to employ this form of “retrofitting†less and less. However, at least in the beginning, you can anticipate that some individualized goals will need to be incorporated into the instructional day. In this book, those individualized approaches are demonstrated through the stories of three different individuals with disabilities: Sara, Jennifer, and Santa. Each of these women have agreed to allow us to share the stories of their transition from high school to adult life. Their stories are very different, but there are some similarities that are highlighted throughout this book.

Sara is a 19-year-old who still receives educational services from her local high school. She was included in a number of classes throughout her high school experience, but at the present time, she receives the majority of her instruction in a variety of community settings (the community college, a local restaurant, and a community theatre). Jennifer is a special educator in a local high school and has a learning disability. She experienced a number of transitions in her own life: first from high school to college, then from college to employment, and ultimately to a new role as a married woman. Finally, Santa’s story of transition focuses on attaining a typical adult life: as a professional woman, who bought her own home and is raising a son. Segments of their stories are included in subsequent chapters. It will not be difficult to see that their successes come from creative approaches to supporting their dreams for their adult lives in ways that are directly linked to a UDT approach to facilitating transitions, particularly in regard to supporting the development of their self-determination skills!

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1557669104
• ISBN 13: 9781557669100
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224