Students with visual impairments represent less than one-tenth of one percent of the total student population (Ferrell, 2005) yet require skills in self-determination that are prerequisite to accessing the core academic curriculum. Self-determination reflects "a combination of skills, knowledge, and beliefs that enable a person to engage in goal-directed, self-regulated, autonomous behavior" (Field, Martin, Miller, Ward, & Wehmeyer, 1998, p. 2) and "involves knowledge of self and the environment, decision-making, problem solving, goal setting, personal advocacy, communication skills, self-control, and knowledge of how to interact with the environment to achieve desired outcomes" (Cleveland et al., 2007, p. xi). Unfortunately, students with visual impairments are often denied the opportunities to learn these fundamental skills, thus denying them an appropriate education as outlined via federal initiatives such as The Rehabilitation Act Amendments and IDEA 2004. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Empowered Curriculum, a comprehensive, experiential program designed to improve the self-determination skills of adolescents with visual impairments. Thirty secondary students with visual impairments participated in the study. Pre-intervention and post-intervention measures that addressed self-determination skill acquisition, self-esteem, and self-concept were provided to the students. Students were assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. The results suggested that the students who received the intervention did not improve their self-determination skills, self-esteem, or self-concept. Future directions are discussed. / School Psychology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/1725 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Levin, Darren S. |
| Contributors | Fesenmaier, Daniel R., DuCette, Joseph P., Rotheram-Fuller, Erin, Connell, James, Thurman, S. Kenneth |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 143 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/1707, Theses and Dissertations |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds