The Concept Powering Self-Directed Employment Practices

Self-determination is the most important skill that programs must teach (Ward, 1996). Secondary educational and supported employment programs, which typically have not taught self-determination skills (Phelps & Hanley-Maxwell, 1997), must now infuse self-determination methods into their daily operations so that people with disabilities can learn these crucial skills (Browning, 1997; Halloran, 1993; West, 1995). The self-directed employment questions posed in Chapter 1 represent operational self-determination concepts. The answers to these questions tracked two types of changes—the noticeable evolution in practice and the switch to self-determination oriented practices in Phase Three. Phase One methodology got people community jobs, but individuals with disabilities made no decisions—they simply went where they were told. These practices did not teach or provide opportunities for individuals to develop their self-determination skills. Phase Two procedures, which initiated staff-directed job match procedures, produced better outcomes than Phase One methods (McDonnell et al., 1989), but the individuals still did not make the decisions. In Phase Three, practices evolved so that individuals with disabilities made their own employment decisions. Initial results indicate that this approach produces better results than Phase Two procedures (Martin et al., 2002). Programs that utilize Phase Three methods directly teach self-determination skills and provide opportunities for individuals to learn and practice these empowering behaviors. Each self-directed employment question from Chapter 1 operationalized one or more self-determination concepts. Table 2.1 shows the self-determination concepts represented by each question. Two address self-awareness issues: choice and learning about one’s strengths and weaknesses. The others focus on self-advocacy, decision making, self-evaluation, adjustment, and independent performance factors. Together, these self-determination concepts power Phase Three self-directed employment practices. This chapter examines self-determination, reviews two self-determination strands, compares five self-determination instructional mod-