Year 2 – Report 2021

Self determination

We were interested in self-determination because research with populations of children with disabilities has established a strong relationship between enhanced self-determination and in-school academic performance as well as being a predictor of post-school education, employment outcomes, and community participation.

As self-determination is a modifiable dispositional attribute throughout young adulthood (through targeted intervention), it is also a potential protective factor for undesirable outcomes.

At baseline, the SDI:SR scores for the READY cohort were lower than we would expect for young people with no disabilities and lower than those recorded for young people with disabilities. They were also lower than a small study of deaf learners of a similar age in the US.

We would suggest that this result is of concern given the relative advantages that this self-selecting group of deaf young people enjoy. Even with the benefit of better educational attainment than might be expected of deaf young people, and material resources, the READY cohort is under-performing in terms of self-determination.

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