Self-determination is a construct that has been applied to the fields of motivational, personality, and positive psychology and that has direct application to positive education for youth with and without disabilities. Self-determination refers to actions that are volitional; that is, actions that are based upon one’s preferences and interests and in pursuit of freely chosen goals. As the field of education moves toward a greater emphasis on personalized learning and positive education, a focus on self-determination and self-determined learning becomes critical. This session will provide a summary of the application of the self-determination construct to the disability context and will introduce assessments of self-determination and autonomy-supportive interventions that have evidence to promote self-determination and more positive school and community outcomes for youth and adults with disabilities. In particular, the session will present information on (1) Causal Agency Theory, which was developed to explain how people become self-determined, and its relationship to Self-Determination Theory and the development of self-determination across the life span; and (2) interventions to promote causal agency and self-determination, particularly the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction, an evidence-based practice that enables educators to teach students to self-regulate problem solving leading to goal setting and attainment and thus, to self-direct their own goal-driven learning. The session will provide results from several large-scale randomized trial, control-group studies that provide evidence of the efficacy of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction to enhance the self-determination of youth with disabilities, the impact of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction on school and post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities, including community inclusion and employment outcomes, and the impact of the model on teacher expectations of student performance. Attendees will learn how self-determination is defined, why it is important to positive education and students with disabilities and will acquire knowledge about and information to access interventions that will enable them to promote their students’ self-determination and self-determined learning.

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