© Division on Developmental Disabilities Adult Outcomes for Students with Cognitive Disabilities Three-Years After High School: The Impact of Self-Determination

Abstract: This article reports afollow-up study of school leavers with mental retardation or learning disabilities who were surveyed 1- and 3-years after they left school to determine what they were doing in major life areas (employment, independent living or community integration). Students were divided into two groups based on self-determination scores collected during theirfinal year at high school. Comparisons between these groups on outcomes at I and 3 years post-graduation indicate that students who were more self-determined fared better across multiple life categories, including employment and access to health and other benefits, financial independence, and independent living. Over the last decade there has been consider-able focus in special education literature on the importance of self-determination in the education of students with disabilities. Due largely to the federal emphasis on and fund-ing for promoting self-determination as a component of transition services for youth with disabilities, numerous resources are now available to support instruction to achieve this outcome. Such resources range from curricu-lar materials and guides to instructional strat-egies and methods (Field & Hoffman, 1996a