Parents' Perception on the Capacity of Self-Determination in Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Self-determination is prominent for students with disabilities to attain tremendous success in academic achievements and higher quality of life with better employment that generally leads them to be independent. Research reported students with disabilities typically have aptitude for self-determination due to the lack of opportunities given by the parents to practice self-determination. This study investigates the parents' perception of the capacity for self-determination in their adolescent child with disabilities. This study employed a quantitative research method with the adoption of the AIR SelfDetermination Scale parent form to examine 64 parents' perceptions towards their child's capacity of self-determination through an online survey questionnaire. The finding of this study disclosed parents have a moderately low perception of the capacity of self-determination in their child with disabilities. Furthermore, there is no relationship between family income and parent's perception of the capacity for self-determination in their adolescent child with disabilities. In addition, most of the parents in this study used encouragement and support to promote the self-determination skills of their children with disabilities. The findings from this study implied the need to guide children towards independence and collaborate between parents, children, teachers and professionals to develop a plan to enhance selfdetermination and emphasize emotional support toward a child's goal attainment. Last but not least, the limitation of the study and recommendation for future research has also been discussed in this research study.