Easy Self-Determination Strategies for Daily Sessions
Three easy strategies to include self-determination into your daily sessions with children.
Have you ever thought, “How am I going to fit teaching self-determination into an already busy schedule?” If you answered yes, you’re in good company. A 2013 study of school administrators found that although teaching self-determination was considered highly important, few educators found time to include it in their lessons. Here's one example of a self-determination component that is not being taught as often as educators believe it should be.
Vanderbilt University 2013
So how can we change this? Are there ways to make it easier for educators, therapists, and parents to introduce this important topic to children at a young age?
In addition to using the Captain Me video lessons and songs, there are many simple ways to incorporate self-determination into our work with children. There are online courses, books, and live workshops that provide in-depth training and ideas for embedding self-determination into children’s lives. Here are a few resources and links that may help:
Every Moment Counts
Every Moment Counts (EMC) is a mental health promotion initiative developed to help all children and youth become mentally healthy in order to succeed in school, at home and in the community. A major goal of EMC is to build capacity of all adults serving youth and parents to be mental health promoters. The purpose of this website is to share practical information that can be used to promote positive mental health in all children and youth with and without disabilities and/or mental health challenges.
For some great ideas on promoting positive mental health, go to:
Tier 1 Universal Promotion - Every Moment Counts
Apply EBP
Apply EBP was launched in 2017 with a unique mission of providing evidence-informed continuing education courses for occupational and physical therapy practitioners, speech and language pathologists, and educators to benefit their clients. Self-determination courses (both live and recorded) are featured as well as many other relevant topics.
In addition to courses, there are many free resources on the website:
https://www.applyebp.com/free-resources/
To find self-determination courses and resources on the website go to:
https://www.applyebp.com/instructors/amy-coopersmith-mot-otr-l-ma-ed/
Three easy strategies to include self-determination into your daily sessions with children:
1. Set a time once or twice a day for child to do a “self-check” in which they voice their own opinion about what they’ve learned.
2. Ask child to write down their personal goal / plan for the day at the beginning of a lesson (Onwumere et al., 2020).
3. Give child a choice about how they want to learn the subject being taught. Where do they want to sit? What paper do they want to write on? Which topic do they want to learn first? The mere perception of choice can increase their motivation and perseverance (Wehmeyer, 2017).
References
Onwumere, D.D., Cruz, Y.M., Harris, L.I., Malfucci, K.A., Seidman, S.A., Boone, C., & Patten, K. (2020). The Impact of an Independence Curriculum on Self-Determination and Function in Middle School Autistic Students. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 14, 103 - 117. https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2020.1799904
Vanderbilt University (2013). Promoting Self-Determination Among Students with Disabilities. Retrieved from https://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/assets/files/resources/psiSelfdetermination.pdf
Wehmeyer, M. L., Shogren, K. A., Little, T. D., & Lopez, S. J. (2017). Development of self-determination through the life-course. Netherlands: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1042-6_6
