I am looking into a systematic review of independence of children with special educational needs, but independence seems to be an elusive and subjective term.
Hi Toula, thanks. I was looking through the apa thesaurus earlier & my mind has narrowed to a few constructs. Self care skills seems to be the most widely used but I am interested in Self-Regulation (self-directed learning & discovery seems influential here), Sense of Coherence & Competence. I did not come across autonomous so thanks, I shall look at that also. If you can think of any references in these areas that would be great. Thanks Merisa.
I know the opposite for kids with special needs. In a study I did with babies who have Down Syndrome, the term for kids who were not autonomous was scaffolding. Not sure if you look under scaffolding and different learning needs you might find the opposite term.
Toula, What were you looking at in your study? Thank you for the suggestion, I shall look under scaffolding. I am not expecting to find too much as independence seems to be mostly used in the context of life skills such as dressing etc and not used very much in the influence of emotional / social / cognitive independence. I hope this view changes!
What do you mean with agency and efficacy? Not sure if I know what you mean. Do you mean if promoting selfdetermination is compatible with agency efficacy and effectiveness?
Just FYI, this is a definition of Self-determination that it widely accepted:
Wehmeyer (1992) states that self-determination refers to the attitudes and abilities required to act as the “primary causal agent in one’s life and to make choices regarding one’s actions free from undue external influence or interference” (pp. 305).
Wehmeyer, M. L. (1992). Self-determination and the education of students with mental retardation. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 27, 302-314.