A social-ecological approach to promote self-determination.

2011

Michael Wehmeyer
[email protected]
785-864-0723

This article describes a social-ecological approach for promoting and enhancing self-determination among individuals with developmental disabilities. A five-level model is presented, based upon the interaction of person and environmental factors, that identifies a series of social mediator variables (i.e. social effectiveness, social capital, social inclusion) which the authors believe can successfully influence self-determination improvement efforts and enhance the efficacy of self-determination interventions. The impact of these mediators upon intervention outcomes is considered within an interactional, social-ecological context of person-specific (individual characteristics) and environment-specific (provision of opportunities to make choices) contexts. This approach will guide the activities of a five-year National Training Consortium on self-determination involving five universities and funded by the U.S. Administration on Developmental Disabilities.

self-determination, social ecologial model, social capital

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Professionals

Electronic (disc, CD, 508 compliant web posting)

http://www.aucd.org/ngsd

N/A