Overview
The Arc’s Self-Determination Scale (SDS; Wehmeyer & Kelchner, 1995) is a student self-report measure of self-determination. It is a norm-referenced instrument designed to (a) assess the self-determination strengths and weaknesses of adolescents with disabilities, (b) facilitate student involvement in educational planning and instruction to promote self-determination as an educational outcome, (c) develop self-determination goals and objectives, and (d) assess student self-determination skills for research purposes. The ARC SDS yields a total self-determination score, as well as four subdomain scores in the following areas: Autonomy, Self-Regulation, Psychological Empowerment, and Self-Realization. The user guide and scale are both available for free at the University of Oklahoma’s Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment website below the Summary table.
Summary
Age: 12-18 years
Time to Administer: 30-60 minutes
Method of Administration: Individually or (15-member) group- administered self-report for adolescents with mild cognitive disabilities or learning disabilities to measure strengths and limitations in self- determination; 72 items in various formats; students can read test independently or it may be read aloud
Yields raw scores that are converted to normed percentile scores
Subscales: Overall Score: Total Self-Determination
Subdomain Scores: Autonomy, Self-Regulation, Psychological Empowerment, Self- Realization
Autism Related Research
White, Flanagan, & Nadig (2018)
Age Range: 18-29 years
Sample Size: 30
Topics Addressed:
Comparison of SDS and AIR Self-Determination Scale with regard to quality of life (QoL) for persons with ASD
Outcome:White, Flanagan, & Nadig (2018)
Correlational analyses indicated the measures were significantly associated with QoL. Regression analyses revealed that individuals with higher self-determination scores reported higher perceptions of life satisfaction. Thus, self-determination assessed by two complementary measures, was found to be positively associated with QoL.
Conclusion: self-determination focused services and supports could be an effective method of promoting QoL by encouraging more self-determination acquisition and opportunities for young adults with ASD as they transition to adulthood.
Chou et al. (2017a)
Age Range: 13-21 years
Sample Size: 95
Topics Addressed:
Reliability, validity, and factor structure of the AIR Self-Determination Scale and the ARC Self-Determination Scale (SDS)
Outcome:Chou et al. (2017a)
Findings of this study suggest that (a) the two measures in this study show reliability and validity in the measurement of global self-determination in students with ASD and (b) the parameter estimates and the model fit statistics support the hypothesized factor structure of both instruments (with light variation for the SDS).
Conclusion: both measures have potential to contribute to the measure of overall level of self-determination for students with ASD, though future work is needed with larger and more representative populations, with particular attention to measuring self-realization and psychological empowerment.
Chou et al. (2017b)
Age Range: 13-22 years
Sample Size: 222
Topics Addressed:
Differences in self-determination between students with ASD, ID, and LD on the Arc’s SDS
Outcome:Chou et al. (2017b)
Students with ASD had significantly lower levels of autonomy compared with students in either other group; students with ID had significantly lower levels of self-regulation than students with LD, but not significantly different than students with ASD; students with ASD and students with ID had significantly lower levels of psycho-empowerment than students with LD; and students with ID had lower levels of self-realization than students with LD, but not significantly different from students with ASD.
Conclusion: profiles of self-determination differ between students with ASD, ID, and LD. More research is needed, but the current findings provide information to direct instructional design and delivery to promote development of self-determination among students with disabilities.