Making Decisions as a Means to Encouraging Autonomy in Special Ed
We all have our preferences. We make choices in simple and complex things like what clothes to wear or which career path to take.
And by making choices, we learn from experience, learn from mistakes, and grow as humans.
That’s why being allowed to make choices should be considered a fundamental right for all — children and adults alike.
But what about people with developmental disabilities? Are we letting our Neurodivergent (Special Education) students also make decisions?
As teachers, what can we do to teach choice-making skills?
By encouraging choice-making skills in special education, we can even help students on the path towards planning for their future.
When Special Education Students
Are Not Given a Choice . . .
Choice-making is a life skill that Neurodivergent individuals should have and carry with them into adulthood. Making decisions leads to confidence & growth. But to have this skill, our students need to know that they are capable.
Unfortunately, students in Special Education are often viewed as incapable of making the right choices. When adults around them start to just make decisions FOR them, this can lead to learned helplessness.
This means that many people with developmental disabilities are used to relying on their parents or caregivers to make decisions for them constantly.
Learned helplessness then leads to decreased levels of self-determination.
If you are unsure of some of these terms, it’s okay. I’m going to break it down for you!
Learned helplessness is a mindset where someone believes that they have no control over what’s happening around them; they’ve learned that there is no point in trying. Thus, they may just wait for another person to solve the problem for them.
Unfortunately, this is typically how educators and parents condition students to respond to us.
We give our students so much support that they learn they don’t have to do anything because someone will do it for them if they wait long enough.
And we don’t mean for this to happen. After all, we aim to TEACH our students. And it’s true that they are dependent and need a lot of support!
But, as educators, we have to provide only needed support and make our students feel that they still need to make an effort.
Self-determination is a concept that all individuals have the right to direct their own lives.
The more we can encourage choice-making and combat learned helplessness, the greater chance that students will increase their self-determination skills and have a chance at making a successful transition to adulthood.
How to Develop Choice-Making Skills
Studies suggest that early in a child’s education, teachers should create a classroom environment that allows choice-making.
There are different ways to offer choices. A crowd-favorite in my classroom is the “Would You Rather” (or “This or That” game).
While this activity is commonly used as an icebreaker at parties, it’s actually a very fun and educational option to encourage choice-making of preferences with my students.
It’s also helpful for planning my students’ IEPs (Individualized Education Program) as they tell me their vocational and life skills preferences.
For example, finding a career for them depends on their individuality. Is the job in a loud environment, or can it be done at home? Does it require them to interact with a lot of people?
To help the students become more familiar with their career options, I’ve created Would You Rather Vocational Exploration questions in Task Cards, Google Slides & Boom Cards formats, covering these topics:
- Vocational interests
- Career & job positions
- Workplace environments
- Employment preferences
What is great about these are the visual prompts and answer sheets for my students to get thinking about their career preferences. You can use these to start of class (used daily), as an independent activity, or even as part of an assessment.
Aside from that, choice-making activities can be used to guide and support special education students toward independent living and life skills.
These skills are important for students to learn with their greatest level of independence.
Life Skills themed Would You Rather activities are perfect for finding out student preferences. These are also available as Boom Cards and Task Cards so you can best differentiate for your own student needs.
Questions include common preferences in life such as:
- Travel
- Clothing
- Shopping
- Food and cooking
- Household chores
- Community places
- Restaurant choices
You can use these Would You Rather prompts as an individual activity, partner activity, daily prompt to start a class, or even as an assessment!
More Ways to Offer Choices
As much as possible, give your students a voice.
During a typical class, I incorporate preferences by letting my students have a say in simple decisions.
Choice-making activities aren’t limited to multiple-choice questions. They can also guide HOW our activities are done.
Ways to Offer Choices
- Provide more than one activity for the day and let the students choose which one to complete.
- If they are to do all activities, have the students choose the order in which tasks are completed.
- Let the students choose the materials to use for the activity.
- Ask them who they want to work with.
- Let them decide where and when to complete the task.
- Have them decide which IEP goal they’d like to focus on first, and include students in the IEP process in general
For example, in my Life Skills class, I let my students decide on a weekly recipe plan using a Meal Voting Template.
We use this every week before grocery shopping. The students learn autonomy skills and it helps them identify their interests at the same time.
Or, if my students are able, I also try having them suggest the recipe for the food they like. This is the template for SPED Recipe Ideas I use.
This way, I keep to our schedule while ensuring that our students are contributing to the class decision-making,
How Choice Making Hones
Self-Determination & Autonomy
The act of choosing provides a sense of empowerment because we feel we have some control over what we’re doing.
This is how our students feel when we give them opportunities to decide. We let them have the capacity to choose for themselves. We also make them feel heard.
And by empowering their voices, we show that we value them as a person with important things to contribute.
This addresses self-determination. Teaching the students choice-making skills enables them to demonstrate control and have a sense of responsibility.
Choice-making also leads to autonomy. This means that they have control over their lives, and this leads them to have a better idea of what they want to do in the future instead of just depending on someone to decide for them.
Remember that, everyone deserves the right to make their own decisions, and we as teachers must start to offer this to our special education students.
