Abstract of P. Shavit lecture

ENHANCING SELF-DETERMINATION IN STUDENTS WITH

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES BY MEANS OF GROUP

INTERACTION

P. Shavit1, S. Reiter2

1 Beit-Berl academic college, Israel; 2 Haifa University, Israel

Today, most pupils with intellectual disabilities who complete their

schooling do not know what they like or what they want to do. They

have limited experience in decision making that affects their lives, and

few opportunities to express their preferences. As a result they lack

initiative and self-determination, and do not function autonomously.

The assumption is that better self-determination skills would enable

pupils with intellectual disabilities to make successful transitions to

adulthood and to inclusion in the community, both in terms of work

and residential settings. The underlying premise of this study was that

if pupils with disabilities participate in a school environment that

supports self-determination, they will use these skills effectively to

begin to control their own lives and take greater responsibility that will

enable their pro-active participation in the community as they enter

adulthood. The goal of the research was to examine the differences in

self-determination and in the sense of quality of life between pupils

with intellectual disabilities who study in The Cycle of Internalized

Learning (Reiter, 1997; 2008) and those who study in traditional

classrooms (Ausubel, 1968). Another goal of the study was to

describe and characterize the interpersonal relationships formed in

each of the groups. Seventy-four adolescents and young adults with

intellectual disabilities participated in the study. The participants were

divided into five experimental and five control groups and a pre- and

post intervention design was employed. In addition, the degree of

maintenance was checked five months after the end of the

intervention.