All people need to have and be able to make choices. Like so many things, making good choices is a learned skill. It does not happen without practice. It's never too late - or early - to start practicing. Whether the people that you care about are transitioning to adulthood or preschool, you can give them the right to decide for themselves what their lives will be like and what they need to do to make their dreams come true. Here's how.

A self-determined person is one who sets goals, makes decisions, sees options, solves problems, speaks up for himself or herself, understands what supports are needed for success, and knows how to evaluate outcomes. The capabilities needed to become self-determined are most effectively learned through real-world experience, which inherently involves taking risks, making mistakes, and reflecting on outcomes. These experiences help a young person test his or her strengths and limitations and identify appropriate short- and long-term goals.

Youth who actively direct their own lives are more likely to successfully transition into adult life. In addition to real-world experience, youth benefit from open, supportive acknowledgement and discussion of their options. Too often, families, teachers and other well-intentioned people protect youth from making mistakes and avoid discussing the details of negative outcomes from possible choices. Instead, they focus on the positive and steer the youth away from many experiences where there is a potential for failure.

However, in order to direct their own futures, youth need to know themselves and understand how choices might affect academic learning, relationships, employment, participation in their communities and need for supports. With this knowledge, they are better positioned to develop plans, make decisions and learn from experience. There can be a fine line, however, between experiencing the real world and losing one's sense of personal empowerment.

• Identify strengths, interests and learning styles;
• Provide choices about clothing, social activities, family events and methods of learning new information;
• Hold high expectations for youth;
• Teach youth about their disability;
• Involve children and youth in self-determination/self-advocacy; opportunities in school, home and community;
• Prepare children and youth for school meetings;
• Speak directly to children and youth;
• Involve children and youth in educational, medical and family decisions;
• Allow for mistakes and natural consequences;
• Listen often to children and youth.

• Promote exploration of the world every day;
• Use personal, tactile, visual and auditory methods for exploration;
• Identify young adult mentors with similar disabilities;
• Develop personal collages/scrap books based on interests and goals;
• Involve children and youth in service learning (4H, Americorps, local volunteering).

• Make choice maps listing risks, benefits and consequences of choice;
• Build safety nets through family members, friends, schools and others;
• Develop skills in problem solving;
• Develop skills in evaluating consequences.

• Teach problem solving skills
• Allow ownership of challenges and problems;
• Accept problems as part of healthy development;
• Hold family meetings to identify problems at home and in the community;
• Hold class meetings to identify problems in school;
• Allow children and youth to develop a list of self-identified consequences.

• Encourage communication and self-representation;
• Praise all efforts of assertiveness and problem solving;
• Develop opportunities at home and in school for self-advocacy;
• Provide opportunities for leadership roles in home and in school;
• Encourage self-advocates to speak in class;
• Teach about appropriate accommodation needs;
• Practice ways to disclose disability and accommodation needs;
• Create opportunities to speak about the disability in school, home, church, business and community.

• Create a sense of belonging within schools and communities;
• Provide experiences for children and youth to use their talents;
• Provide opportunities to youth for contributing to their families, schools and communities;
• Provide opportunities for individuality and independence;
• Identify caring adult mentors at home, school, church or in the community;
• Model a sense of self-esteem and self-confidence.

• Teach children and youth family values, priorities and goals;
• Make posters that reflect values and are age-appropriate;
• Define what a goal is and demonstrate the steps to reach a goal;
• Make a road map to mark the short-term identifiers as they work toward a goal;
• Support children and youth in developing values and goals;
• Discuss family history and culture - make a family tree;
• Be flexible in supporting youth to reach their goals; some days they may need much motivation and help; other days they may want to try alone.

While Cortland County offers a variety of services for its youth, the 900+ disadvantaged youth and youth with disabilities remain underserved. Fortunately, the Cortland Area Communities That Care (CACTC) Coalition provides a forum for a number of key community organizations to work earnestly to close these gaps in services. This is essential in order to ensure that those youth avoid risks that lead to problem behaviors, including substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school drop-out and violence. Access to Independence of Cortland County, Inc. is a proud supporter and contributor to the CACTC Coalition. As Cortland County’s foremost disability resource, Access to Independence empowers people to lead independent lives in their community and strives to open doors to full participation and access for all. Access to Independence believes that all people with disabilities should have nothing more, nothing less than equal opportunity. All people have the right to control their own lives, make their own decisions and to participate fully in society. Over the past two years, ATI has undertaken a dedicated effort to ramp up on youth transition concerns and has applied its independent living philosophy to an array of new, unique services for the community (service providers and youth consumers). Furthermore, ATI is collaborating with the area’s providers of youth transition services to lead the way in developing and implementing a set of programs that complements existing resources by promoting the development of life and independent living skills, including self-determination, self-advocacy and critical thinking. ATI is committed to empowering youth to overcome barriers and to leading productive, independent lives in the community. ATI offers peer counseling and mentoring opportunities to help youth learn to think critically, make independent decisions, manage common adolescent anxieties, and to communicate effectively with parents, friends and authority figures. 

For more information on transition services for youth with disabilities, contact Access to Independence at 607-753-7363.

Information for this article was taken from "Self-Determination:  Supporting Successful Transition" by Christine D. Bremer, Mera Kachgal and Kris Schoeller, a National Center on Secondary Education and Transition Research to Practice Brief (vol.2, issue I) published in April 2003

Chad Underwood is Chief Operating Officer with Access to Independence.  He is also a member of the CACTC Board.