Self-Determination Interventions for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Transitioning to Postsecondary Education: A Scoping Review

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) need a myriad of independent living skills to seamlessly transition to postsecondary education. One of these skills is self-determination. Self-determination is deemed as a combination of knowledge and skills that enables a person to become autonomous. So, the purpose of this scoping review was to explore the interventions that promote self-determination in students with IDDs as they transition to postsecondary education in USA. Arksey’s and O’Malley’s framework guided this scoping review paper. An electronic search was conducted using IU OneSearch. The search was restricted to peer-reviewed studies, books, and eBooks published in English language between 2010 to 2022. Studies were screened at the title and abstract levels, and at full-text level by the author. In total, two studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Findings showed that curriculum-based and community-based interventions had remarkable potentials in promoting self-determination in students with IDDs who were transitioning to postsecondary education. Implications for research include developing and implementing more curriculum-based and community-based interventions; measuring treatment integrity through checklists; describing implementation procedures to allow for replication studies to be conducted; and utilizing a mixed-methods research design in intervention studies.