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Abstract: This paper introduces Causal Agency Theory, an extension of the functional model of self-determination. Causal Agency Theory addresses the need for interventions and assessments pertaining to self-determination for all students and incorporates the significant advances in understanding of disability and in the field of positive psychology since the introduction of the functional model of self-determination. Causal Agency Theory provides a theoretical framework for developing and enhancing supports to enable youth to engage in agentic action through instruction in goal setting and attainment strategies, to influence self-determination, causal agency, and overall well-being across diverse social-contextual contexts.
In the December 1992 issue of (the then-named) Education and Training in Mental Retardation, Wehmeyer introduced what eventually came to be referred to as the "functional model of self-determination," and discussed its application to students with intellectual disability (Wehmeyer, 1992, 1999). That article (and the functional model) was one of the outcomes of a U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) model demonstration project that was one of more than 25 such projects funded by OSEP between 1990 and 1996 (Ward & Kohler, 1996).
Prior to the OSEP model demonstration project initiative, there were only two references to self-determination and students with disabilities in the literature. In 1972, Swedish philosopher Bengt Nirje published a chapter in a text on the Normalization Principle (Wolfensberger, 1972) titled The Right to Self-Determination, which discussed the human rights basis for supporting people with intellectual disability to make decisions about and be actively involved in their lives. In 1986, Deci and Chandler published an article discussing the importance of internal motivation (based upon Self-Determination Theory, discussed briefly in a subsequent section) to students with learning disabilities. The OSEP initiative and a parallel competition (1992-1994) funding five projects to develop assessments of self-determination served as the catalyst for a focus on promoting self-determination for students with disabilities during the transition process.
Much in special education and psychology has changed since 1990 when those initial self-determination model demonstration projects were funded, including the emergence of the discipline of positive psychology and a strengths-based focus on understanding disability, the former of which includes a focus on self-determination and the latter in which self-determination plays a leading role. Given these changes, discussed subsequently, in...