Psychological Needs and Goal Setting Among Adolescents with Autism
type: CreativeWork
description: Relatedness may be a missing explanatory element in looking at self-determined behavior among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Defined as experiences of closeness and connectedness to others (Deci & Ryan, 2000), relatedness is one of three basic psychological needs, along with autonomy and competence. Schools may focus on building autonomy and competence, as both are essential to academic success, but many times relatedness is not a major focus. The expression of relatedness in students with autism is affected by marked deficits in reciprocal social communication and social interactions. This study explored the role of psychological needs in the context of goal setting among students with autism. Using a mixed methodology approach, we selected the American Institutes for Research Self-Determination Scale (AIR-S) as a measure for self-determination in children, in the context of goal setting in a school environment. At first glance, these items bear similarity to the items in the Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs, a measure of three psychological needs, designed for adults (BMPN; Sheldon & Hilpert, 2012), that we modified for use with children in this study. The target population for our sample was adolescents with autism, who attend The Monarch School, a research-based, educational and therapeutic center for children and adolescents with neurological differences. The structure of the school emphasizes the community experience and provides a framework for developing a sense of social connection, termed relatedness by Deci and Ryan (2000). Students are engaged with their peers and faculty members in collaborative community time throughout the week. The emphasis on building social connections at school creates the opportunity to study the concepts of relatedness, autonomy, and competence, grouped by Deci and Ryan (1985, 2000) as the three basic psychological needs in self-determination theory. Open-ended and close-ended questionnaires were adminis…
abstract: Relatedness may be a missing explanatory element in looking at self-determined behavior among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Defined as experiences of closeness and connectedness to others (Deci & Ryan, 2000), relatedness is one of three basic psychological needs, along with autonomy and competence. Schools may focus on building autonomy and competence, as both are essential to academic success, but many times relatedness is not a major focus. The expression of relatedness in students with autism is affected by marked deficits in reciprocal social communication and social interactions. This study explored the role of psychological needs in the context of goal setting among students with autism. Using a mixed methodology approach, we selected the American Institutes for Research Self-Determination Scale (AIR-S) as a measure for self-determination in children, in the context of goal setting in a school environment. At first glance, these items bear similarity to the items in the Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs, a measure of three psychological needs, designed for adults (BMPN; Sheldon & Hilpert, 2012), that we modified for use with children in this study. The target population for our sample was adolescents with autism, who attend The Monarch School, a research-based, educational and therapeutic center for children and adolescents with neurological differences. The structure of the school emphasizes the community experience and provides a framework for developing a sense of social connection, termed relatedness by Deci and Ryan (2000). Students are engaged with their peers and faculty members in collaborative community time throughout the week. The emphasis on building social connections at school creates the opportunity to study the concepts of relatedness, autonomy, and competence, grouped by Deci and Ryan (1985, 2000) as the three basic psychological needs in self-determination theory. Open-ended and close-ended questionnaires were adminis…
author: Turner, Sarah C.
language: eng
keywords: Self-determination theory, Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
date published: 2015-05
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:31:52Z
provider: University of Houston
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Houston

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1780