The Self-Determination Inventory: Student Report American Sign Language Translation.

The sample was not random and came from online records and students already involved in research or school use, so it may not represent all deaf youth. It is unknown how much students actually watched the ASL videos, because English text was also shown and responses were made in the English format. Many students chose the highest response option, so the scale may not discriminate well at the top end. The ASL group had 392 participants and the disability group had 286 participants, and the authors called the validation preliminary with measurement invariance only tentatively accepted. Some comparison data came from students who may have previously received self-determination interventions, which could affect scores. Students were clustered in schools but clustering was not analysed, so standard errors and significance tests may be less reliable. Participants with more than three missing items were excluded, so results may not apply to students with more missing responses.

The work was funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that the ASL version is a fully validated clinical measure or that deaf youth have higher self-determination. The validation was preliminary, the ASL group did not differ significantly from the no-disability group, and the measure may not work the same way for all deaf students.