Week 3 BLOG

Blog Assignment: Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

The story I would like to share about research with children dates back to the fall of 2010.  The question I was asking myself was:  The Impact of using class rules and tangible reinforcements with children diagnosis Intellectually Disabled and Autism.  At the time I had 4 students in my classroom.  Three of them were boys and one was a girl.  My findings were different for every child.  The two students who have aggressive behaviors are the students I found out the most data from.  I will name them by numbers and disclose if they are a boy or girl.  Boy(1), I founded could be referred back to the rules more but had better success in the morning during advisory time up to his break time which was usually at 9:00 am.  My school starts at 7:45am.  Boy (1), behaviors did vary on most days.  Some days he could be re-directed by using the rules and if that did not work.  For example if I needed him to complete something I would say, work first then walk.  So he was given a tangible reinforcement for finishing his work.  Girl (1), I founded needed more tangible reinforcements to do most things.  She would complete her work for tangible reinforcements.  Some of the tangibles I used with her were to take the lunch trays to cafeteria, take something to the office or nurses office.  These types of reinforces seemed to work better with her than referring back to the classroom rules.  Boy (2), and Boy (3), both were able to be referred back to the classroom rules.  What the research told me as a teacher was that each of my students are different as it relates to what strategies need to be used with them the same way as using strategies if they were doing class assignments.  This information also helped me to pass the same information on to their parents.  We were able to make visual schedules that reminded the students what we were doing what comes first and then we will do what comes next and built in reinforcements that would allow for breaks, tangible reinforcements or a chance to include the classroom rules to get them back on track.  If you noticed I did not use food as a reinforcement.  I already knew my students would work for food all day.  I wanted them to have a different type of success.  Food always seemed to me as if they did it for the food.  My students are the type of kids will do one thing and expect a cookie or cracker.  I wanted them to experience another type success and be able to leave a guide for anyone they be working in my room upon my absence something that really works.

WEEK 2 BLOG

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

1.  WORKING WITH EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILDREN (3) YEARS DIAGNOSIS WITH INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED.  THE PROGRAM OBSERVED CHILDREN AT PLAY AS WELL AS FOLLOWING THE (IEP) INSTRUCTIONAL EDUCATIONAL PLAN.

INSIGHTS:

2.  THE INSIGHT I LEARN BY CONSTRUCTING THE RESEARCH CHART WAS LEARNING ABOUT THE TERM (DEDUCTIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY)  WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS TERM IS HOW THE RESEARCH WILL TAKE YOU STEP-BY-STEP.  ONE ELEMENT I LEARNED DURING THIS WEEKS DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT WAS ABOUT HOW CURRENT AN ARTICLE HAS TO BE.  DARCEY AND MARIA TAUGHT ME HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR ARTICLES TO BE NO MORE THAN (5) YEARS OLD.  THE BIGGEST OF THE REASON IS DUE TO HAVING MORE UP TO DATE INFORMATION.  THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION WILL PROVE TO BE VERY VALUABLE WHEN DOING YOUR RESEARCH.

ASK COLLEAGUES:

3.   I WOULD LIKE TO ASK MY COLLEAGUES DO THEY KNOW OF ANY SUCCESS WITH USING PLAY IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM?  CAN YOU SHARE AN ARTICLE THAT I CAN USED WHEN CREATING MY RESEARCH? 

SHARE RESOURCES:

4.  Elena, B., (2008). European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, v16 n3 p357-369 13 pp