Who would be able to complete this in a timely manner?

Desmond Dunklin EDU:671 Fundamentals of Educational Research

Instructor: Dr. Kathleen Pierce-Friedman

Action Research Proposal

“Children see Magic because they look for It” Christopher Moorer

Area of Focus

The purpose of my research proposal

was show how reinforcing IEPs daily can

alter behaviors in children with autism,

learning, and behavioral disabilities which in

terms will help them become self sufficient.

“A person-centered approach should drive the planning process as the teacher determines the skills most applicable to a particular student,” (Bambara et al., 2011).

Explanation of Problem

After several hours of observation I notice several teachers were not reinforcing the students while charting their data. If the students did not get the correct answer right the first time the teachers would mark (E) for error and move on to the next learning objective. There was no reintroducing the learning concept or trying a different learning alternative to probe the students to get the correct answers. There was no use of technology tools to help aid in the learning process. I made the choice to pursue this topic because our students should not be robbed of their education because of their learning disabilities.

Variables

The classroom were composed of a mixed group of kids. Some kids were verbal, they could speak very well, but exhibited several disruptive behaviors if they could not have their way. The second group of kids were the nonverbal kids. They could not speak at all. They exhibited severe behavioral exposed the could cause harm to themselves and or the staff.

The last group of kids were partial verbal kids. They can make out small words and sentences and express to you their basic needs or communicate the things they wanted.

While observing, I notice several staff wanted to only work with the verbal kids. They did not want to put the extra time into working one on one with the students who next practice.

Research Question

1. What is the difference in researchers expectations of students when applying IEP goals daily verses being applied over three weeks?

2. What is the perspective of researcher in regards to having daily awareness of students IEP goals?

The research questions are very measurable with the research proposal. They give detailed though to what the research proposal was looking for while researching. The research also wanted to bring awareness to the student's IEP so that other staff would see where the students were falling short.

The research questions are very measurable with the research proposal. They give detailed though to what the research proposal was looking for while researching. The research also wanted to bring awareness to the student's IEP so that other staff would see where the students were falling short.

“teaches self-directed learning to students in three units: (a) setting a goal, (b) taking action, and (c) adjusting the total or plan” (Wehmeyer, Palmer, Agran, Mithaug, & Martin, 2000). S

Our main goal as educators are to educate children regardless of the limitation or disabilities. This purpose of this proposal is for other educators to see the benefits of reinforcing IEPs daily for students with learning disabilities. If we reinforce these IEPs daily we see the research and the progress daily instead of waiting once a year or every other month. Our goal is to get the students to a level where they can possible take care of themselves once they leave our facility.

“defined self-determination as intentional behaviors or choices that allow an individual to be the “primary causal agent in one’s life and to maintain or improve one’s quality of life” (Wehmeyer (2005).

There are several educational tools and resources that could be used to help put this action proposal into effect. Each students has an Ipad with an app called proloquo on it. We use this app for the students to request things, places, activities, and food. With more time spent on the ipad trainer the students will become accustomed to expressing their needs and wants to the staff. With proper implication of this training behaviors will de-escalate because the students now have a way of expressing themselves without causing a crisis.

There were only a few negotiations needed in order for me to conduct my action research plan. I could not use any of the student’s name in my proposal seeing that our students were under our supervision through DHR. The last negotiation was that I could only observe the students in their learning environment. Therefore my research would solely be based off of the being in their learning environment.

When implementing the new research proposal I had to take into consideration that all our students had rights. If somethings was in their plan, it was their for a purpose. The changes that we were would be making to the students plan would be to implement more one on one training time, and more time spent training on the student’s ipad, with special restricting on different sights that could prove to be disruptive to the students such as social media site ect.

The scheduled phases for this intervention is to incorporate it into the daily routine of the classroom schedule. Extending trainer time and one on one goal training from 45 minutes to an hour and thirty minute. This will allow the teachers extra time to run the IEPs, TBOs, and train the students using their Ipads. If we incorporate this time extension we can begin to see more results because the students are spending extra time training and practicing in area where they need extra help. At the end of the week will evaluate data and score it and make goal to exceed the results the next week.

Very few resources and materials are needed to aid in the implication of this proposal. Each student needs to have access to his or her Ipad. Also, the students need their learning reinforcement kit. Which contains flashcards, markers, dry erase boards, construction paper, scissors, and glue sticks. These kits are use to help the students express themselves during activity time where the students draw expressions of themselves.

There were three data collection tools utilized to make this action proposal a success. Those three tools were: TBO Data Sheets, Incident Reports, and Probing Data Sheets. These three tools gave adequate feedback as to how our students are performing on a daily, weekly, and monthly bases.

1. TBOs- are a listed of assessment that the teachers at the learning tree use to help aid in the data collection. THe TBOs informs us on how well the students are mastering the learning objective.They also show the a collection of data that is collected from behaviors throughout the day.

2. We use incidents report to chart behaviors. Incident Reports are filled out in detail, when and where the behavior happened, what staff was working with the child, what was the child doing,ect. WIth this collection of data the BA can determine why the behavior occurred, what triggered the students behavior and what is the best alternative to reinforce the behavior.

Incident Reports Probing

3. Probing allows us the opportunity to sit down one on one with the kids and test them on knowledge and different learning concepts to see if the students have met their mastery level. If the students have mastered their learning concepts we make change to their IEP based off the data collected, the incidents reports, TBOs, and the behavior charts.

As education we have the chance to go and impact the lives of children everyday. This action research proposal really came from my heart. These kids are falling through the crack because some individual do not want to put in the time, energy, and effort to help them succeed. Reinforcing these students IEPs daily can help the students become self sufficient. Change does not come over-night but if we works on it daily change will come.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” -Nelson Mandela

Reference

Bambara, L. M., Koger, F., & Bartholomew, A. (2011). Building skills for home and community. In M. E. Snell & F. Brown (Eds.), Instruction of students with severe disabilities (7th ed., pp. 529-569). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Wehmeyer, M. (1992). Self-determination: Critical skills for outcome-oriented transition services. Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education, 15, 3-7.

Wehmeyer, M. L. (2005). Self-determination and individuals with severe disabilities: Re-examining meanings and misinterpretations. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 30(3), 113-120. doi:10.2511/rpsd.30.3.113