Week 8

Writing the literature review has been very beneficial. It has helped me to really look into my sources, to look into the institutions publishing the research as well as the credentials of the author. I found it to be difficult to not summarize or just explain my research in the literature review. I had to keep reminding myself to refocus on discussing the source and not just the information. This was a different way of writing for me, as I am used to research papers. My understanding has greatly evolved since my research begin a few weeks ago. While I always new of the positive effects of play-based intervention my research has given me concrete examples of this. My research has left different questions with me. I want to further research specific things involving play-based intervention such as the effects of joint attention on learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Overall I feel that my research this term has been extremely beneficial not only to my profession but also my continuing education. Good luck to everyone!

Week 7

This week's assignment was challenging in some ways but also easier than when I first started this course. I liked the idea of organizing my sources to help lay out my research process and how I came to finding my answer to my research question. I went over all of my previous sources and only felt like three of them were still relevant and useful. I added two new resources and used both Academic Search Premier as well as Google Scholar. One trick I used was when finding an article via Google Scholar if I was unable to access the full text I would search the title and author in Academic Premier and most of the time find the text and be able to access it's entire contents! When I found my sources on my library's database it gave me a sense of security knowing my source was credible. I feel that my last source about a case study of a 4 year old boy with Autism and his outcomes due to the play-based interventions used was the perfect piece to end my annotated bibliography. I felt that I was able to answer my question with scientific support to back me. The outcome for play-based strategies is positive with children gaining skills in language, social interactions, and autism symptoms decreasing.

What are the Outcomes for Play-based Interventions in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

1).        Lovaas, I. O. (2003). Teaching Individuals with Developmental Delays: Basic Intervention Techniques. Austin, TX: ProEd. Retrieved from http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productView.aspx?ID=2538

This book covers basic intervention techniques for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The author is a Professor of Psychology at UCLA and is the director of the Lovaas Institute for Early Intervention. The book offers relevant information about current programs used for intervention. I feel this book is a great starting point to begin to understand intervention, in general, for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

2).        Crenshaw, D. A., & Stewart, A. L. (2015). Play Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

This book covers a vast array of different play therapy types. It has complied knowledge from several authors about all different forms of play therapy. The book seems informative and well rounded. This book seemed to be a good starting point to find play based interventions.

3).        Dykstra, J. R., Boyd, B. A., Watson, L. R., Crais, E. R., & Baraneck, G. T. (2011, July 25). The Impact of Advancing Social Communication and Play (ASAP) Intervention of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sage Journals, 16(1), 27-44. Retrieved from Leatherby Libraries.

This journal article discussed a specific play based intervention strategy knows as Advancing Social Communication and Play (ASAP). The article was very scientific, with graphs and data and many sources to back its findings. This article was evidence to help answer my question about the outcomes of play-based interventions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

4).        "Pivotal Response Training." National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder. N.p., Oct. 2010. Web. 14 May 2016. <http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/sites/autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/PRT-Complete-10-2010.pdf>.

This article detailed another specific play based intervention called Pivotal Response Training (PRT). The article was found in a very reputable journal. The article detailed in the ins and outs of PRT but did not give evidence of the interventions outcomes measured later on. This article was helpful in understanding another specific play-based intervention but did not help to full answer my question.

5).        Kasari, C., Gulsrud, A., Freeman, S., Paparella, T., & Helleman, G. (2012, May). Longitudinal       Follow-up of Children with Autism Receiving Targeted Interventions on Joint Attention and Play [Electronic version]. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(5), 487-495.

This study was about the longitudinal effects of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who received play-based interventions. This article was very informative and had data to back up it’s findings. This article was essential to answer my question. The evidence provided in this study abled me to answer my question with a yes.

6).        Sari, O. (2014). Outcomes of Play-Based Home Support For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Social Behavior & Personality: an international journal, 42, 65-80. doi:10.2224/sbp.2014.suppl.S65

This article was a case study performed by Dr. Sari on a four year old boy with autism. In this study she was able to show an increase in skills as well as a decrease in autistic symptoms related to play-based interventions. This article was extremely helpful in continuing to answer my question. 

Week 6

This week I was reminded of the academic integrity and plagiarism rules. Being a student for so long I am aware of the rules but a refresher was nice. For me, citing when using direct quotes and facts is a no-brainer. Yet, citing other's ideas can get tricky. I often wonder if the thoughts are truly mine or common knowledge, or an author's specific ideas. When reading over the university's protocols it suggest, when in doubt CITE!

 I am familiar with the sensitivity among copyrights. As an amateur photograph I have experienced cases of copyright infringement. I have had clients copy my pictures off the Internet without paying for them and use them for personal use, I also have had others copy my prop and scene ideas. This is frustrating and offensive to me. Having been in situations such as this I take copyright and plagiarism very seriously.

Week 5

This week we were guided through another research assignment, this time for empirical research. My topic has very scientific roots therefore I finding empirical research wasn't too difficult. I was able to find a longitudinal study of 32 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who were assessed for language and cognitive skills predictive of their play skills. This research was perfect for my question, "What are the Outcomes for Play-based Interventions in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder?"Although, it did make me consider focusing my topic even further to "what are the cognitive and language outcomes for play-based Interventions in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder". Although, I have been advised by our professor not to get too narrow in my research question as it can make good research difficult. I feel that my research skills are improving, especially where to find my sources. 

Week 4

I gained a lot more information on research strategies from this week’s guided assignment. I found the Academic Search Premier tool to be very helpful, especially with the option to view only peer reviewed articles. With the use of the Leatherby Library and this tool I felt like I was really researching quality scholarly materials. I honestly did not face any difficulties this time around due to the step by step instructions provided by our instructor.

The article I found introduced me to another intervention strategy used to aid in the development of children with ASD. The article was on the impact of Advancing Social-Communication and Play (ASAP) intervention on the deficits of language and social skills in preschoolers with ASD. I had never heard of this intervention before and was intrigued to find more research on play based strategies. My hope from this research is to find evidence based intervention techniques that I can apply to my curriculum in my preschool autism classroom. I hope to continue to find valid intervention strategies that can be applicable to my life. 

Week 3

I was able to gain new information on my topic thanks to the sample chapter provided by the book's publisher's website. On Guilford's website, found here, I was able to access the table of contents, sample chapter, summary, author information, and reviews. While my search in the Leatherby Library lead me to this book, it was the publisher's page that I got most of my information from. I found it frustrating that the Leatherby Library did not have more information on the book than just a brief abstract. It would have been very helpful for the library to either have the same information as found of the publisher's page, or at least a link to the webpage. Yet, it was due to the advanced search feature used on the Leatherby Library that I was able to find this book. Doing a basic keyword search yielded too many results to realistically go through. Therefore I found the advanced search tool to be the most beneficial. It reduced my search from over 600 results down to 6. As I continue my search I hope to be able to find real life applications of PRT. I also hope to find lesson plans using PRT strategies in the classroom.

Week 2

This assignment was difficult for me. I spent many hours looking through sources and narrowing down my research idea. What started with just autism, lead to early intervention strategies, only to be narrowed down further to Pivotal Response Training (PRT) in learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It took me looking through many, many articles to come up with this topic. I had a difficult time finding sources from scholarly journals and other similar sources. I would find titles and abstracts that were interesting and on topic only to be disappointed to find out I had to pay for the rest of the text. Our book, Research Strategies, warned me of this. People do not put out information for free. It took me over an hour to finally succumb to this and start a different route in my research attempts. My next strategy was a Google search with an emphasis on url domains ending in .edu or .org. There was a lot of information on PRT, but mostly just basic overviews of the topic. I finally found two sources that had detailed information on what PRT is, how it is implemented, and the outcomes of this intervention. I have done research papers in the past, but really focusing on applying the CRAAP criteria made it more challenging. Because of this I believe my sources are stronger and will prove to make a better basis for a research paper.

Week 1

Hello. My name is Sara and I am a Senior at Brandman University. I am majoring in Applied Studies. This major worked best for me as I have an eclectic variety of courses at Brandman and at the junior college I attend(ed).  I have attended Brandman University on and off for 8 years. Due to personal and family circumstances my educational journey has taken quiet the scenic route, with stops at parenthood, many different moves, new jobs, and just at the many points of my wonderful life. Although I wish I could have finished sooner I am happy to now be at the end of this certain path with my Bachelor Degree set to be completed in December. I currently, and for 4 years, have worked as an instructional aide, the last two years being in a preschool autism classroom. It is here that I have found my passion in which I want to pursue for a career, a Special Education Teacher. After I complete my degree in December I plan to enroll in the intern program in my area and begin my teaching internship. This is such a long awaited goal and I am so excited for this next piece of my journey.

As I begin to think about my research topic I initially just think- Autism! I know this is a broad subject with so many potential routes but I know that is where I want to start. Being in the field I am any knowledge pertaining to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will be beneficial and interesting to me. I am looking forward to narrowing down this topic. Areas of information literacy that I hope to improve on are the ability to evaluate information critically and to incorporate selected information into my knowledge base and value system, as discussed in ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards.