Bethune, K. & Kiser, A. (2017) Doing more with
less: innovative program building in ABA and
special education in a rural setting, Rural
Special Education Quarterly, 36(1) 25 –30,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/8756870517703395. This
study highlights the need to grow a board certified behavioral analysis (BCBA) program for graduate students on
limited university resources, with collaboration between both the psychology and
education schools at James Madison University. As pointed out by this study, rural Virginia offers
limited opportunities for internships, and
graduate cohorts are typically groups of only four students in JMUs evolving
program. Essentially,
they need to produce “both special education teachers and Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs)
who are trained to work in rural school settings with
students with disabilities and problem behaviors.” Rural communities have less
access to resources and
lower numbers of community partners. The purpose of the article is to explain the partnership of
existing resources, adding credibility to the program and likely outcomes from the
innovations of an interdisciplinary approach. By intermingling masters programs in schools of
psychology and education, where there are usually
two masters candidates from each discipline matriculated each year, the faculty and community partners have
assembled a functional program. The desired result is to have “…a master’s degree program leading to
certification in special education and
completion of the requirements to sit for the BCBA exam.” Of note, in following
my annotated bibliography
topic is the fact that JMU is insisting on maintaining ABA methods in internship work
within community partner programs. Candidates are expressly discouraged from using
practices that draw away from ABA methods.
Moreover, special education and BCBA programs must maintain practices centered
in an ABA styled
approach. In application to classroom practice, there is an accepted and
uniform approach to teaching special education students, with methodologies
that take into account
the specialized needs of individual special education students.
Roane, H. Fisher, W. and Carr, J. (2016), Applied
behavior analysis as treatment for autism
spectrum disorder. The Journal of
Pediatrics, 175, 27-32. The
incidence of autism spectrum disorder has increased, and since there are
differing
manifestations, various educational and medical therapies to treat it are being
developed. Notably, ASD it is a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Healthcare practitioners such as pediatricians needed to be made
aware of treatments and appropriate terminologies. The article
explains various treatment strategies, and lays out an index of acronyms for
common terminology which is included in the following: ABA Applied behavior analysis, ASD Autism spectrum
disorder, BACB Behavior Analyst Certification Board, BCBA
Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, DTT Discrete-trial teaching, EIBI Early and
intensive behavioral intervention, ESDM Early Start Denver Model, FBA
Functional behavior assessment, NLP Natural language paradigm, PECS
Picture Exchange
Communication System, and PRT Pivotal Response Training. The pediatrician’s
role is to be aware of symptoms and make referrals to qualified
BCBAs and practitioners. This article in Medical Progress gives
deference to EIBI, such as ABA treatments that
“…have shown benefits in some children with ASD.” Additionally, “…one treatment
may not be appropriate for all children,” essentially indicating the need for
adaptability in providing individualized
educational programs (IEPs). ABA and BCBA qualified professionals
play a pivotal role in adaptively aiding ASD identified recipients in the
generation of appropriate IEPs to be implemented by properly supervised
paraprofessionals.
Twyman, J. & Heward, W. (2016) How to improve
student learning in every classroom now, International
Journal of Educational Research,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2016.05.007 Janet
S. Twyman and William L. Heward, attempt to help teachers throughout the world who may ask, “What can I do
right now to improve learning in my classroom?” Using methods found to be applicable from other
studies, guided by applied behavior analysis,
they explain three teaching tactics consistently yielding “measurably superior learning outcomes”. As I speculate in
analysis of Wang, X. Hwang, G. Liang, Z. and Wang, H. (2017) above, Twyman, J. & Heward, W.
(2016) find in this study that there are three tactics that can be applied across
various types of curriculum content, and to students’ differing age and skill levels. They also discuss
the use of new digital tools and
technologies to employ the same “low-tech” methods. Among three highlighted
low-tech methods is the
use of choral responding (CR,
P3) where students are required to respond
to lesson questions or complete spoken
phrases by providing the needed responses by
voice and in unison. Additionally, the authors discuss response cards (RCs,
P3-5) which are “cards,
signs, or items that students hold up to display their answers to teacher-posed questions or problems.”
Preprinted RCs, allow students to select a card with the answer that they choose. Some RCs
include “yes / true and no / false”, or “colors, traffic signs,
molecular structures, and parts of speech.” The authors go on to explain that
“a single RC with
multiple answers printed on clearly marked sections can also be used, such as the ‘Parts of a Story,’
and multiple-choice cards…” with sections to mark that correspond with various correct or
incorrect answers. And lastly, there is an explanation advocating the use of guided notes,
where a majority of the information required to convey the lesson is already included on
handouts. Class members fill in the missing information during class lecture or discussion periods, thus
limiting note taking errors and possible
omissions by less skilled note takers (P5-6). Some discussion is given to
electronically
delivered “instructional apps” showing marginal levels of improvement over the
low- tech methods. The authors’
literature review shows attention to other studies that draw on ABA methodologies. Thus,
data used in the authors’ analysis of these low-tech methods is based on actual
classroom practice, leading to a greater degree of confidence in specific and
available methods of instruction in nearly all world classrooms. Moreover, the materials used are
almost universally available, or can be produced by instructors at a minimal cost, even as instruction
on making these teaching aids is included in the study. Wang, X. Hwang, G.
Liang, Z. and Wang, H. (2017), Enhancing students’ computer programming
performances, critical thinking awareness and attitudes towards programming: an
online peer-assessment attempt. Journal of Educational Technology
& Society, 20(4), 58-68. In
fostering student skills and concepts toward computer programming, scholars
look to see if
computer programming can promote higher order thinking. Noting the difficulty
of teaching computer programming,
the incorporation of online peer-assessment is used to facilitate learning. In this study students
provide comments and review the feedback and scores of others in four Taiwanese
junior high school classes. Two classes used peer- review and feedback, while two remained in the traditional
teaching format as the control
group. Findings indicated “better programming knowledge and skills as well as
more positive learning attitudes
and critical thinking awareness than those in the control group.” This study strengthens
arguments for a hybrid of instructor based teaching with interactive peer supplementation, over learning from
the instructor to student alone. It is
likely that the study could benefit from an expanded size and number of test
and control groups to make
inferences, demonstrating a greater degree of randomness in selection, and improved measures of
reliability. Even so, the concept of peer collaboration in learning style has wide
application in many colleges in the United States, using such online applications as
Blackboard, where online class forums have become an accepted and demonstrably beneficial
tool for peer collaboration in the learning process. Though there are differences
between Taiwanese junior high students and American college students, both age and
level of education, it is likely that the concept may be seen as universal. Where student
collaboration is incorporated as an additional method for learning, advances are regularly
demonstrated over instruction from traditional methods alone. Most importantly, applied behavior analysis (ABA),
as used in this study, allows a
scientific approach in designing, implementing, and evaluating two methods of
teaching to describe
working relationships demonstrated between events in the learning
environment. Much as seen in this Taiwanese junior high study, the authors’
assessments of students learning computer programming are likely to be applicable
in
the larger framework of various educational environments, and are likely to be repeatable
elsewhere as demonstrated using an ABA styled approach.
Wright,
P. Prescott, R. (2017), Utilizing technology for professional learning in the
dissemination of evidence-based practices to paraprofessionals working in
public
education. International Electronic
Journal of Elementary Education, 10(3),
http://dx.doi.org/10.26822/iejee.2018336191. This
study discusses how paraprofessionals play a pivotal role in the educational
success of learners
with autism. However it also demonstrates that limited professional learning opportunities are provided
for paraprofessionals. Specifically, there is “inadequate application of
evidence-based practices in their work.” Researchers used “Rethink”, which is known as a
commercially available professional learning platform. Rethink aids paraprofessionals to develop
confidence in delivering services to students in public and private school systems.
Selected paraprofessional participants were used to conduct the study, where measures of
confidence in delivering teaching interventions to exceptional students showed remarkable
improvement. Learning methods used on paraprofessionals included “video-based modeling and applied practice activities
in the classroom.” With
the use of evidence-based practices, professional teachers employed in
observational roles
noted “improved paraprofessional performance…” in interactions with exceptional students. Learning with
web-based video models and traditional professional learning
methods improved the use of evidence-based practices in the classroom for the paraprofessionals.
This study serves to highlight the conditions of preparedness that paraprofessionals find
themselves working in. Moreover, most professional teachers have higher teaching credentials
than the paraprofessionals under their supervision. Yet because of the special needs of exceptional
learners, needing more teacher-to-student
attention, paraprofessionals, with even fewer professional qualifications, are
central to the vast
majority of exceptional learner to instructor interactions. Without such
interventions as the Rethink learning platform to aid paraprofessionals, the existing practices seem to be somewhat
counterintuitive. However, it is noteworthy to recognize that many schools have limited funding for exceptional
learner programs. Another consideration
is the fact that the Rethink learning platform is a commercial product, where promoters and staff may
likely have economic motivations. Such monetary factors could be
seen as drawing away from measures of integrity in this study. Even with the possibility of these detractors,
by using these contracted services, learning would likely improve for special education
students in schools with similarly low levels of confidence amongst the ranks of
paraprofessionals.
