Hey all! The results from my VARK inventory were as follows:

visual: 3
aural: 1
read/write: 5
kinesthetic: 4

I would have to say that this inventory was very close to what I thought. I know for a fact that I have never been a very auditory person (don't tell me...show me!). Also, I write everything down. I
write down the stupidest things (things that I'm too embarrassed to mention!). When I see things written down, I can remember them better and I can conceptualize things better that are put into writing. Also, I have also considered myself to be a very visual person. If you show me how to do something, I will learn better that way rather than you telling me (don't forget to write it down too!). When it comes to kinesthetic learning, I guess I really never gave it much thought. I like to try new things, which usually means I learn by just jumping
into things and sometimes I really don't have a clue as to what I'm doing!! This is mainly what I do with the computer. I don't profess to be computer literate or even somewhat familiar with computers.
However, that doesn't stop me from wanting to sit down and piddle on the computer for a long time trying new stuff and learning by accident!! Oh well, I guess we are all different.

Heather P.

With respect to the topic addressed by the essential question I developed last week, what are the foundation questions I need to answer to help me answer my essential question? If I need more than 6-8 foundation questions to answer my essential question, how can I narrow my essential question?

My newly refined essential question is: "How can we as SLP's manage the aggressive behaviors of our autistic clients?"

Some foundation questions are:

1. What is behavior management?

2. What are the aggressive behaviors that are most common in autistic individuals?

3. Why is it necessary to manage the aggressive behaviors displayed by an autistic individual?

4. What are SLP's and other professionals allowed to do in regards to managing the aggressive behaviors of autistic individuals (what is considered to be appropriate)?

5. Why do SLP's often work with autistic individuals?

6. What are some aggressive behavior management techniques and programs being used by the parents of autistic individuals, therapists (including SLP's), and other professionals (such as teachers)?

7. What are ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) and Discrete Trial Training and are they used only on autistic children who display aggressive behaviors, or can they be used for older autistic individuals as well?

Heather

I’m finally getting used to being so busy. I’m not quite sure if I like being this busy yet, but it beats being bored. Here comes the journaling…

This week I had aimed out to keep planning my week as I had done the week before. It just didn’t happen this week. I can’t say why really, I think I just forgot. I really began paying for it too right around Wednesday. I planned to do certain assignments for this class on certain days, but I didn’t start on them until Wednesday or so. I guess I didn’t just because I had so many other things to do that needed done right away and I knew that these could wait a while. Maybe I shouldn’t do that in the weeks to come. I also set out to not get overwhelmed by the week 3 assignments this week. I aimed to do that because usually, I print out the following week’s assignments and look over them on Monday (Monday of that particular week). I usually find myself feeling pressured or overwhelmed. This past week, I said “NO MORE!” And this week, I didn’t. I’m still using that “What comes next” mindset and it seems to be working out pretty well, at least it’s doing good for my stress level. Unfortunately, the assignments from this class are the ones that are put off, and I need to stop doing that. That is going to be an objective of mine for the next week: To plan to do these assignments (maybe one or two a day) each day of the week and actually follow through this time. Also, maybe then I won’t have so much homework for the weekend!

There was a lot of content addressed this week. Perhaps what I struggled with the most was subscribing to the professional mailing list. What a process!! It took me forever almost to even get a reply. I’ll mention more on this later (relating to what I did specifically). Checking out all of the search engines was very cool. I especially liked searching for my name. I found so much stuff on my name and I even found the name “Heather Perdue” in one search! That was pretty neat, but I couldn’t open the page it was linked to and that drove me crazy. The VARK inventory was neat too. I wasn’t surprised at all to find that I’m not a very auditory learner and that I learn better through reading and writing and through kinesthetic means. It was neat having that confirmed. Also, answering the prompts is always fun (LOL). No, really, they aren’t that bad. They make you think or REFLECT upon yourself a little and that’s always nice. Also, meeting online and doing the MOO thing on Wed. was very cool, although I had computer problems and was 15 minutes late!! During the MOO meeting, I found that it was really nice to get some feedback on my research topic and my essential question, which I have refined since then. I also liked being able to help my MOO partner/group, Erin, with her questions and her topic. It was fun to actually do the MOO thing for real this time. I liked it (I know I’m a dork).

In completing my work this week, I didn’t really use any noteworthy processes because to be honest, I didn’t start most of these assignments until later on in the week (sorry, I was so busy!!). However, I did utilize persistence in subscribing to a professional mailing list this week. I tried so many lists and so many times (I really wanted one on autism, but they all seemed to not work properly). Finally, with some help from Mrs. McComas (thanks again!), I got a response. Actually, the list owner e-mailed me personally to welcome me to the list and also recommended other lists to join. I’m confident that I will get some good info. from these lists. Also, I have begun to utilize collaboration as a process for getting good info. on my topic. The mother of the autistic child that I work with has been very helpful in trying to obtain information for me regarding my essential question. She has also recommended a few lists to subscribe to and has given me information on these lists.

Overall, I feel that this was a very productive and very informative week in regards to this class. I am now going to stick to my guns when I say I’m going to do this assignment on Mondays and these two on Tuesdays and maybe these two on Wednesdays, etc. I just think it will make things go smoother and it will make my weekend look more like a weekend. Also, I feel that I’m really ready to start getting serious about this project. I’m getting very excited about finding out more and learning more about behavior management and autism and what I can do as an SLP. I am also beginning to see how wonderful and how important collaboration really is. I have had a few people offer to help me in my attempt to gain information on aggressive behavior techniques that can be used with autistic clients and it’s really amazing to see how many people support learning and research…even at the college level. I’m so grateful for people’s help and their opinions.

Some questions that I have found myself asking this week are:
1. Do I want to ask an essential question on aggressive behaviors in autistic clients (specifically), or do I want to ask something else?

2. How much information on this topic is going to be available to me (good information/usable information)?

and finally…

3. Now, exactly when are things going to slow down in this class???

These questions will probably be answered soon, so I probably won’t be asking them for very much longer. Looking forward to next week…

HLP