Think about your experience and history as a learner. What story can you tell? Write about your disconnections with learning (the things that cause you grief, create barriers, impede your progress as a learner). Then, write about the tensions and excitements associate with learning. Use specific examples when possible to illustrate your meaning.

It has been my experience that I learn best when I am doing somehting instead of being told something. As my vark inventory indicated, I am not a very auditory learner. I mostly am visual and kinesthetic in my learning and if I write something I remember it well. I think this is because I'm actively doing something and not just because I'm writing (I think Mrs. McComas said the same thing). I have always had to do things for myself. I remember as a child I always and I mean excessively asked "why" all of the time. Even though someone would tell me "why" I would always have to find it out for myself (I don't know, I was a pretty weird kid at times). I have a story to illustrate this kind of learning pattern that I have carried into my adult life:

When I was a kid, I used to play around with liquid stuff (you know, Clorox, different cleaning supplies, drinks, and pretty much anything we had around the house). Now, my parents were great parents and I was a *pretty* good kid. I would never drink these things (I wasn't stupid--just weird) and my parents knew that I was smart enough not to drink these things so they just let me pour stuff into cups and glasses and I would mix stuff together to see if I could get something to bubble or turn a funny color--you know, sort of a homemade chemistry set. Most of the time, my mom would be right next to me or in the next room. Anyway, she usually knew what I was doing.

One day I was mixing a couple of things together in those little dixie cups in the bathroom. I think I tried to mix Drano and Clorox. My mom yelled in the bathroom and said, "Heather, what are you doing in there?" I told her that I was "playin'" and so she came in there like any mother would to see what I was doing. She was always reading the labels on these products so she would have a good idea about what would be safe and what would not be safe to mix. Well, it just so happened that somehow she knew that mixing Drano with Clorox Bleach may cause a toxic gas of some sort (DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS!!) that could make you really sick. So she saw that I was going to mix these and told me not to. "WHY?", I asked. She replied with, "Because those can't go together. The'll make you sick if you breathe them"(or something like that). When I was sure she had left, I mixed them anyway. About ten minutes later, I had one mother of a headache and I felt like my nose was on fire and it wouldn't stop running. My eyes watered like I was crying and it made me physically sick to my stomach (the smell). Nothing serious came out of that, although that ended my at-home chemistry experiments for good. I think it may have been worth it--I had to find out for myself.

The point is this: I am a very independent person. I have to do things on my own and I have always felt the need to explore things for myself. I am an ACTIVE LEARNER. This is how I learn, by basically being taught something by teachers, my family, and the people around me, but it's the going out and applying what I have been taught or exploring what I have been taught on my own. It just works for me--always has, always will.

For me, the things that impede upon my learning are things like memorizing vocabulary words--you can't do anything with this, it's rather worthless because you don't know a concept until you actually do something with it (use it meaningfully). Also, I don't like to be told to do anything. Like I said before, I'm pretty independent, so I like to formulate my own little projects that can help me to learn. I think that in the past (and recently too), when I have been told that I have to do a certain assignment (particualrly if it's something I couldn't care less about like, history) I view this as adversive and just a big waste of my time. However, I feel that if teachers and professors allowed students to bring ideas to the table for possible assignments(which is what many of my professors do), then students may actually begin to like the learning process. One thing's for sure, they would feel more a part of their own learning processes and feel more responsible for what they have learned. They would also enjoy learning more than before.

I get excitement from the fact that I can actually say I am an active learner. To me, an active learner knows what they know and they know it well. These are the people you ask a question to and they can not only tell you about it, but they can relate it to other things and give you examples of it. They can tell you their experiences that often relate to the topic at hand. I'm excited to know that I can do this with certain things and certain topics.

I also like it when I hear someone talking about something maybe a little technical or overhear a somewhat intellectual conversation and I actually know what they are talking about. I never say anything (don't want to come off as a know-it-all) but I'm quietly thinking to myself, "Hey, I know what that is. I read about that and then said/did/used that with someone/something." There's something very self-serving about knowing, and knowing that you know.

Heather

What are the areas of professional practice that capture my interest (this might be a disorder, anything relating to treatment or diagnosis, etc.)? With respect to this general topic, what would an essential question for me be? What do I already know about this topic? What don't I know about this topic?

As I had mentioned before (somewhere I’m sure), I am fairly sure that I want to work with children. I am particularly interested in autism and the autistic population. It’s hard for me to choose just one question that I would ask, because it seems as though I have formed many in my head. I have been asking questions regarding what we can do as SLP’s to manage the behaviors of our autistic clients (what is in our scope of practice and what behavior management programs are out there for us to implement in Tx). I have further refined this question, and am now asking what we as SLP’s can do to manage the aggressive behaviors of our autistic clients.

As some of you may know, I work with an autistic child who is just absolutely wonderful. His family has implemented a program, with the help of a psychologist in CA who has written a book on his particular method, which is called “Discrete Trial Training”. It’s a method used to manage as well as to try and lessen the behaviors of autistic individuals (particularly children). It is a very interesting concept, and as I have found out through correspondence with the owner of my list (the one we were supposed to subscribe to for this class), Discrete Trial is similar to a technique called ABA (stands for “Applied Behavior Analysis”). I hope to find more out in the future about this particular technique, as I am sure it will be beneficial to my research. I am currently receiving quite a bit of help from my professional mailing list and my client’s mother.

I feel that I know some about this topic, but I don’t think that I could ever know a lot. There’s just so much information out there on the different types of behavioral management programs that are being used by parents, teachers, psychologists, and therapists that it would be impossible to know everything or even to think that one may know a lot. However, I am so willing to learn more about this. In regards to the ABA/Discrete Trial Training, I know the basic logistics of the program. The key to this program is when giving an autistic individual an instruction, you must always follow through with that. For instance (and perhaps I will not explain myself well), if I told an autistic client to sit at the table and the client became non-compliant, I could say “Too slow. Sit at the table please.” If the client was still non-compliant, then I would say, “No”, in a firm yet non-threatening tone. If at this point the client is still non-compliant, I may begin to physically maneuver them over to the table. If aggressive behavior follows, then I have some choices. I could ignore the behavior (if it is not going to harm property or others), I could take away any reinforcers that the child has accumulated, or I could start engaging the client in imitation where I give simple commands, such as “touch you arm”, “clap your hands”, “jump up and down”. This gives me the upperhand in the situation and gives me the momentum I need to get the client to comply.

It has been my experience that the simple imitation commands work well in getting an autistic child to comply and works well in managing behaviors. However, it does depend on the client and at what stage the behavior has advanced to. Another way that the Discrete Trail Training works is in teaching new skills. For instance, I work with my client on various things (language, articulation, and various cognitive tasks). What my job is to try and elicit certain responses. For example, in a receptive language drill I my say “Show me school” and the client would point to the picture of the school. However, if he didn’t and let’s say he pointed to a house, I would then have to say “No. Show me school”. If the client then pointed to the correct card, I would verbally reinforce him. If he did not point to the correct card, I would then prompt the correct answer and then bring this particular card back later.

Generally, when my client does drills, he is “working” for something that is highly reinforcing for him. For instance, he will ask to go outside. Then I say, “You can work to go outside”. I will then ask him to come to the table. Before beginning the drill, I ask him if he would like to work to go outside (just to make sure). When he says yes, we begin the drill. Sometimes if he mentions multiple reinforcers I tell him that he will have to work multiple times (e.g. three times) for the three things that he wants.

There is way more to Discrete Trial Training that I’m sure I haven’t included but there is just so much to the entire program that it would take forever for me to write about. I’m also sure that I have left out some important points and for that I apologize. I hope I explained it well.

What I don’t know about my topic is what other methods and techniques are out there to implement into therapy. I’m not even sure if the technique is used by SLP’s or just parents of autistic children. I’m very interested in seeing what other methods are out there in regards to managing the aggressive behaviors of autistic individuals. I may also be interested in what SLP’s can do (if anything) to improve upon the pragmatics of an autistic child or client. Pragmatic deficits are among the main characteristics of autistic individuals and it would be interesting to know what SLP’s can do in therapy to work on pragmatics and if it would actually make a difference. I’m sure there’s more that I do not know about this topic, but as of right now, I cannot think of anything else. Perhaps with further research I will find new things that I want to know more about.

Heather