Autism Spectrum Disorder - Dissertation Example

?Part A Autism Spectrum Disorder This research proposal and dissertation is about how to improve education and treatment for children and adults. In working with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its’ various related disorders like Asperger’s disorder, Rett’s disorder and Pervasive Personality Disorder. A researcher must have several ideas to work through in order to find a way to improve on the ideas of others and to improve the life of these children and adults through better diagnosis of the disorder. Methodology The first part of this methodology project is for the researcher to decide who is going to be the participants of the project. The project will be using children and adults with varying degrees of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). In working with children and/or adolescents the researcher must also want to work with the parents. The researcher will now devise various questions and activities that the participants may be able to do or not. This will also show the parents during their observation periods what their children can do and get a better understanding of the disorder their child has been diagnosed. This project will also need to be reliable and valid for the future, that teachers and other professionals will be able to use this project in their care of the child or children. The researcher will be conducting interviews with many different activities that will show what the participants know and teach them new skills that will help them in their life. The research will also have various questionnaires for the parents and caregivers to fill out. These questionnaires will provide sections for personal information, degree of autism, activities that they can do and skills that they cannot do, medications that they may have been on and the medications they are taking now, we will also have to know what treatments and interventions that have been used before and those that seem to work and treatments that did not work. The researcher must decide on how all these aspects of the research will progress through the study. The researcher must want to see other records that pertain to the participants of the study. The researcher must let the parents know what is going to occur throughout the study and must be given informed consent and told about confidentiality. (Corey, 2011) The researcher must need to know how the participant(s) were affected by previous treatments and medications. This study will be quantitative and qualitative for the project will be using various children and adolescents. The quantitative aspect would involve how the participants will interact (strengthen or weaken) the effects at the different levels between the variables and the initial effects that do not change. It is also qualitative for there will be reverses to the effect depending on what occurs in the study. (Nolan.2011) Variables of this study will be the children, the parents and caregivers, and the past and future interventions that will be used and created. The researcher must also look at age, culture, grade level if school age and if working what kind of occupation they have if they are older and the independent variable being the activities that the dependent variables, the participants, will accomplish during the research process. (Cozby, 2004) Timeline for Doing Research Doing a Literature Review In doing research on Autism Spectrum Disorder the researcher must proceed with a ‘radical looking’. This is when researchers do a general literature review to see what has been done in the past and what possibly could be done in the future. When doing research, researchers must keep their ears and eyes open for new developments and suggestions that just might help to progress the research. This is when the researcher can attend conferences, listen to interviews from others about the disorder and gather information that could be used to progress the study. This can also be a time to listen for new suggestions about the disorder. This is known as ‘radical listening’. Writing proposal The next step would be for the researcher to do a ‘radical reading’. This is when the researcher will start to pull together all the information that they found and complete the interviews of the parents and caregivers and have them fill in questionnaires that involve general information about the disorder, medications, interventions that they have participated in earlier. The researcher will compare all information from the past and will see how to use that research and their new ideas to figure out new ways to diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder. The researcher will need to revise previous ideas to do this and improve the care of these children. This research will improve the life of these children and adults with this disorder by improving education and treatment. This study will provide teachers and care-givers new ways and variations on how to handle these children. Interview sessions The researcher will conduct several interview sessions that will include the parents, caregivers and the child (if applicable) due to the level of Autism. In these interviews the questionnaires will be discussed and activities that deal with social interactions, educational skills, and learning communication skills that may be present for the child or adult. The activities will include the child, parent or caregiver to see how they interact and communicate. The activities will show if they use verbal or nonverbal communication. The research will show how much body language will be used with the adults and the children. The researcher can also give these children and adults various achievement and intelligence tests to see to mental capacities. The researcher can also give various interest inventories to the participants. (Sattler, 2001) The interview sessions will be mixed with observation periods where the child will be left alone for short amounts of time to see how this affects the child and then have the parent and/or caregiver enter the room and see how the child reacts. The researcher can have the time to fill in a Child Behavior Checklist and then give that form to the parents and the caregivers to see how the child acts in the home or institutions where they live. The researcher will then compare the two forms to see the similarities and differences that may occur. Through doing observation and participation activities the researcher is hoping to see the child make adaptations to their behaviors in a positive way. The researcher should keep in mind that they should always be aware that working with children can be controversial and why the researcher must make sure the parents understand about confidentiality and give the researcher informed consent to continue with the project. When conducting these activities make sure that the children and the adults are safe during the research project. The researcher must make safety part of the research plan, because when working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder they may not fully understand what is going to happen. The activities must be done at the level of the child so that the participants will understand what to do in the activities. The researcher must also explain to the parents and caregivers what the researcher is hoping to achieve with these activities. These activities must be play-based for the children/adolescent and more work-related for older participants. Through all these activities these children and adults just want others to know that Autistic children can learn and be accepted and they are able to learn to act appropriately in the community. (Sattler, 2001) The researcher when working with the child, adolescent or adult one must not second guess them or assume that you know what they are trying to express. The researcher must remember to talk to the child when working with them and not their parent or caregiver. The researcher must remember to give them time to get used to the situation that they are participating in at the moment. This reminds us to treat everyone with courtesy. (Sattler, 2001) The researcher must be willing to make adaptations to their research to test, if possible to promote a better understanding of the test. In the past researchers have relied on what was done and reluctant to make changes or to see how their research would help others in other professions that is what doing research is all about. Summary of Research Timeline 1. Radical Looking- Literature review of all relevant material of Autism Spectrum Disorder past and present. 2. Radical listening- Attending meetings and conferences about the disorder to receive new information and review older materials and ideas. 3. Radical reading and questioning- This is when you start to pull all your pure research and start to apply it to the topic in a more formal manner. This will entail all the information from the interviews, questionnaires and the activities that you and the child have participated in during the research. Conclusion The researcher must remember that when working with children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum disorders and its’ related disorders one must treat everyone with respect. The researcher must also treat the parents and caregivers also with respect. Autism is not a disorder to be afraid of and they are people who just want to be accepted by the society around them. This project will prove that Autistic persons can understand and learn about self and the community. References Corey, Gerald, Corey, Marianne Schneider & Callanan. Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions, Chapter Six- Confidentiality: Ethical and Legal Issues; 8th edition Brooks/Cole Gengage Learning 2011 Cozby, Paul C. Methods In Behavioral Research; Chapter 4 Studying Behavior 8th edition McGraw Hill 2001 Nolan, Susan A. & Heinzen, Thomas E. Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences; Chapter 12 Two-Way ANOVA; Worth Publishers 2011 Sattler, Jerome M. Assessment of Children Cognitive Applications Chapter 3- Ethical, Legal, and Professional Applications of Assessment Practices, 4th edition Jerome M. Sattler. 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