MY PERSONAL RESEARCH JOURNEY

       Hello classmates!!!  As I move on in my 5th course at Walden, I am reflecting on the research process that I have gone through so far in the first week and a half of this course and I already feel like I have learned a lot of new terms and new ideas about research.  I have narrowed down my chosen research simulation topic to Autism, although I am still struggling to figure out how I am going to do this exactly.  I mis-interpreted the overall research assignment and took it to mean that we would be picking topics and then completing research (looking up facts and figures) to gain a better understanding of our topic and answering any questions we have about the topic.  With help from Dr. Davis, she  helped me understand we are actually setting up a research simulation, where we get to conduct the research.   It almost reminds of psychology courses that I had back in undergrad where for extra credit we could participate in research studies for those seeking their Master's and Doctorate degrees.  Sometimes it was filling out a simple survey, sometimes it was an interview and other times it was actually having to go into the Psych. dept. and do something related to the study.  Outside of participating in other individuals simulation, I have no experience conducting my own research simulation, so this is completely new to me.
         The reason that I have chosen Autism as my research topic is because of a boy that I had in my classroom last year.  He was very challenging:  very impulsive, at times crying or laughing for no reason, limited social skills and would hit kids at times for no reason, throwing chairs when he was angry and overall not being able to properly express his emotions.  Through all of my work with him, I strongly believe that his behavior falls somewhere on the Autism spectrum, but we are not allowed to suggest this to parents at our center and his parents have refused to get him observed by any outside professionals, even after numerous meetings and staffings.  It was a long and stressful year, but I really grew to love him and miss him sometimes and the struggles we had some days.  I truly feel like he made me a better teacher and showed me how to really have patience with a difficult child.  Through trial and error, I was able to learn ways to help him cope with situations and also how to handle his behavior.  At times I felt very lost when dealing with him and there is no at my center currently who has any knowledge of working with children with Autism.  After my year with him, I really feel like my center needs that and I am striving to be that person, so others won't feel as lost as I did when a child displays these behaviors.  It is through the above reasons that I have decided to learn more about Autism.
         For my research simulation, I would like to possibly observe children in a classroom with Autism to learn their behaviors, observe teachers who work with these children to observe the methods they use in action and then possibly interview these same teachers to gain a better insight into why they do what they do.  I say possibly for all of these things because I am not sure if these are the right steps to take to complete this simulation.  What do all of you think?  Are there any insights that any of you could give me on how to make this simulation better?  Is it to broad and I am not going deep enough?
           My greatest insights and resources this course so far have come from Dr. Davis.  We had a lot of great discussion during week 1 and I took a lot of notes on the information she shared because the way she presented it really made sense to me.  She has also given me great and quick feedback  on all of my questions and I encourage all of you to use her as a resource if you have not already.
           I'll end this blog by asking all of you for your insights and ideas about my topic, resources I should be looking at or just anything in general that has helped all of you get to where you are in your research process.  I really hope I can provide insights for all of you on your topics as well and we can continue to work together as we complete this course.  Thank you to all of you in advance for your feedback!!