Why I am Such a Data Hound September 18, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Behavior Analysis, Paraeducators, Special Education.comments closed
Yes, I am. Most special ed. teachers in the county know it and I’m sure I am the butt of many jokes because of it. I have worked over many a SLP, OT and even the PT folks about data, or more likely, the lack of it. They travel around to different schools, so word gets out. I travel to different schools occasionally, and may get up on the data-high-horse if I’m feeling particularly brash. and of course, my own kids have different teachers every year so the infamy spreads far and wise.
I wasn’t always this way. However, very early on in my Master’s program I had an instructor who was teaching applied behavior analysis and something clicked. I did several mini-interventions, kept track of my data points and was delighted to see when things worked. Since I was using behavioral interventions, that was most of the time. B. F. Skinner once joked about how behaviorists were always in a better mood than any other psychological clinicians because their stuff was working and they knew it! Keeping score is the best and most efficient way of knowing if what you are doing is working.
However, the pretest, post test model that NCLB currently relies on to keep score is highly flawed. The biggest problem I have with it is that it takes only one measurement per year (at most). What if the child isn’t learning and the score goes down? You have no idea, until the next year! An entire year could be going down the drain. Fortunately, most good teachers actually assess as they go along on a regular basis. At least when it comes to spelling or reading or writing or mathematics. However, when it comes to behavior, no one seems to keep track of much of anything. Getting teachers to do it is like pulling teeth. The thing is, behavior plays a huge and crucial part of what goes on within a classroom. There is not a teacher alive who will tell you that classroom conduct and behavior are not important. There’s enough examples of what happens when the behaviors get out of control. They can make a teacher’s life miserable! It is the bane of most brand new teachers and all of the substitutes. Ask a sub what makes for a bad experience: Is it kids who can’t read? Is it kids who can’t add? Is it kids who are less than bright? No, it is kids who misbehave!
Just like academics, tracking behavior is the key to working on it. You track reading or spelling performance and hopefully want to see signs of improvement. Same goes with behavior. And this means keeping some sort of data on a regular basis.
I’m trying to work with Thomas’ para and gently ease her into the role of data collector as well as facilitator. My operatives at his school tell me that there is a significant amount of hovering going on, which is what most paras do when they don’t know what else to do. Their main qualification is that they care. Caring is important, but paras deserve to have more knowledge and tools at their disposal which means some investment of time and yes, money. Training materials and trainers cost money. I’ve learned over the years that a modest investment in equipping paras pays huge dividends in how the students are treated and the advancements they make. Unfortunately my data lacks sufficient fidelity and reliability measures to get published, but I have results that show students doubling their level of independence simply by virtue of having a trained para versus an untrained one. You see what a bit of data can do? I can show the effectiveness of what a person is doing. Or it can show that things need to be done differently. For instance, we had been taking data on Spaz for years and years and had notice little appreciable change in the number of agressive (pinch, kick, hit, spit, scratch, grab) behaviors per day. It was all over the place and variable depending on the season, the day, and the phases of the moon, or so it seemed. We were getting no where. I did a full-blown FBA and started working on everything I could think of to bring him around.
With an erratic data path, it’s hard to see anything at all. He might only scratch and kick 5 times one day but then be up to 50 times the next and then back down into the 20’s and 30’s for a few days before depressing and spiking. The Excel trendline showed that there was a slightest of inclines in the data path. I stayed with it. His neurologist stayed with it along with me, loving my graphs. Then we hit paydirt. Something happened that we would never have anticipated. Spaz discovered friends. He liked having friends and wanted friends. Especially girlfriends. And we noticed that his aggression began plummeting when we had some higher functioning girls around who volunteered to help with some of the wheelchair kids. We heaped on other rewards, too, but that was the turn. Those girls wouldn’t have anything to do with him if he was being aggressive, but once he found his charm, he discovered his social life improved dramatically.
Now it comes to me, I might be able to use that for a few other things with him.
The point of this was that just the exercise of keeping behavioral data put me in tune with what was going on throughout the day. I was able to see changes much quicker than doing an annual assessment, and if I could spot a trend early, I could either promote or suppress things in the environment to enhance positive change. A body can not do that if they are unaware of what is going on. Keeping data is the way to increase awareness. Ideally, a teacher could do this everyday on every student. But that’s not realistic, especially in a class of 25+. This is why having trained paras is important because they can help with this while a teacher is delivering instruction.
Here’s a shocker: I don’t really take data at home. I have tried to track some things that happen or don’t happen, but for the most part, I believe home should be more relaxed. I do keep a strict record of finances, but not of behaviors of my family. The idiot assistant principal at that last meeting actually suggested that I take data at home so they wouldn’t have to do it at school. Problem is, talking out, being out of his seat, bothering classmates, not doing schoolwork, being off task….anyone else see a problem with keeping track of these behaviors (which the school is complaining about) at home? What an idiot. God help the school she ever becomes principal for. But at school, as a teacher, I am a voracious data collector. With the kids I have, it is the only way to know anything.
One last thing about data collection, and why I like it:
In addition to paras and teachers improving what they do simply by virtue of keeping track, this also applies to students, themselves. Students can actually be trained to monitor their own behavior, and this is actually the ideal. Then all the teacher or para has to do is occasionally check for reliability and provide feedback. The functional goal of any behavioral program is to teach students to monitor and regulate their own behavior. Teaching them to keep their own data is an efficient way to do this. But teachers who don’t know how to take behavioral data will have a difficult time training their students to do it just like a teacher who can’t add will have difficulty teaching math to students.
I know some of you who are also closet data hounds. Any of you bloggers out there check your stats? Better yet, any bloggers who do not check your stats?
‘Nuff said!
dick
I don’t know whty, but I just wanted to link to an autism resource where other data hounds exist. So here you go!!
Thoughts on Homework September 12, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Backstory, Blogging, Ed Policy Discussion, Parents and parenting.comments closed
I haven’t been very good about doing homework, lately. Mainly reading blogs by and for other educators. And when it comes to blogging, at least 50% of the process should be reading what others are saying. It’s silly to think I’m the only blogger/educator with anything meaningful to say.
Special thanks to Michele who brought up something about homework, by way of the original Washington Post article. First, a thought or two on homework:
As a student, I was as anti-homework as a body could get. I never took a book home and hated those special projects assigned by various creative teachers. It seemed like the social studies teachers were the most oppressive, there. Students were putting together model ships, making home-made waterwheels, putting together miniature Apollo orbiters out of toothpicks and tin foil, or sewing together a 6×6 foot flag. all of these were made with obvious “help” from a parent. Mainly, the parent did it. My projects were obviously 100% student made. That means they were shoddy, messy and slapped together hastily. I grew up milking cows; I had better things to do after school than homework. “Homework” for me entailed hours of chores, outside, in the weather. Not that I would have devoted free time to schoolwork at home, anyway. All homework was tedious, boring and repetitive. and my parents were not of the mind to fight and argue with me about it.
Now, as a parent, Thomas brings home tedious, boring, repetitive homework. Jane tries to encourage me to get more involved with the boys and helping with homework is one of her ideas. And it is not a good one. I can get him to do it, but my heart is absolutely not in it. I do not see anymore value in doing a bunch of busywork than he does. He’s inherited his father’s abhorrence for all things redundant, at least in regards to learning. I think I might actually hate helping with homework with the same passion as I hated doing it when I was in middle/high school. He knows how to do the stuff and I basically function as task master, making sure he doesn’t get distracted and that he finished before bed. The boy is only in 1st grade! I agree with Alfie Kohn: kids have better things to do outside of school.
As Michele said, teacher education does nothing to prepare teachers in giving homework. Like discipline, it is an almost inescapable part of teaching and being a teacher. But it is not explicitly taught or addressed when one is studying about how to do the things that teachers do. School policies and practices are way out of tune with research.
Just to extend on the topic a bit more, I’ll add that private schools may be even more out of touch than public schools. Homework and study time are integral parts of the private/charter school experience. The one I taught in years ago mandated that every student be given at least 40 minutes of homework every single day. That’s for every subject. And then if they failed a quiz or test (and quizzes were given daily) they were to be given an extra study hall and an extra hour of homework. Some students had so many extra study halls, that they spent every Saturday at school, all day, sitting in that room at a study carrel. And no one gave any guidance on the type of homework except to say how long it should take. Too bad if it took longer. what was the penalty for incomplete homework? An extra study hall with an additional hour of homework.
I got away with doing less homework as a student because I lived in a rural area. A lot of my classmates were milking cows before and after school (where I only had chores after school) and were often sleeping during school hours. The teachers had to be somewhat flexible, although they typically regarded us as a bunch of hillbillies.
Today, in suburban America, there are expectations and policies that say homework must be given and in practice it is usually just busy work. Sometimes schools try to play the role of social agent by sending work home that actually requires parents to participate. I can think of very little homework sent home with a student in kindergarten that does not require some form of parent participation. And last year, Thomas had well over an hour of it every single night. With my poor attitude about homework, it fell on Jane to crack the whip in getting him to do it. And you can just imagine how she felt about me, and the resentment THAT kicked up. While it didn’t appreciably increase Thomas’ academic skills at all, it certainly did put an even greater strain on a marriage dealing with 2 children with disabilities and the busy schedules surrounding the extra work involved in doing anything.
But the pro-homework folks are not thinking about that. Everyone thinks that family involvement is all good, and any activities designed to get the family involved should enhance a child’s education. So schools go out of their way to encourage it, if not try to force it. But instead of binding a family together, it ends up being a sore spot and a source of stress. We are working longer hours, driving further to work, with limited quality time with our children. Now, what little time we have is dominated by squabbles over homework. Thanks, schools. Thanks a lot.
It’s small wonder that a good percentage of homework is actually done by the parents. Let’s just get this crap done, so Johnny doesn’t flunk, and then we can get on with our lives! The temptation to just grab it and do it just to be done is enormous! I feel kind of silly writing each letter of the alphabet 30 times, but I figure that if Jane takes 10 letters, and I take 10 letters and Thomas takes 6 letters, we should all be able to finish before bed time.
dick
A More Moral Way to Make a Buck September 11, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Parent Support, Parents and parenting, Services.comments closed
I was recently talking with a teacher who was thinking about going back for her Ph.D. She is also doing social skills training for various groups of students who are on the autistic spectrum. She is an excellent teacher and has a lot of good ideas and techniques. I have no doubt that she will excel if she decides to get into the PhD program.
The thing is, is that when she pursues her advanced degree it’s almost a marketing thing for her social skills classes. That part bothers me just a bit. I’ve written extensively about how so many services and service providers are getting fat off of dollars from families who have disabilities. It isn’t just autism, but autism currently is the most lucrative gravy train at the moment. This might be followed closely by ADHD and learning disabilities.
So if one were legitimately trying to help the autism community, just what would their service or product look like? What sort of model would best serve parents of young children with autism or any other disability? If it were me peddling goods, and I was more interested in helping people than getting filthy rich, what would I do and how would I do it?
First, let’s look at the way it is done now. Basically a parent gets the sad news from a pediatrician or neurologist that their child has some form of autism. Once that happens, the search is on to find the cause and the cure. And there is no shortage of people peddling both at the same time. The people with their hands deepest in a parent’s pocket is going to claim some sort of advanced expertise, knowledge and skill out of reach of anyone else. Their treatment is going to be highly specialized in some way. And they are going to tell you that you are a bad parent for not at least trying it. So you start forking over money. Lots of it. Obscene amounts, sometimes, all for the sake of your child. I mean, it’s your child! $50 an hour will look like a bargain compared to what some of these people charge. In the “get all your money” model, a parent will be subjected to an infinite number of “treatments” which are on a regular basis, usually once or twice a week. Afterall, we know there isn’t any shortcuts. These things take time, which is why it is best to start as early as possible! By the time a parent gets through, they are bitter, broke, skeptical, angry and still stuck with autism. Meanwhile, the service peddler has moved on to other victim/clients. It does not mater what the treatment is. I don’t care if you are just writing a book, you are still cashing in.
I’m not saying a person should not be paid for their time. I believe a person with a great idea should be rewarded. There’s a lot of folks with bad ideas getting rewarded, so paying people who are competent shouldn’t be too objectionable. But any service worth anything needs to be as accessible to as many who need it as possible. and it’s possible to make a living at it, but not necessarily getting filthy rich. I’d much rather live modestly and know I lived righteously than to be filthy rich and know that I cheated massive amounts from the people least able to afford it.
Social skills, ABA, OT, speech and homeopathic medicine: these are the hottest things going for individuals with autism right now. The most educationally and morally sound approach should involve some form of parent education in order that the parent can provide and continue the therapy on their own without the therapist having to be there. That means that the parent should be present for each and every therapy session and learn to do what the SLP, OT or behaviorist is doing. This does not mean the parent becomes those things, except to the extent that it applies to his/her own child. Parent education is one of the most efficacious and empirically supported interventions when it comes to students and children with behavioral difficulties. There is no reason why this shouldn’t apply to other interventions, as well. A parent should be able to be trained sufficiently to provide the services needed for their own child, including some medical ones. The idea is to make the family as independent as possible, and to make meaningful support available when needed. The running around to clinics and treatment centers serves to further isolate and differentiate families affected by disabilities from those of more typical family dynamics (whatever that may be).
And this is what I told my teacher friend. If she wants genuine legitimacy in my eyes, she would include a parent training and follow-up component to her social skills program so that the good she does can live on long after she retires or moves to a more upscale location.
Many parents have the resources to pay for someone else to provide services to their children. They can afford to hire the nannies, experts and providers and if they have the means than I say go for it. But not every family with a disabled child is financially secure. They are all too willing to fork over money that they don’t have in order to obtain help. This is where teaching them to help themselves can pay greater dividends and improve the well-being of everyone in the family, not just treat the one with the disability while bankrupting the parents. Show the parents how to do it and tell them, “I’ll show you how to do it. Once you learn, I’m available for consulting. Or you can pay me to do it if you don’t want to do it yourself.” At least you aren’t holding them over the barrel by claiming that only you have the answer and that their child will suffer needlessly if you aren’t making the big bucks to serve him/her.
I’m all for capitalism, but only when it is done responsibly and with some sense of not harming others for personal gain.
