Research Proposal Equal Educational Rights for Autistic Students

Transcription

1 Zou 1 Megan Zou Professor Mary Hays Rhetoric October 2015 Research Proposal Equal Educational Rights for Autistic Students My topic is about allowing students on the Autistic spectrum, regardless of behavior, to learn in a conventional classroom environment, and learn at the level of their abilities. This topic interests me because my brother is a student on the Autistic spectrum who is capable of learning the material that average students learn. However, due to his behavior, he is placed in a classroom in which the teachers merely teach them how to shop and recycle. In fact, sometimes they just play on the ipad. This topic is important because it shows how people are not treated equally, as autistic students are not given the rights to learn to their full extent. My research question is: Should autistic students, regardless of behavior, who are capable of learning be able to learn the same material as we do in a conventional classroom environment? From my experience, I know that autistic students who do not have behavioral problems are allowed to learn in a conventional classroom for some of their classes, while autistic students who are capable of learning, but have behavioral problems are not given the opportunity to learn material at their own level. For my research, I am going to search with several key terms: special needs, Autistic spectrum, education, and equal opportunity. I will be using databases from the library databases pages, such as CQ Researcher, JSTOR, and EBSCOhost. I would look into these sources by checking if they are scholarly or not, and reading their abstracts to see if they fit my topic.

2 Zou 2 The challenges that I will encounter while doing research are finding the correct key terms to my research and finding scholarly resources to prove my thesis. Finding key terms is really important because sometimes when I search for a key term, the search engine yields results that differ from my expectations. Sometimes it is because that I need to be more specific by adding more intersections. Finding scholarly resources could be a great challenge at times because when the information on the topic that I am researching for is limited, there would not be a lot of scholarly resources that could support my claim. I would overcome these challenges by improving my key terms by adding more details to narrow my search. I would also find as much information as I can, no matter scholarly or not to support my claim. If it is not scholarly, I would make sure to find multiple articles that support the same point.

3 Zou 3 Working Thesis: Although autistic students are sometimes disruptive in class, they should be allowed to learn and grow in the same environment as other students because some autistic students are able to learn at the same pace as other students, develop their social skills, and give non-autistic students the opportunity to learn how to accept differences between people. An Annotated Bibliography "Do Autistic Kids Fare Better In Integrated Or Specialized Schools?" NPR. NPR, 2 June Web. 22 Oct This article describes how a parent of an Autistic student, Ellis, is unsatisfied with the limited opportunities that Autistic students have in an inclusive conventional classroom. Ellis describes how Hank, her Autistic son, could not join an advanced reading group when he could read at the eighth-grade level when he was five. Then, Hank went to Victory Academy, in which he felt more included because it is a school for Autistic students, only. However, that separates them from the regular kids, which creates a segregated society because Autistic kids do not feel included in the real world. Ellis describes how Hank enjoys Victory Academy, though, because he feels more accepted, and it is the job of Victory Academy to make Autistic students feel loved and included. "Educating Children with Autism." (2001): Autism Speaks Web. 20 Oct This article introduces us to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which both support providing public education to people with disabilities at no additional cost. It also states that people with disabilities should have the rights to learn in the least restrictive environment.

4 Zou 4 This article is a great source for my paper because it is scholarly as it is published by Autism Speaks Inc. and the website ends in.org. It could help me support my thesis as it mentioned that people with disabilities should learn in the least restrictive environment. The least restrictive environment means that students should be integrated into the normal classroom if they are capable of it. Also, if they are not capable of being integrated, they should have the education that suits them. This supports my claim in which Autistic students should not be randomly assigned into a classroom where they do not learn much academic material, unless they are not capable of learning. Finke, Erinn H., David B. McNaughton, and Kathryn D. R. Drager. " All Children Can And Should Have The Opportunity To Learn : General Education Teachers' Perspectives On Including Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Who Require AAC." AAC: Augmentative & Alternative Communication 25.2 (2009): Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Oct This article discusses the positives and negatives of including students on the Autistic spectrum in general education classrooms. The article introduced the positive and negative social impacts made on autistic students. It also showed how teachers learned to become more patient and see who they really are from an autistic student s perspective. Also, non-autistic students experienced a diversified environment and learned to accept differences. This article is a reliable source because it is a scholarly and peer-reviewed academic journal. It could help me support my thesis as it discusses a lot of the positive effects of inclusion on autistic and non-autistic students and teachers. Positive effects made on general educational students such as learning to accept others is great, because

5 Zou 5 students would have to learn to accept the people around them at some point of life. Therefore, the earlier the exposure to these experiences, the better. Guldberg, Karen. "Educating Children On The Autism Spectrum: Preconditions For Inclusion And Notions Of 'Best Autism Practice' In The Early Years." British Journal Of Special Education 37.4 (2010): Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Oct This article gives an introduction of the Autistic spectrum and discusses the best practice for autistic students depending on the student. It discusses what autistic students would need while learning because they develop differently from their regular peers. Also, it discusses how parents and teachers should contact regularly to discuss what is best for their students. Then it shows us how autistic students respond when they are learning or playing with regular students. This article is reliable because it is published in the British Journal of Special Education, which is a scholarly source that focuses on my topic. It gives a detailed description of autism and what could be done to help autistic students develop their social skills. This source could help me support my thesis by stating the positive social impacts of letting autistic students interact with regular students. Harris, Sandra L. Are There Special Schools for People with ASC? Autism Spectrum Conditions: FAQs on Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and Atypical Autism Answered by International Experts. Ed. Sven Bölte and Joachim Hallmayer. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe, Print. The special schools section of the book discusses the various ways of including students on the Autistic Spectrum in education. It discusses the time periods for Autistic students to have certain types of training. Most autistic students would start with Applied

6 Zou 6 Behavior Analysis (ABA). Once they become a kindergartener or older, they would be placed in a regular or specialized classroom based on their abilities or behaviors. This section of the book is a scholarly source because Sandra L. Harris writes it. She is a professor in the department of Psychology, and does research to find cures for people living on the autistic spectrum. It also has a references section, which shows where Sandra got her information. This source counters my thesis because it acknowledges that some students may not be ready to be incorporated into a conventional classroom environment, even after intensive ABA instruction. It even states that some autistic students would have to be removed form conventional classrooms for the best educational experience for both autistic and regular students. I could use this source to acknowledge why autistic students may not be included in the regular classrooms. Harrison, Joyce. "Improving Learning Opportunities In Mainstream Secondary Schools And Colleges For Students On The Autistic Spectrum." British Journal Of Special Education 25.4 (1998): 179. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Oct This article introduces us to the three main weaknesses of people on the Autistic spectrum. They lack of a social life, which means they do not have random conversations with friends, rarely have mutual interactions with people, and are not really creative. The article gives us examples of what autistic students are weak at in a classroom environment, and discusses what should be changed to help autistic students in those situations. This article is reliable because it is a scholarly source written by an educational psychologist, Joyce Harrison. This article could help me prove my thesis by stating what should be changed in a classroom to help autistic students fit in. It could also be used as a

7 Zou 7 counterargument to acknowledge why autistic students might not be able to fit into conventional classrooms, but could still learn the same materials as general educational students. Hart, Juliet E., and Kelly J. Whalon. "Creating Social Opportunities For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Inclusive Settings." Intervention In School & Clinic 46.5 (2011): Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Oct This article shows the different literacy and reading levels of the students on the Autistic spectrum. Some of them cannot read that well, and some can read but are unable to comprehend the text. Therefore, a study with three autistic students was done in a general educational setting to see how autistic students responded to teacher instructions. The results showed the strengths and weaknesses of autistic students during literacy instruction. This article is reliable because it is a scholarly and peer-reviewed academic journal written by two assistant professors of special education. This article could support my thesis by stating the academic strengths that autistic students have experienced while learning in a general educational classroom. Kacarska, V. "Alternative Forms Of Education For Children With Special Educational Needs." Trakia Journal Of Sciences 11.3 (2013): Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Oct This article introduces the three types of special needs education, and when it is necessary to use them with a specific person with special needs. It compares and contrasts the types of special needs. For instance, it is easier to talk to blind people

8 Zou 8 because they could speak. It also identifies the advantages and disadvantages of letting special needs learn amongst their own type of people. This source is reliable because it is an academic journal published by Trakia University in It also talks in detail about what the special needs experience while they learn. The evidence in this source about special needs learning in their own classrooms supports my idea of having autistic kids learn in conventional classrooms, because it explicitly states that having special needs learn with merely their own people restricts them from socializing with others. Ochs, Elinor, et al. "Inclusion As Social Practice: Views Of Children With Autism." Social Development 10.3 (2001): Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Oct This article talked about how high functioning autistic students were included in a general classroom. It showed how autistic students reacted when they interacted with regular kids, and talked about the positive and negative impacts of inclusion on autistic students. It also showed how autistic students are different from each other and other kids in the way that they socialize with others; some want to socialize but may not approach it the right way, and some just avoid socializing. This article is a great source for my paper because it is a scholarly academic journal. It could help me support my thesis as it discusses how socializing with regular peers will allow autistic students to develop social skills. It also stated that the Education for All Handicapped Act made integrating students with any kinds of disabilities into the public educational system a mandatory act, which supports that autistic students should have access to learn in a conventional classroom.

9 Zou 9 Stainback, William. "Social Interactions Between Autistic Students and Their Peers." Behavioral Disorders 7.2 (1982): JSTOR. Web. 01 Oct This article records the experiment that multiple researchers have done to explore the positives and negatives of integrating autistic students into the regular classrooms. They have tried different methods such as letting an autistic student interact with a regular child, or kind of autistic child, to see what impact he or she makes on the autistic kid. The experimentalists recorded the evolvement of autistic students social behaviors to see which methods positively influenced autistic students. This source is reliable because it is written based on an experiment conducted in Even though it is really old, the data collected reflects the social behaviors that autistic students have when they interact with certain people. This source is really useful as it shows that autistic students social behaviors increase dramatically when they interact with regular kids, which means they should have more time to interact with regular kids. The only way that autistic students could spend more time with regular peers is to be a part of the regular peer s community, the conventional classroom.