EDSE501_Course_Project_Template. Kayla Widgeon
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George Mason University *
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Philosophy
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Dec 6, 2023
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Running head: EXPLORATION 1
Exploring Special Education
Kayla Widgeon
George Mason University
Exploration 2 Exploring Special Education
Developmental Philosophy Statement
My Ideas about Disability and Special Education
I have always been passionate about working with children so I knew I would one day have a career working with them, I just wasn’t quite sure what. The medical field is something that has always been interesting to me because both of my parents work in the hospitals. So, I tried to think about what career would let me work with both, this is how I found speech pathology. During my program I decided to pursue a minor in special education because speech and special education services work together so closely and really enjoyed what I was learning in
those classes. While working with a student with autism I learned about ABA a knew that it was something I could really see myself making a career out of, so I decided to switch paths from speech to special education. I have a strong desire to work with children at varying levels of ability and have the opportunity to impact their lives but giving them the support they need to be successful. What is a disability? A disability is an impairment that affects an individual’s ability to perform certain tasks and how they interact with their environment and those in it. Impairments can be physical, mental, visual, auditory, sensory, or
a combination of multiple (Friend, 2018). Disability doesn’t look just one way;
in some cases, it is evident if someone has a disability and other times it cannot be seen. Disability is different from individual to individual; two people could have the same disability but that is about where their similarities end. Ability level varies and each person with a disability should
Exploration 3 be have access to individual support so they can have the best chance for success. Having a disability doesn’t mean these individuals can’t do things, with the rights supports they can do anything anyone else can do!
Disability in society. In society disability should not be seen as strictly something bad. Having a disability doesn’t mean that those people can’t live a normal life. Individuals with disabilities are playing a part in society all around us. They are working jobs, they are getting married and having families, and making changes in the world just like those without disabilities. Disability isn’t something that we as a society should separate and look at as different, we should be looking at these individuals as an instrumental part of our society and learning ways to better include them. In society people with disabilities deserve the same rights as those who don’t when it comes to things such as employment and education and should not be met with discrimination due to
their disability. They deserve to have laws in place to protect these rights. Treatment of people with disabilities.
Individual with disabilities deserve to be treated like equals. They should not be pitied or looked down on. They should be treated as an individual, not just their disability. Just like you or me they want to be treated
with respect. Just because they have a disability doesn’t mean they should be treated like there is something wrong, it is part of them that should be accepted. If you think there is something they are struggling with or can’t do,
ask if you can help. The best thing to do when we are unsure is to ask. One
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Exploration 4 thing I’ve learned in this class is to also find out their preference for person-
first or identity-first language. Using their preferred language is a way to respect the way they wish to be identified. Education of students with disabilities. Students with disabilities deserve to be educated just like any other student. They deserve to be educated with their peer as often as possible and not separated and treated as a completely different group. However equal education doesn’t mean that they should be educated the same way as their typically developing peers, they deserve individualized support to help them succeed. With specialists in place to help provide the support the students need they can achieve so much! These students deserve educators who want to push them and see them succeed, not someone who will put a limit on their achievement.
Ethical considerations.
One ethical consideration to consider when working with students with disablist is parental consent. It is so important to have written documentation confirming their approval of their child being assessed and then possibly receiving special education services. Another ethical consideration is confidentiality. When working with individuals with disabilities it is important to only be sharing information with other people who are working directly with the individual. My Ideas about My Role as an Educator or Services Provider
I am currently working as a substitute teacher while I work on my master’s in special
Exploration 5 education. This is providing me with experience working with children with a wide range of ages
and levels of ability. My goal is to one day be a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst. I am working towards getting my registered behavior technician certification and waiting on a potential case to open in my area so I can start to work in the field of ABA. Who will I support?
As a BCBA I would support clients, their families, and their educators. ABA isn’t just for children with autism I could be working with any clients that
would benefit from receiving ABA services. This could also mean individuals with developmental delays or neurocognitive issues. As an BCBA I would be developing individualized treatment plans with behavior protocols to work towards meeting my client’s goals. I would support my client’s educators and
families by making sure they are familiar with the plan and properly trained to run the protocols. This can ensure the protocols are consistent which helps
increase generalization across environments and people which helps maintain learned behaviors. Needs of individuals in my setting.
I will meet the unique needs of the individuals in my setting by helping develop plans to help my clients succeed. One way I
will meet these needs is with patience. It is important when working with these children to be patient with them because it typically takes them longer
to grasp concepts and perform tasks. I will also help them with managing their emotions and find strategies that help them effectively express how they are feeling. These students may have a hard time with academics so by looking at their strengths and weaknesses I can come up with a plan on how
Exploration 6 they can most receive the most out of their education. Barriers to meeting these unique needs.
There are some barriers I may come across when working with these clients. The first barrier is that some school districts don’t allow ABA. This is a
barrier to meeting their needs because for their plan to work they have to be
able to perform learned behaviors across different environments. They are in school for the majority of their day so how are we supposed to know if they are reaching their goals and if their plan is effective if we aren’t able to implement these planned procedures during the main instructional part of their day? Another barrier that come up when working with ABA is the expense. ABA therapy can be expensive so some clients that could benefit from it may not be able to receive services because of the expense. Another barrier is proper training. For ABA therapy to be effective, individuals providing service must be properly trained on how to carry out procedures. They also have to be able to share their knowledge to teacher parents and other professionals how to follow protocols. Exploratory of Disability and the Profession Since I one day hope to be in her same position, I decided to speak with an individual who is currently working as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Through this I hope to learn more about her journey to becoming a BCBA, her greatest struggles and how she knew she had decided on the right career path. I think it will benefit me to hear her personal experiences. I also want to learn more about what her job is like on a day to day basis. I hope to learn both the hardest and most rewarding parts of her chosen career path. I would also like to know if she
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Exploration 7 thinks there are any key issues in the world of ABA that need to addressed in order to better serve clients. Description of Selected Activity For the purpose of this interview I will refer to the BCBA I interviewed as “KB”. I started by first asking KB why she decided to become a BCBA. She told me that she was first in school for speech, similarly to myself, but then decided to pursue her master’s in counseling. She was working with a student with Autism in the school setting when she learned about ABA for the first time. ABA was a recommendation his team was talking about, so she
went home to research it more and found that it was something that really interested her. She said in that moment she decided that she wanted to pursue a career in ABA so she switched programs and loved it! I asked her if there were any bumps in the road on her way to becoming a BCBA and she told me it took her a few times to pass her exam and that it was really discouraging. She felt like maybe she had made the wrong decision, but she studied hard and passed and has been practicing as a BCBA since. She then went on to tell me what her role is like day to day. She currently has four clients on her caseload. She has RBTs under her that are with the clients more often than she is that work on implementing the procedures she comes up with and help collect information on their progress.
She said each of her students have 1-2 sessions of supervision with her a week. This does not include the hours of program development or family training. She says during those hours of program development she goes over
Exploration 8 their charts and looks at their progress of current goals. This is when she makes revisions to adjust the plan to better suit the client’s needs. She does both in person sessions and telehealth sessions. She told me how beneficial telehealth is since her clients live in different areas. When I asked her the hardest part of her job, she said it is definitely collaboration. She told me how a lot of schools aren’t familiar with ABA so it is hard to collaborate with those who don’t know the benefits of ABA. She told me about an especially hard case that she worked on in which the school
teachers were not willing to work with her to follow the plan for her client. On
the topic of collaborating she stressed the importance of listening to what the others on your team have to think and not just focusing on what you think is the best approach. Being open to other’s suggestion is crucial to successful collaboration. She also talked to me about how sometimes getting
the families on board can be tough. She talked about how ABA programs have a lot to do with consistency and reinforcement and that for the child to make progress, the parents have to take on an active role in their child’s treatment plan. We then talked about the most rewarding part of her job. She was so excited to talk about how rewarding it is to see your plan help a client reach their goal. There was a particular success story she told me about that she says will stay with her forever. She told me the gratification she felt when her
plan helped a client go from only being able to drink out of a bottle to being able to feed themselves. It was really great to see her passion to help her
Exploration 9 clients. The last thing we talked about was what she thinks needs to change in the world of ABA to better serve the population. Her answer was the understanding of ABA. As she told me before, a lot of people still don’t know about ABA so they are hesitant. I didn’t even know that a lot of schools don’t allow ABA. She wants for more people to understand what ABA is and its benefits. She also talked about how important proper training is. Lessons Learned from Activity
I am really appreciative of KB taking the time to talk to me and further my understanding of the career. She first taught me that it is okay to change paths. It was really cool to hear her personal experience on how she changed
paths and found ABA through a related service much like I did. Hearing her journey was motivating, it helped to remind me there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It showed me how her hard work payed off and she now has a career that she loves and gets to make a positive impact on the lives of others. I also learned how important it is to be prepared for my BCBA exam, she told me about all sort of resources she used to help prepare herself for it.
I also learned more about the role of a BCBA. I now know the importance of collaboration and proper planning to unsure success. She explained the importance of proper planning to sure each of her clients is getting exactly what they need. I also learned from her it is important to know how to delegate your time so you can be there for your clients and their families. We talked about examples of things she was working on with
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Exploration 10 clients and it was really neat to be able to share ideas on how to address those things. I also more about the importance of parental involvement for the success of the child. Through my courses and experience I knew that this
was true but hearing real life examples from someone in the field gave me a better understanding. She taught me as a BCBA you need to be able to trust your RBT’s to do their part and work with them to curate the best possible plan for the client. Exploratory of Resources I hope to work closely with individuals with autism one day, so I am always looking for learn more about the disability, those who have it, and ways to help them. I hope to learn more about what it is like for someone who has autism to navigate the world. I am hoping to learn ways to help support individuals with autism with everyday life. I am also hoping to learn more about how these individual learn and ways to positively increase their levels of ability. Description of Resource #1
The first resource I explored was the movie Please Stand By
. This movie is about 21-year-old Wendy who is autistic. She is living in a group home with other adults with disabilities where she works with Scottie who helps her work on goals, going over schedules, and offers other varying supports to Wendy. She is has written a script to enter a Star Trek writing competition, she runs into a problem when she realizes she cannot mail her script and is going to have to take it to Los Angeles herself. Throughout the
Exploration 11 movie we see the struggles Wendy has to deal with being Autistic. Lessons Learned from Resource #1
From this resource I learned what kind of struggles those with autism might deal with when having to interact in the world. I also learned about strategies Wendy uses to be able to go able to navigate the world. In the beginning they we see Scottie and Wendy talking through her schedule, here
I learned how having a step by step schedule in place can help people with autism live on their own. By practicing her schedule with her, Scottie is setting Wendy up to be able to do things on her own so she can gain independence. Wendy is working hard because she thinks if she can take care of herself then she can go home to living with her sister’s family. When she finds out her sister isn’t letting her move home, she has a break down. Scottie diffuses the situation by wrapping Wendy in her arm and repeating the phrase “please stand down”. This a self-calming technique Scottie is using to help her calm down when she is over stimulated or upset. I got to see Wendy do this throughout the film using the phrase to help her through hard times like when she loses her script. Another tool I learned that helps Wendy is using a notebook to write down any information she thinks is important. I got to learn what kind of social interactions someone with autism
might have when navigating the world. She runs into issues with generalization. She gets onto the bus and thinks her bus card will work because she thought it is a bus so it must be the same as the bus she usually
rides. I also learned how quick some people are to take advantage of her
Exploration 12 because of her disability. A man and woman steal her money and I pod because Wendy doesn’t know that she can’t trust people. There is also a struggle in which a cashier tries to take her money by telling her the wrong price for small candy bars. She doesn’t know any better and almost loses money to this man before a kind woman steps in an stands up for her. This movie also taught me how disability can affect family members. We see Wendy’s sister struggle with taking care of her and feeling like she just can’t handle it. Her sister is clearly going through a lot of emotions feeling like she can’t handle supporting Wendy and her disability. Another lesson this movie teaches is that people with disabilities want to connect with the world. Wendy has a love for Star Trek and just wants to share that like any other typically developing person. The biggest lesson I will take away from this movie is that people with disables can do anything they want to do! We see Wendy use strategies to navigate her way to her end goal. Description of Resource #2
The next part of my exploration was from the Autism Speaks website. I read a resource called “Speech Devices Can Help Build Language In Schoolchildren With Autism”. It was once thought that students with autism cannot acquire langue if they haven’t already by age 5 or 6. Researches like Dr Connie Kasari work to find the best ways to address delays in language. Kasari and her team did a study to see if use of speech devices had an impact on a child’s ability to learn language. They tested this on a group of 60 five to eight year old children with autism who were able to only speak 20
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Exploration 13 words or less. Each child received 2 hours of play based intervention over a span of six months: half using a speech device, the other not. Lessons Learned from Resource #2
From this resource I learned that children with autism do benefit from the use
of speech devices during intervention. The vocabulary of all of the children increased. Thus, proving that children can gain language skills after the age of five. The children who were using the speech devices from the beginning made the most progress in their language and communication. I also learned
by reading about their study the importance of checking in on progress throughout and making adjustments. They did this at the halfway point and decided to add another hour of therapy for the children who were progressing slower than others.
Conclusions
This paper has been a great tool to collect my idea about disability. Having a disability is not a reason someone should be singled out or treated differently. These individuals deserve to be
treated with respect and to have a place in society with laws in place to protect their rights. I hope to one day work as a BCBA and will work hard to meet the unique needs of my clients and work to overcome the barriers in the way. I am thankful for the opportunity to interview KB because it gave me a better understanding of what it means to be a BCBA. It also motivated me to talk to someone who is in the position I hope to one day hold, I hope to keep in contact so I can continue to learn from her experiences. The movie I watched gave me a look into the journey
or someone with autism navigating the world, I will remember this when working with this population in the future. The last resource I reviewed showed me evidence of an effective tool
Exploration 14 when working towards spoken language. I want to continue to learn more about tools and interventions that benefit those with disabilities.
Exploration 15 References
Mag Home: My autism guide
. MAG Home | My Autism Guide. (2013, May 1). Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://guide.autismspeaks.org/mag/content/science-news/speech-
devices-can-help-build-language-schoolchildren-autism Lewin, B. (Director). (2017). Please Stand By
[Film}. Magnolia Pictures
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