EE – Viva Voce

Throughout the EE process, I tried to devise a focused question from the beginning. However, much of my research proved to be unnecessary because I changed my second therapy to music therapy much later in the writing process. Therefore, much of the research on TEACCH (including primary research) I’d already conducted had gone to waste. Though ultimately, making the switch helped me to not only draw on more points for comparison but also find appropriate case studies as evidence. Although the writing process itself was long and required tedious amounts of refining, it was a valuable learning experience for me. Unlike what other academic essays have taught me, the EE highlighted to me the importance of having several ‘layers’ to an essay. I felt that my first draft followed the very basic template of an essay, but adding a layer of ‘ethics’ or ‘behaviourism as a paradigm’ helped me go deeper into the less obvious topics of psychology and autism. The EE taught me the importance of not only having my primary structure, along with an overarching ‘superstructure’ to add deeper analysis.

Exit Ticket – EE DAY

write digital portfolio / blog reflection:

One thing I’ve learned:

How to access online resources more efficiently, and the different places I can go to do this. I’ve also become more aware of the structure of the psych EE mark scheme, and what the criteria entails.

What I’m proud of:

I made 1013 words! I’m also happy with the extra research I’ve done (some sources have been added to my plan). I’ve also made use of past EE’s that I’ve found in the UWC library that have directed me to some useful studies.

What I’ll be doing next:

I’m thinking of changing one of my therapies (ABA compared to xx), because the more I research, the more I find music therapy to have more studies to work with. I think this might make writing in the future easier. I also have to meet with my supervisor to go through what I’ve written so far, to make adjustments where necessary.

Initial Reflection

I wanted to write a psychology EE, focused on the therapeutic methods most commonly used to teach social-skills to those on the autism spectrum. After a discussion with my supervisor, I decided to take a comparative look at arguably the most ‘traditional’ therapy – ABA, versus an alternative therapy. After talking to a teacher from our learning support department, who recommended looking into TEACCH – a therapy that takes a focus on the individuals’ strengths and uses them as an advantage. I found this interesting because the standardised nature of ABA seems to take a ‘awards’ system, that rewards ‘good’ behaviour, and thought about how this implies morality: is it ok, or necessary, to ‘mold’ individuals into a prescribed societal norm? So far, I’ve come to realise how much research there is to work with; however, comparing the two therapies has been difficult because there are evaluated on different research. There’s also the problem of analysing how valid the research itself is.  

Changing Structure + Polishing

Section 1 – Circus + Animals

more distinct features:

Juggling

Trapeze

Clowns

Keep animalistic features, but make them proud and happy (giraffe and monkey)

Circular pathway: get right up to the audience

Facing: high and proud, looking upwards

Section 2 – Animals struggling

Use the motifs from before but develop

(More downward facing)

Circular pathway: get right up to the audience

Should be more like clues?

Section 3 – abuse + behind the scenes

Go to the back of the stage

Section 4 – conclusion

Repeat the first show, but make it more frantic and tired

PPIS – SWOT Analysis

1st February SWOT Analysis

Strengths

  • I feel like the kids love us
  • We understand how to interact with them (what they respond to, what activities they like) than the beginning of the year
  • More organized throughout the year
  • taking photos Link
  • The kids are more close to us now when compared to our first meetings.
  • Equal distribution in contribution
  • Child-friendly location
Weaknesses

  • I would like to incorporate more theatre/arts activities
  • Repeating activities and music
    • Maybe create a rotation of activities along with the rotation of people?
    • Teach them to dance (Hannah)
  • Space is small if we’re gonna make them move around
Obstacles

  • Language
  • Some of the kids are shy
  • They easily get confused, especially if we are confused (e.g. walk the wrong way during duck duck goose)
Threats

  • The tech equipment
  • SWING!!!
  • SAND!!!
    • Can get into kids eyes and cause major problems
  • The climbing equipment

 

Things we can do in the future:

  • Imagination game: ‘pretend you’re in a beach ball’
  • Dance
  • Sing
  • Make the kids act instead of making them watch us act
  • Create a story using puppets or dolls
  • Bring them to a playground, but have it tie in with the theme of that session
  • Superhero day, they can pretend they are their fav superhero
  • Colour game (stand on the colour)
  • Nursery rhymes