Action Research

Presentation
By: Jacquelyn Gamble

Child Description
2 years 10 month
Special Education Classroom 2-3 year olds
Developmental Delay
Cognition and Communication

Strengths
Social and Emotional
Motor development
Adaptive

Areas of Need
Communication
Cognitive
Home-Life

When presented with the

colors (red, blue, yellow,
and green) MT will pick
up or point to the
appropriate color when
instructed to, 2 out of 3
trials for two consecutive
weeks.
When presented with
the colors of red and
yellow, MT will
correctly identify by
pointing to the
appropriate color with
physical modeling 2 out
of 3 trials for 10
consecutive days.

Foundation Block 6
a) Sort and classify objects
according to one or two attributes
(color, size, shape, and texture).

Foundation Block 2
Use size, shape, color,
and spatial words to
describe people, places, and
things.
a)

Virginia Department of Education

Instructional Strategy
Physical/Verbal
Modeling
I picked up the blue
block, MT pick up the blue
block

Desired outcome
MT watches teacher pick
up the blue block, after
the teacher sets it back
down in front of MT, MT
picks up blue block

 Visual and Verbal support

Encourages Errorless Learning
Research based practice

 Participants
Male and Female diagnosed with developmental delays

Purpose
Writing name legibly and independently

Baseline
Data collected for a week
Female received median score of 1.5 with a range of 1-3
Male received median score of 0.2 with a range of 1-3

Intervention
Direct Instruction (Modeling Prompting Fading)

Results
Female increased median score from 1.5 with a range of 1-3 to a score of
3.31 with a range of 1-6
Male increased median score of 0.2 with a range of 1-3 to a score of 5
with a range of 2-5

Similarities
Special Education Classroom
Developmental Delays
Classmates had Delays in
Communication and Cognition
Modeling

Differences

Number of classmates
Variety of disabilities
Ages of participants
Task taught

(Park et al., 2007)

 Participants
Male and Female diagnosed with autism

Purpose
Teaching symbol comprehension and expressive language skills using
ALM

Baseline

Comprehension of graphic and verbal stimuli

Comprehension of graphic stimuli alone
Comprehension of verbal stimuli alone,
Symbol production

Intervention
Four intervention phases

Results
Maggie increased accuracy from a range of 45% to 96%
Sam increased accuracy from a range 42% to 100%

Similarities
Preschool age
Delays in communication
Modeling
Data collected in variety of
locations
Gradual increase of content

Differences

Preschool setting
Age of participants
Skills acquired
Diagnosed disability

(Drager et al.,

 Participants
Five preschoolers, two females and three males

Purpose
Producing multi-symbol messages using AAC modeling

Baseline
Each participant had a baseline score for the mean number of different
multi-symbol messages under a 5
Lowest score was a 0.3 and highest score was a 5.0

Intervention
Results

Valarie increased her mean score 6 points

Timmy increased mean score by 15.3 points
Robyn increased her score by 3.3. points
Nathan increased score by 8.6 points.
Richard increased his score by 4.7 points.

Similarities

Differences

Preschool age participants

Preschool classroom
Participants lacked communication
skills
Two participants had a DD diagnosis
Modeling

Number of participants in study

Varying disabilities
AAC
Ages of participants
Skill taught (Expressive vs.
Receptive)
Type of modeling

(Binger & Light,

Activity by Skills Matrix

Schedule

Can Embed IEP objective

Arrival & Hang up Backpack

Free Play/Cleanup

Wash Hands

Breakfast

Wash Hands and Potty

Circle Time

Fine Motor Play

Inside/Outside Play

Wash Hands

Lunch

Wash Hands and Potty

Reading Time

Departure

Intervention
Modeling
After two days of
intervention, probe were
conducted
Frequency data collected
Modifications

Baseline
3 separate days
Colors red, yellow,
green, blue were
present during each
session
MT correctly identified
red 1/3

Final
Results
7/8 intervention sessions
MT demonstrated 100%
accuracy with all colors
in each session (make it
clear not all colors
present at once)
During final probe MT
correctly identified and
named colors, red, blue ,
and green.
Difficulty with yellow

Receptive Identification of Primary Colors

100%
90%

Legend

80%

70%

Baseline

%
% Accurate
Accurate

60%

Intervention
Intervention

50%

40%

Probe
Probe

30%

Final
Final Probe
Probe

20%

10%

Trend Line

0%

Sessio
ns

Baseline Results

Sessio
ns

Intervention Results

Session
s

Variation

Session
s

Final Probe Results

Session
s

 What was changed?

Use it again?
What went well?
Success in both receptive and expressive
identification

Changes for the future?

Natural environment
Child preferences

 Natural environment
Meaningful learning

Intervention needs to fade

Spacing out trials
Child preferences
More patience
Acceptance

Dedication
Preparation
Reflection from research
Collaborating with individuals
Continuous reflection & revision
Flexibility
Acceptance

Binger, C., & Light, J. (2007). The effects of AAC modeling on the expression of multi-symbol
messages by preschoolers who use AAC. Augmentative and Alternative Communication,
23(1), 30-43. dio:10.1080/07434610600807470
Drager, K. D., Postal V. J., Carrolus, L., Castellano, M., Gaglinano, C., & Glynn, J.
(2006). The effect of aided language modeling on symbol comprehension and
production in 2 preschoolers with autism. American Journal of Speech-Language
Pathology, 15(2), 112-125. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2006/012)
Park, C., Weber, K. P., & McLaughlin, T. F. (2007). The effects of fading, modeling,
prompting, and direct instruction on letter legibility for two preschool students with
physical and developmental delays. Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 29(3), 1321. doi:10.1300/J019v29n03_02
Virginia Department of Education. (2013). Virginias foundation blocks for early learning: Comprehensive
standards for four-year-olds. Retrieved from
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/early_childhood/preschool_initiative/foundationblocks.pdf