They also provide evidence that the use of drawing in the special unit classroom context and practice can foster the interaction among children and teachers and serve as tool of communication. Through a thorough examination of these children’s spontaneous and non-spontaneous drawing production, the findings of this project reveal signs of unforced peer learning which occurs naturally, alongside the conventional class learning context. The data analysis was based on the application of inductive methods for decoding the drawings made by each child, while using videos of the children being involved in the drawing process, as well as their oral descriptions of their drawings for triangulation purposes. The five children are pupils at a special education unit of an elementary school in Cyprus. This project is based on five longitudinal case studies, with each one following the evolution of drawing by a child with autism influenced by other children with autism. They function both as a means of communication and interaction among the autistic children and their peers and they provide their teachers with evidence of their interaction and learning. When working with children with autism spectrum disorders, where impairments in social interaction and communication are prevalent, the use of drawings can have multidimensional benefits for them as well as their educators. Visual literacy, the ability to extract meaning and communicate successfully via visual images, develops in a way similar to verbal literacy, through exposure to visual stimuli over time, most often without any formal instruction. As such, they are carriers of meaning and therefore have a communicative role in post-modern human societies (Wolcott, 1996). A good outcome is one that is co-created with all participants and derives from principle of multiple, all-sided gain and strengthening the resilience of family members.įrom a post-modern perspective, drawings and visual images in general are regarded as documents. Families involved in the project were very satisfied with new experiences they got in the working relationship of co-creation, where all of the participants contribute to solutions, while the social worker is responsible for leading the process of help and creating a safe space for collaboration. Results of the action research project show that multi-challenged families have answers about what kind of social work they need we only have to make space for them to be heard. The complex methodology used in the project will be presented at the symposium and the participatory emphasis of the research will be discussed. In the project, we constantly protected space for voice of the families also when recording our work. They were needed to define and reach desired outcomes and to develop new understandings of processes of help and support. Families were our crucial collaborators and actively involved through the whole process of the project. Our basic starting point was that families are not objects of the research, but experts in experiences.
Action research as a way of organizing research to contribute to resolving the problems of practice and to the development of new theoretical knowledge of social work was an acceptable and supportive way for collaborating with multi-challenged families.
Photoshop 101 with eric ramos the l1st grader how to#
How to research family life and processes of help and support to develop new knowledge with families was a methodological challenge in an international action research project “Helping families in community: co-creation of desired changes for reducing social exclusion and strengthening health” (2015-2016, Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, Norwegian Financial Mechanism Programme). Numerous entries and exits of different professionals in family life of multi-challenged families puts special responsibility in front of the researcher, not to be just an extra burden to family members.
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