Month 6 Trials and Tribulations

How is your AR cycle 1 unfolding for you?

Although I haven’t completed my first cycle of writing at the time of this posting I feel a lot of things are starting to look up and that the research and the project are starting to gain momentum and, if you don’t mind the cliché, the project is starting to gain a life of its own. My greatest delay in the completion of my first cycle comes from my inability to narrow my focus on Asperger’s Syndrome and with such a broad scope I found myself gathering great information but not knowing how to apply or use that information. Soon the stress of the project and the lack of a defined direction caused me to find myself swimming in a sea of doubts and really questioning whether I could even finish my program at Full Sail. Here out west we have a saying that “sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees”, that phrase basically described the place where I found myself in my research, too many trees and no forest. Sometimes when you’re lost the hardest thing to do is ask for directions, maybe it’s a guy thing, maybe it’s a pride thing, I suspect it’s a little of both, in any event I needed a GPS to find out where I was in the AR universe. My GPS was not named Garmin it was named Roxanne; Roxanne not only helped me find out where I was but she also calmed my fears and gave me some confidence that I was not that far off the path. She helped me thin the trees to find the forest. With renewed focus and a great direction I am now able to fine tune my cycle and get specific information as I research and conduct interviews.

What has been a surprise with your results?

I can’t say that my preliminary results have given me any earth shattering revelations but what I can say is that I never realized how emotional the response would be from the parents that I interviewed. In most cases the parents have been really grateful for this type of research and for the hoped outcome of the website to instruct teachers in communicating with Asperger affected students. Perhaps the greatest surprise that I have personally encountered is how my research has challenged and changed me personally, making me more sensitive and more focused on trying to effect change in the classroom.

What tweaks are you making for your next cycle of research?

Having yet to finish my first cycle I can’t specifically say what my tweaks will be but if I had to guess I would say that most of them would be to focus on clarity and fine tuning the direction of communication.


What is the overall participant’s response?

The response of everyone I have worked with has been overwhelmingly supportive and they are really hoping that my project succeeds.