| Christie Berry

Qualitative Research

Case Study A

Parent info:
Mother: Age 49 Education: AA-Eng.
Father: Age 46 Education: HS Employed
Parents educational/teaching structure is very organized and scheduled

Annual Family Income: 35,000

Family Setting:
2 children with disabilities:
Daughter, T. TBI age 6
Son, A. Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Home educating both children

They came into the Program in fall of 2000. They are still in our school as of this writing, 2006.

Since each child has a completely different program, profile, and need, I chose to describe each separately under this case study. I chose to start with T. because she has been with us the longest.

T:
T. came into our program in the fall of 2000 with Traumatic Brain Injury due to a fall down stairs while having a seizure. Her brain injury was massive and after reviving from a coma she presented as a 4 month old infant, on a feeding tube, unable to support her head or torso, mildly responsive to sounds or visual stimuli. Prior to entering our school, T. had received 2 years of traditional therapy at the local public school with no positive progress.

T.s parents decided to implement a neuron-developmental program at home. They attended a 2 week training and program development course and evaluation with the neuro-development organization. The intensive program consisted of daily one-on-one stimulation and manipulation and was implemented 12 hours daily 6-7 days each week alternately by both parents. The organization set goals for them to reach and followed their progress monthly, with a two week annual review and evaluation completed on site at the organizations headquarters. Parent reports were also sent to me for review and documentation for the school board. Interviews and written reports from Mom provided additional information.

After two years using the intensive program described above, T. was off the feeding tube, supporting her head and torso in a sitting position, and actively responding with smiles and looks to sounds and visual stimuli. Progression slowed at this point and parents became discouraged.

Parents continued the intensive program for an additional year with limited progress. At the end of the third year they decided to continue the program with less intensity.

My observations at this point were that the parents were exhausted and T. was not progressing as rapidly as she had in the beginning of the intensive program. This lack of progress may be due to several indicators:
1. T.s brain injury may be stopping further progress
2. Parents exhaustion and discouragement has caused them to slack in implementing the program.

I believe that both scenarios are probably influencing progress in this case.

To date, T. continues to progress slowly and is using her hands to activate switch toys when prompted. She attempts to reach for objects with her hand. She enjoys listening to music and being talked to. She responds with smiles to music, people and funny noises.

T. continues a rehabilitative program that includes physical therapy, tactile therapy, mobility therapy, facilitated communication, range of motion, and manual competence exercises. She also listens to a variety of reading materials and looks at educational pictures. Her progress remains slow, but continues.

A:
Parents began home educating A. in the fall of 2004 at the age of 11. He has been described as having High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. He attended public school where he stayed in a self-contained special education classroom. Mother described A. as very capable in math computation and schedule and time oriented. She described his weaknesses in his language processing, social skills, and articulation. She stressed the need to help him enjoy reading as being the most important goal for him the first year.

Parent implemented a mastery learning, individualized instruction method. They used a variety of multi-sensory educational programs such as Hooked on Phonics and computer games.

The parents felt that their first two years home educating A. were successful. Review of his progress using work samples and observation indicates that he has moved successfully through the primary academic areas of reading and math and is improving exponentially in the area of reading. He is enjoying reading and has moved from the lower level of 1st grade reading to a strong 3rd grade reading level in the past 2 years. This advancement is much faster than he was progressing at the public school.

In the areas of language processing, social skills, and articulation, A. is still struggling, but progressing slowly. He no longer qualifies for publicly provided speech therapy due to his improvement.

He is attending Miracle League sporting activities to improve social skills. Some improvement has been observed.