1. An In-Depth Exploration of the Transformation
of Students on the Autism Spectrum
Participating in a Public/HS Transition Program
Courteny Moore-Gumora Ed.D.
California State University East Bay
Educational Leadership and Social Justice
courtenygumora@gmail.com

2. Appreciation and Admiration
Dr. Pamela Wolfberg San Francisco State University
Autism Spectrum Graduate Certificate and Related Studies
www.sfsu.edu/~autism
Institute on Peer Socialization and Play
www.autisminstitute.com
Dr. Katie Brown California State University Eastbay
Director of Accessibility Services Department / College Link
katie.brown@csueastbay.edu
Dr. Jack Davis California State University Eastbay
Educational Psychology Department Chair
jack.davis@csueastbay.edu

3. Researcher Role and Experience
Ed.D. Educational
Leadership and
Social Justice
MA Special
Education
/Autism Emphasis
MA Anthropology
Course Work
Quirky Kid

4. Dissertation
Theoretical and empirical constructs of Informative
Education, Transformative Education and Education
Reform:
 Disabled Learning vs Constructivist Learning
 Elucidate Socio-Complexity of Learning
Community / Impact on Student Performance

5. Problem Statement
 Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has reached epidemic
proportions 1 in 50 school aged in US (Blumberg et al.,
2013).
 Students w/ ASD face significant challenges: socialization,
communication and flexible behavior and thinking that
impact their school experience (Wolfberg 2008).
 Under-served by fed/ state/ local school authorities,
particularly disadvantaged socially and economically
(Autism Speaks, 2012).

6. Research Justification
 Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Disorders V (DSM-V ) 2013
revised Asperger’s Syndrome, and PDD-NOS now one
“Autism Spectrum Disorder.”
 National Autism Center NAC (2009) National Standards
Project: need for evidence based practice guidelines in
education for ASD. Only two (18%) established treatments
w/ favorable outcomes for Asperger’s Syndrome (AS).
 DSM-IV included AS since 1994, more than a decade for
research to have been conducted. Clearly, additional
research is necessary in this area (NSR NAC 2009).

7. Original Guiding Questions
1. What is the students’ interpretation of the world/situation
in which they find themselves within AsIP/Ethos transition
program?
2. How do students identify and see themselves and others
who share their own experiences and situations?
3. How does constructivists learning and transformative
education, affect the integration of students on the
spectrum, particularly those who are mildly affected?
4. How do constructivist learning practices change student
performance outcomes that demonstrate the idea of the
socially constructed “disabled learning?”

8. Questions that Arose from Analysis
1. How has transformed student identity and learning
experience impacted engagement/ outcomes in school
and life?
2. Where in the realm of education does the student with
ASD (specifically with Asperger Syndrome) exist and can
be included within a structure of constructivist learning?

9. Chapter 1
Introduction

10. Chapter 1
 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (PL 89-10).
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s "War on Poverty" (Malloy
2004). Pg11
 Specialists, school leaders, and policy makers discussion
concerning educating children on Autism Spectrum. Pg12
 Curt Dudley-Marling (2004) “The Social Construction of
Learning Disabilities” Pg14
 Knuth & Cunningham’s (1993) Constructivists Learning
Principles. Pg16
 Ryan (2007) Constructivist Learning Practice Constructs of the
Individual Learner. Pg15

11. Special Ed Law
 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) (PL 89-
10) (Bush)-No Child Left Behind, (Obama)–Raise to the Top
 Education of All Handicapped Children Act (1975)
 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 1990;
2004)
 IDEA entitles the right to a Free Appropriate Public
Education (FAPE) within the Least Restrictive Environment
(LRE).
 As the rate of autism steadily increased, a decision was
made to list Autism as a separate category of disability
starting in 1991 (Apling & Jones, 2002)

12. Educational Law Cont’
 Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) mandated that public
schools cannot be segregated based on race.
 Daniel R.R. vs State Board of Education (1989) began basic
inclusion movement; can receive a satisfactory education
in mainstream, must be educated there.

13. IEP cycle process as initiated by a school official or parent.
Concern to
Study Team/
Request
Assessment
Assessment
Plan/Informed
Consent 15 Days
Assessment/
IEP 60 Days
PLOP, Goals, Indv.
Inst. Svs.,
Placement,
Implementation
Annual
IEP

14.  Constructivism: knowledge is constructed when
information comes into contact with existing knowledge
developed by experiences; cognitive psychology and
biology; education: knowledge must be constructed by a
person, not just transmitted, to adapt to the world (Cooper
& Ryan 2007).

15. Constructivist Learning
(Knuth & Cunningham 1993)
• Learner tasks contexts relevant in real world.
• Social context / dialogue and negotiation of meaning for
developing, testing and refining ideas.
• Learners voice and ownership in learning process.
• Learners experience knowledge construction process.
• Learners reflect on their own thinking and decision making
process.

16. Constructivist Learning Cont’ Environment
(Knuth & Cunningham 1993)
 Multiple Perspectives.
 Multiple Modes of Representation (video, computer,
photographs, sound etc.).

17. Individual Learner Constructs
Ryan (2007)
Pedagogy for Productive Change in Educational Practices
• Critical Thinking Skills
• In-depth Social Insight
• Familiarity: Emerging brain research supports bringing the
community into the learning picture.

18. Social Construct of Learning Disability
Curt Dudley-Marling (2004)
 Learning disabilities theory and practice assumption
learning disabilities as pathology resides in heads of
individual students, rather than in realm of academic
institutional constructs (Gergen 1990).

19. Chapter 2
Literature Review

20. Literature Review/ Theory of Change
 School reforms necessary and sustainable: Elementary and
Secondary Education Act/ Public Broadcasting System (PBS).
 School reforms inform research pedagogical practice, policy and
implementation.
 Reforms informed by cognitive process, guide systems for social-
cognitive advances.
 Educational system constructivist practices redefine/ minimize/
eliminate learning disability social construct.
 Cognitive variance guide special education services AND general
education institution for restorative social justice / equitable society.

22. CSR Student Level Research
 Cooper and Jordan (2003) - Afr Amer male teachers with
CSR necessary unique needs of students.
 Hamann, Zuliani, and Hudak (2001) CSR failed specific
accommodations for ELL students.
 Koh and Robertson (2003) teacher perspectives three CSR
fast-paced /lack modifications presented more challenges
SPED students.

23. Knowledge Construction
Banks (1988)
 Personal/Cultural - Experiences
 Popular - Media
 Mainstream/Academic – Western-centric Theories
 School – Text/Teacher Facts
 Transformative Academic – Challenges/Paradigm Shift

24. Chapter 3
Research Design and Methodology

25. Research Design
 Multiple case-study research design: qualitative methods
grounded in ethnographic tradition of anthropology
(Patton, 2002).
 Design and methods appropriate for exploring questions
pertaining to people and phenomena situated within
AsIP/Ethos program.

26. Student Participants
DSM-IV diagnostic criteria (American Psychological
Association, 2000) diagnosed mild form ASD corresponding
to HFA or AS qualify participation in AsIP.
 8 male students/ age range of 18-22 years
2 Afr Amer, 2 Caucasian, 2 Mex Amer, 1 Mex
Amer/Cuacasian, 1 Asian, 1 Asian/Caucasian
 2 female students/ age range of 19-21 years
1 Afr Amer, 1 Native Afr

29. Data Collection Procedure
 Interviews: 30 minutes/ possible future interviews for
continued data collection.
 Naturalistic observation: field notes/ reflection logs/
teacher comments/ parent perspectives.
 Artifacts: student records, academic work, and artwork.

30. Data Analysis
 Inductive analytic approach examine qualitative data. Data
were examined for meaningful and symbolic content
through inquiry driven/ exploratory process using constant
comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).
 Constant comparison method involves iterative process of
reviewing/ sorting/ assembling/ coding multiple sources of
data to generate detailed narratives/ emergent themes/
hypotheses/ theory “grounded” in data.

33. Triangulation of Data
 Two independent reviewers asked read interview data no
knowledge of others findings. Specific and intentional
measures taken prevent cross contamination of research
findings.
 Next, first two reviewers shown findings of second two
reviewers and asked identify common themes.
 Second two reviewers then asked confirm common themes
identified by first two reviewers.
Conclusion of each successive stage produced matrix
evidence for occurrence of common themes by researcher
and each reviewer.

34. Chapter 4
Staff and Student Narratives

35. Staff/Student Synergy
 Hanushek and Rifkin (2006) researched relationship
between teacher characteristics and student achievement,
supply of teachers different characteristics, role of
aggregate salaries, and direct estimates of value-added of
teachers.
 Dissertation asserts Hanuseck and Rifkin (2006)
researched relationship between teacher (or program) and
student achievement IS correlate.

36. Advocate
Awareness of Isolation
Communication
Confidence
Diffrence Awareness
Past Anger
Personalized Plans
Self Awareness
Socio-Emotional Support
Support
Trust
INTERVENTION
SPECIALISTS
INTERVIEW DATA
THEMES

37. Self-Awareness/Introspection
Anger/ Depression
Transformation
Isolation
Connectedness/Lack Of
Support/Family Concerns
Communication
STUDENT
INTERVIEW
DATA
THEMES

38. Chapter 5
Emergent Themes

39. Conceptual Domains
Three Themes Emerged in Two Overarching Domains:
Social Constructs of Learning and Language
 Self-Perception (how students constructed identities).
 Connectedness (with members of AsIP and others).
Radical Individualism as Community Kaleidoscope
 Transformative Shifts in Awareness (regarding how
students view of themselves and learning experience
altered engagement in school and life).

41. Conceptual Domain 1: Social Constructs
of Learning and Language
 One cannot be learning disabled on one’s own. It takes a
complex system of interactions performed in just the right
way, at the right time; on the stage we call school to make
a learning disability (Dudley-Marling 2004).

42. Emergent Theme 1: Self Perception
 Student perspective (learning disabled setting) and
interactions, construct identity and impact learning.
 Early school experience agent for depression and anger,
impeded early outcomes; resulting socially constructed
learning disability.
 Study revealed constructed identity as learning disabled
hindered participants’ early performance outcomes.
 Study revealed paradigm shift in self-perception in
understanding social constructs of learning and
language as transformative.

43. Self-Perception Cont’
 Interview data revealed students’ self-perception as
influenced by isolation and atypical experiences and social
variances.
 Through participation in the AsIP program their self-
perception transformed as a reflection of inner growth and
development and intrapersonal empowerment.

44. Self-Perception / SE: Isolation, Atypical Social Variance
Naomi: Slowly distancing myself from the world.
Roland: I felt alone. I felt angry at everyone around me. I felt sad. I
felt like I didn’t belong anywhere, that no matter where I went, I
didn’t belong.
Q1: How do
students
identify and
see themselves
and others who
share their
experiences in
the social
learning
environment?

45. Emergent Theme 2: Connectedness
 Interpretations drawn from linguistics as a causal
variable of world view (“Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy”) gave students access to connectedness in
community, academics and life-long learning.
 Introspective communication, social/personal identity
development and transformative introspection were critical
for students to access connectedness in community,
academics and life-long learning

46. Self-Perception / SE: Inner-Growth and Development
Dante: 2012 was a very transformative year talking a lot about
myself…Completely changed how I look at the world it wasn’t so much in
anger…now I still have determination but not a lot of anger. A combination of
what the program gave me and my own thinking in general.
Q2: What is
the student’s
interpretation
of the world as
they find
themselves in
AsIP/Ethos?

47. Domain 2: Radical Individualism as
Community Kaleidoscopes
 Autism autonomous experience in world, yet report strong
intention for connectedness. One of our most powerful
cultural myths is the self-sufficient, “rugged individual,”
(Dudley-Marling 2004).
 In-depth understanding of social constructs/ self-
perception and connectedness allowed students to look
outside low performance context, to re-construct their
identity.

48. Pattern in Shifts in Awareness influenced by above:
• Transformation through
communication
• Transformative thinking
• Discourse with others
• Re-constructing healthy
identity
• Internal triumphs
• Personal development for
social community/ school
success

49. Emergent Theme 3: Transformative
Shifts in Awareness
 Transformational learning developed concepts of “meaning
perspectives” (Mezirow, 1981). Meaning perspectives
acquired passively during childhood and youth.
 Operate as perceptual filters that determine how individual
organizes and interpret meaning of life's experiences
(“Mezirow and Transformative Learning”).

50. INFORMATIVE LEARNING
TRANSFORMATIVE
LEARNING
4.5
2.5 99.9
Knowledge
Know
Don’t Know
Meaning-Perspective
Mezirow (1981) developed
the concepts of meaning
perspectives, as filters that
determine how an
individual will organize and
interpret experiences, more
far-reaching change in the
learner than other kinds of
learning.

51. Dante: I didn’t know it was depression but now I know
…my junior year in the program helped me get it through
introspection… The program I have mixed feelings... It’s
good but it’s also like you have really bad tasting medicine
but it really helps you in the long run… I don’t think I would
be able to come to an understanding of myself without the
program really… Without this understanding I might have
been a completely different person…and I might not even
be here… I mean physically speaking.

52. Val: The teachers of ASIP, I mean instead of '' this is how you should
think and feel'' it was more like '' how do you honestly feel right
now? Who are you at your very core?''
Meaning
Perspectives:
organize and
interpret
experiences,
more far-
reaching
change in
learner than
other kinds of
learning.

53. “Transformative Research Design”
Considers individuals who experience discrimination and
oppression, including but not limited to race/ethnicity,
disability, immigrant status, political conflicts, sexual
orientation, poverty, gender and age (Mertens, 2010).
 Underlying assumptions that rely on ethical stances of
inclusion and challenge oppressive social structures.
 An entry process into the community that is designed to
build trust and make goals and strategies transparent.
 Dissemination of findings in ways that encourage use of the
results to enhance social justice and human rights.

54. Chapter 6
Conclusions

55. Recommendations and Policy Implications
 Self-Perception
 Connectedness
 Transformation

56. Self-Perception: Progressive Community Influences
 Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) and NoVo Foundation – SEL Standards Institute.
 District was one five districts across US selected
Collaborating Districts Initiative (“Thriving Students:
Home”).
 Initiative large districts high-quality, evidence-based
programming social/ emotional learning Pre-K - 12th grade
– dissertation contribution as SPED/ASD.

57. Connectedness: Limitations of Study
 Emphasis on importance of teacher role model
demonstrate willingness to learn and change (Cranton
1994).
 Transformational learning environment characterized by
trust and care, to facilitate sensitive relationships among
participants. Teacher role students connect rational and
affective aspects of experience in process of critical
reflection (Taylor, 1998).

58. Transformation: Reform Sustainability
Corporation for Public Broadcasting enacted as the bill (S. 1160)
in Public Law 90 129 (81 Stat 365) “War on Poverty".
“So I think we must consider new ways to build a great network
for knowledge, not just a broadcast system…
but one that employs every means of sending and storing
information that the individual can use…
So today we rededicate a part of the airwaves which belong to
all the people…
and we dedicate them for the enlightenment of all the people…”
President Lyndon B. Johnson (1967)

59. 1967 1993 1994 19991954 2003
KQED
Educational TV
KQED School Services
Dept Learning Link
network educators
interact online.
CELL changes to
KQED Education
Network (Ednet).
US Congress declares
Public Broadcasting Act
CELL’S (Center
for Education /
Lifelong Learning)
Web KQED third
media platform.
Cont’ Recommendations and Policy Implications

60. Counter Story Telling
Jules: Well my idea of the
world is hummm, well its
always the popular people that
run the world, but slowly the
more intellectuals, more
computer literate people are
taking over. Well my world per
sey would be where
computers have more
influence … years and years of
being forced to look up to
people cause they were the
popular ones until I got into
the computer world where the
little people, the rejects run
everything.

62. "There is no such thing as a neutral education
process. Education either functions as an
instrument which is used to facilitate the
integration of generations into the logic of the
present system and bring about conformity to
it, or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom’, the
means by which men and women deal critically
with reality and discover how to participate in
the transformation of their world.”
—Richard Shaull, drawing on Paulo Freire