Facilitation of Intervention Strategies of Utah State University

FACILITATION OF INTERVENTION STRATEGIES OF UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY'S HUMAN LEARNING CLINIC: INCORPORATION OF VISUAL LEARNING TECHNIQUES by Jennifer L.. Running head: FACILITATION OF INTERV

Utah State University

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FACILITATION OF INTERVENTION STRATEGIES OF UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY'S HUMAN LEARNING CLINIC: INCORPORATION OF VISUAL LEARNING TECHNIQUES

by

Jennifer L Roskelley

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

of DEPARTMENT HONORS

m Psychology

UT AH STATE UNIVERSITY

Logan, UT

1996

Running head: FACILITATION OF INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

Facilitation oflntervention Strategies of Utah State University's Human Learning Clinic:

Incorporation of Visual Learning Techniques

Jennifer L Roskelley Utah State University

stra t

During Wint ran Spring Quarters 1995, I h d th oppottun ty to b com a ·utor for Utah State Uni e sity,s Human Leaming Clinic und e r e directi

bee >me invo ved in t4i endeavor to fulfill at, Ho n o · I n depend t tudy

"senior hon r's expe ien " n doing so, spent Wi ter Q rter prepar n,g the actual tutoring

b ran 'liari · ys lfwith the var' o intervention traregiei ~ to by he clinic and becommg co ortabl , · the · ittati<>n o the · lties i Yo yed l1'l 'llethod Prior to

the beginuing ofSpnng uarter w assigne<im own pe.rsonal lie t: een-year-old

tail throughout the

Overview of the Human Learning Clinic The Human Learning Clinic (HLC) at Utah State University is a branch of the

psychology community clinic The purpose of the clinic is to provide intervention for at-risk students ranging in ages from 6 - 18 years "At-risk students" are defined as those who are

"having difficulty in succeeding academically in the public school, the 'C' or 'D' student who might be sent to a school counselor or school psychologist for inappropriate attention strategies, low motivation, or special tutoring" (VanDusen, 1993) The main belief of the clinic is that at-risk children merely lack the underlying cognitive abilities and motivation to succeed Therefore,

to ensure that adequate individualized learning programs are designed for each client, students entering the program are required to undergo extensive diagnostic testing The gamut of tests includes: intelligence test, school achievement tests, ability tests, tests of learning style, and other psychologically appropriate assessments

Upon completion of the initial testing phase, each client's strengths and weaknesses are identified, and a program is created to build upon strengths and lessen the impact of weaknesses Thus, the clinic provides alternative strategies in thinking, problem solving and studying as well

as assisting clients in recognizing their own personal learning styles and potential for success

Strategies that appear to be benefitting the client will be discussed during regular

meetings with the student's school teachers so that the teacher can reinforce these strategies in the classroom The teacher, as well, may have the opportunity to provide test scores, curricula, etc., to correlate what is being taught in the clinic and what is expected of the student in the classroom In addition, parents will be called in every few weeks during the program to discuss their child's progression and how this might be facilitated by implementing specific strategies in the home

My Role as a Tutor Once the program has been tailored to the needs of the individual student, they will begin the process of "learning how to learn" The tutor becomes solely responsible for providing the skills training needed by their client Thus, the tutor will meet with the client once a week for 90 minute sessions These sessions will involve one-on-one direct instruction in teaching/learning approaches and strategies that the student can use in paying attention, thinking critically,

studying, problem solving, and relating to their teachers, peers, and families The tutor, or

"intervention specialist", must be trained to incorporate computer programs, role playing

activities, paper and pencil activities, and demonstrate many other techniques that instruct the client how to utilize these learning strategies Being aware, and providing adequate feedback and praise as the client attempts to use the newly learned methods, is also a vital responsibility of the clinic tutor

In addition to the weekly intervention sessions, a supplemental session will be held

biweekly during the last 30 minutes of the client's regular clinic meeting time During this

session, the client will meet _with the program counselo_r, a trained professional psychologist, to discuss improving self-esteem and coping strategies for dealing with school-related issues It is the responsibility of each clinic tutor to report specific student needs to the counselor to assist in structuring the counseling activities After each counseling session, the program counselor will place notes taken during the session in the client file for the intervention specialist to peruse and use during the weekly one-on-one sessions

To summarize the responsibilities and expectations of a Human Leaming Clinic Tutor, a

succinct, comprehensive list of regulations has been created Taken from the Human Learning

C linic Tutor Guide (VanDusen, 1993), the guidelines are as follows:

1 Complete all employment or course credit forms

2 Time commitment of 3-6 hours per week depending on the number of

clients the tutor is working with

3 Attendance and participation at weekly tutor meetings

4 Design, with the assistance of the Director, an appropriate learning strategy

intervention plan in accordance with testing results

5 Review and practice with the specific treatment strategies provided at weekly

meetings

6 Be prompt/prepared for individual intervention sessions

7 Maintain detailed weekly intervention logs that record activities, student attitudes,

successes and failures in the sessions

8 Be prepared to discuss individual case session at the weekly meetings

9 Assist in developing progress reports on the clients for parent and teacher

meetings

10 Assist in final testing and final report preparation

Thus, as an intervention specialist in the HLC, much is required Because tutors are evaluated according to their proficiency in meeting the outlined requirements, constant

preparation of intervention activities/client intervention logs as well as a personal analysis of their competencies as a tutor are expected

Brief Description of my Client and his Needs The client that I was assigned to work with was a fourteen-year-old male in the ninth grade (I will refer to him in this paper as "Dave") Diagnostic test results identified that his main academic problem involved verbal activities Specific examples of this include

understanding/reasoning, vocabulary, and spelling tasks These areas of learning were Dave's most evident weaknesses, and they therefore became the primary focus of the academic portion

of the intervention

Besides academic difficulties, Dave exhibited some severe behavioral problems The most prominent maladaptive behavior in his personality was his inability to control his anger and frustration Dave was a very impulsive adolescent and would often allow his negative emotions

to overpower him He frequently became angry at his teachers while at school, and rather than pushing his anger aside, he would "blow up", and would often leave the classroom, or even more common, leave the middle school campus Gradually, this behavior had earned him a reputation among his teachers at school, and because he had acquired a habit of sluffing school, Dave also earned a relationship with a probation officer and all the responsibilities of being "on probation" (e.g., court hearings, community service, etc.)

Although Dave had some very unattractive behavioral problems, he was a unique

indiyidual with many strengths One example was Dave's ability to work well with his hands on assembly-type projects Often, he would assist his stepfather in the rebuilding of vehicle motors and other similar projects These remarkable "hands-on" capabilities were a result of Dave's strong capacity for visual learning Unfortunately, however, educators rarely incorporate

significant amounts of visual learning techniques into their teaching, and children who are more

visually, rather than auditorily oriented, tend to struggle in the classroom

After studying Dave's test results and the program director's intervention reports and after interacting with him in our first tutoring session, I noticed specific attitudes which seemed

to dominate his thinking and in turn, effect his behavior Because he had verbal academic

difficulties, he struggled to understand/comprehend what was occurring in each of his classes Being prone to a visual learning style that is not as frequently utilized in the classroom, Dave would become frustrated and might act out or refuse to pay attention This lack of desire to become involved while in the classroom would be noticed by his teachers, who in turn, may reprimand him More often than not, Dave would react inappropriately to this criticism and would further himself from the learning environment both mentally and physically As a result, his aversion to school/learning would intensify This nasty cycle of events would continue to occur and recur Eventually, Dave developed very negative attitudes about school, his teachers, and learning in general He was attending school only in an attempt to ease his probation

sentence, not to gain an education

Once I began to identify specific areas of struggle occurring in Dave's life, I began to develop a better sense of how to direct the intervention process I discussed possible intervention techniques with the program director, and together we concluded that it would be wise to begin teaching strategies on power thinking/attitude change We believed that we could not attempt to assist Dave in developing strategies to assist him with verbal tasks until we had first developed techniques that would help to reduce his anger and impulsivity This anger reduction, we felt, could only be accomplished by focusing on the production of an attitude change

Thus, the course of my intervention with Dave began with an attempt to teach power

thinking strategies Once I felt that these strategies and their importance were understood, I shifted the focus of intervention to stress/anxiety reduction activities Finally, after concentrating

so specifically on these behavior modification techniques, I centered our last few sessions around developing verbal skills In an attempt to make our tutoring sessions more interesting than

lessons in school, I realized that I would need to incorporate visual learning/teaching techniques into each of these focus areas Therefore, as I was preparing the planned intervention for each session, I would search for and create methods of tutoring that would keep Dave's attention and hopefully kindle a desire to learn the strategies I presented

Intervention Power Thinking/ Attitude Change

To begin my intervention with Dave, I chose to utilize the clinic's "Power Thinking" intervention plan This plan involved a detailed outline of specific activities to follow to teach the client the various methods of developing "power thinking" and bringing about attitude

change The key objectives of the power thinking intervention activities were to teach the clients

to identify and describe how their attitudes influence their behaviors and to recognize specific situations in which they would benefit from applying the process of power thinking I felt that

by helping Dave to realize that perhaps his negative attitudes were the root of his struggles, we could begin to develop alternative methods of handling difficult situations that would create more desirable long term effects

After reading through the prescribed activities, I chose a few to employ directly as they were written, I chose to omit some that I felt were inappropriate for my client, and I chose to alter some others slightly to make them more applicable and interesting By preparing each activity

visually rather than auditorily, I created a plan of power thinking intervention specific to the needs and learning style of my client

I began this session by introducing the word "attitudes", discussing with Dave its

meaning, and asking him to identify attitudes that help and attitudes that hurt I gave him a personal example from my life about poor attitudes I once had about being honest with my

mother I continued to explain that this was an attitude that hurt me as my lies would

consistently get me into trouble I then explained what occurred when I transformed my attitude

of dishonesty into an attitude of honesty, and how this was an attitude that helped as I was able to develop a trusting relationship with my mother

Following my example, I asked Dave to identify attitudes in his life that hurt and helped

He readily identified his poor attitude towards school, and how this "got him into trouble"

Together we discussed the effects of how a change in his attitude could influence his life and his behavior at school At this point, I introduced the "Power Thinking Model" as described in the intervention plan Rather than simply telling him what each step was, I actually made a visual representation of each of the four levels of the power thinking process: "attitude", "affirmation",

"every time/every day", and "emotion" I represented power thinking by drawing a large arm and wrote the words "Power Thinking" in the huge bicep I thought that association of "power" may help Dave to remember the steps of attitude change and that he has the power to use them

Furthermore, I described each of these processes by using the example of Karl Malone's power thinking as he plays basketball First of all, I described that Karl Malone has the

"attitude" that he wants to win, and he shows this attitude by playing hard during each game

Next, I explained that an "affirmation" is a positive statement about oneself, and that Karl