Predictability-Key Ingredient in Any Recipe and Intervention
CIDDL Cizzles with Chef Katie Zimmerman
Author: Samantha Goldman
Want a quick, reliable, trusty, and easy treat? How about a resource website that provides quick, reliable, and trusty information and materials to use in your evidence-based practices? Well, you’re in luck because in today’s CIDDL Cizzle Ctatium we have Dr. Katie Zimmerman, an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas, who will be demonstrating both!
Dr. Zimmerman will be preparing Sandy’s Ham Biscuits, which is traditionally made in her family using leftovers and is perfect for when guests show up and you need to feed them. The recipe is quick and easy, using only a handful of ingredients, and she is able to cook it while she teaches us about an amazing educational website that is just as quick and easy to use.
The Evidence Based Instructional Practices (EBIP) for Young Children with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities is one of Dr. Zimmerman’s go to websites, just like Sandy’s Ham Biscuits are one of her go to recipes. This website was created by Dr. Jennifer Ledford, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Though the website explicitly mentions young children, the resources available are able to be implemented across the age span. Thus, it can serve as an effective tool for higher education faculty to utilize with pre-service teachers and related service providers.
Dr. Zimmerman tours the website for the Cizzle, pointing out various accessibility features available to users. Why does she love this site? Each instructional practice on the website is evidence-based, and it includes multiple representations of that practice, which aligns with the Universal Design for Learning framework. Dr. Zimmerman scrolls through the site, pointing out that each intervention has accompanying video models, both in practice with children and in a more robotic example using adults, pictures of the set-up, a bulleted list of the steps, as well as flow diagrams to use for implementation. An example included on the site is Preference Assessments and Progressive Time Delay. Dr. Zimemrman points out that in addition to showing how to move intervention materials, collect data, and analyze data, the page also includes data sheets for pre-service teachers to use and take into the classrooms with them in the future.
Dr. Zimmerman further ties her mom’s recipe in with this site by explaining that just like the recipe, the format is predictable, easy to navigate, and able to be generalized to other forms of learning, or types of meat, as she showed today. Dr. Zimmerman finished her demo of the site with just enough time to show viewers one last component before her biscuits were cooled and ready to eat. She recommended the Single Case Analysis and Review Framework (SCARF) as a tool for researchers and practitioners to assess the quality and outcomes of single case design studies.
Be sure to watch Dr. Zimmerman’s full Cizzle to learn more about the EBIP website and its many functions. The competition isn’t over yet! After you finish watching, you are invited to be a judge of the Cizzle by rating the chef in the areas of connection, preparation, and aesthetics using the CIDDL Cizzle Rating System at the bottom of the page. More CIDDL Cizzles can be found on the CIDDL Events webpage. Check out the CIDDL website for more resources related to the innovative uses of technology in special education and related services personnel preparation programs.