VIDBE-Q Volume 65 Issue 2
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(i.e., GoPros) that could easily be sent to programs across the country, a larger
sample size from four states was collected that was not dependent on direct
researcher observation. The 15 teacher-student dyads were from four states (New
York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Utah) with three distinct teacher certification
policies. This allowed for group design research methods to be used, which is
novel in the field of DB. Data were collected through behavioral coding of
videotaped language samples from classrooms, teacher surveys and
Communication Matrix (Rowland, 2011) assessments. Similar observational data
collection methods were used by Rowland (1990) and shifted the focus from only
looking at students' communication to examining how teachers' communication
behavior models, supports and/ or expands the communication of students.
Additionally, the guiding frameworks of the research design and questions were
the Tri-Focus Framework for communication interventions for pre-symbolic
communicators with multiple disabilities (Bruce & Bashinski, 2017; Siegel-Causey
& Bashinski, 1997) and van Dijk's child-guided approach to assessing learners
with deafblindness (Nelson, Van Dijk, McDonnell, & Thompson, 2002).
The overarching research question was whether there were differences in the
rate of verbal, visual and tactile communication forms used by adults in classrooms
with learners with DB. We then looked at teacher decision making by comparing
rates of teachers who matched their students' expected receptive communication
