Early Intervention Programs for Autism Discussion Paper

It is expected that your originality score will be 15% or under.

Completion of this assessment task will enable you to meet Learning Outcomes 3, 4 and 8

Building directly on Assignment 2, this next assessment task requires you to now critically appraise and synthesise the research knowledge gained from the articles included in AT2, to draw relevant conclusions. These conclusions must both (1) respond to the research question and (2) highlight gaps in knowledge and one area for further research; you will further explore the latter in AT4 – research proposal.

In this assignment, you need to address:

• The social work topic (15%): building on AT2, provide a definition, description and discussion of the topic (group/issue/intervention) you seek to research, including:

• • Relevant context: the relevance to social work, and, depending on your topic, this may include background/historical information; statistical data; ways of thinking about or theorising this topic; current concerns/debates (10%), and
  • A reflective statement on your position as the researcher with regard to this topic, and how you will bring self-awareness to the research process, and manage any bias, referring to relevant learning materials from the unit (5%)
  • Re-state your research question in PICO or PEO/PS format (as appropriate)

• Critical appraisal of FOUR research articles (50%):
  • Critically appraise and synthesise the findings presented in the chosen research articles

• Drawing conclusions (20%)
  • Present a clearly worded synthesis of the study findings, drawing conclusions which address the research question posed (10%)
    • Including a brief plain language statement that you could use if you needed to communicate the key points in these findings to a service user
  • Identify one gap in knowledge that you have uncovered during your appraisal, that needs further research, giving a clear rationale for this focus (10%)
    • Pose this as a new question research, including definitions of all key terms
    • Comment on: the perceived merit of this research question with regard to social work knowledge and practice; and feasibility – specifically how this research could be answered by a student or practitioner-researcher

Communicating your ideas (15%):

• A reflection which demonstrates your understanding of the feedback provided on AT2, and how and why you have incorporated that into this assignment (10%)
  • Give a brief summary of the feedback you have received on AT2, to show your understanding of the core issues raised
  • Describe how you have incorporated this feedback into AT3; give examples to illustrate
  • Explain what you have learned from the feedback
• Attention to the presentation of the paper: ensuring correct Harvard referencing; the use of appropriate academic language; as well as correct spelling, grammar and punctuation (5%).

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