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examine the text of an interview, or even a passage from a novel. We needed to identify themes
and sub-themes in the piece, and then code each of the phrases as to which theme or sub-theme
they represent. From this, we were able to identify how often a theme came up in the passage
and have organized data upon which to reflect and perhaps generate a theory. I was fortunate to
have access to an interview of Brock, a young man with autism, where he reflected upon his
experiences in school. This was particularly interesting to me because I knew Brock and I had
worked at one of the schools he spoke about. Furthermore, my own daughter had attended the
same school and, as person with autism, had been required to participate in the same programs
that Brock had. I have to admit that I had a number of concerns about how this school was
servicing its students with autism, and I knew that I had my own biases. For this reason, it was
valuable to examine the interview from an objective perspective, which I was better able to do
what degree (or frequency or percentage)? The Jr. School in question represented 10% of the
themes that Brock spoke about, and they were generally negative: hostile, hiding, self-
preservation, tribalism were some that were mentioned. PSI class also represented 10 % of the
themes. Hate, meaningless, angry, feeling stupid, segregated, more autistic, ineffective, no
choice, and designation first were themes associated with PSI. I felt that my concerns were born
out by Brock's experiences. It was useful to keep in mind, however, that PSI and Jr. School were
not the most frequent themes mentioned. Top of the list was autism diagnosis at 23%, followed
got much more out of it than that. I was able to research a subject that was important to me and
that I had concerns about. I could imagine conducting further interviews with other students
who, like Brock, had attended the Jr. School and participated in PSI and doing a thesis or project
along the lines of the one I proposed for my education 610 class where I would analyze the
experiences of students and staff members in relation to how supports for students with autism
were provided at the Jr. School and explored other models providing those supports. I also found
this experience valuable because it reminded me of how difficult school can be for students on
the margins. It was a unique opportunity to hear about what it was like for Brock to go to school
after his graduation and to be able listen to his experience and I also gained an appreciation for
how qualitative approaches like narrative analysis can give voice to marginalized individuals.