Getting Started: Why the change?

I am sure many of you are wondering why I changed my project. In the beginning of this class I went back and fourth on my project idea.  I was currently implementing the Reading Recovery Program at my school so I thought it would be easier to just do my project on that. But I also have struggled with OCD my whole life and thought I would like to do my project on this. So I was torn, do I do a project that I have almost everything complete for (Reading Recovery) or do I follow my heart and do something that is very important to me that would be a little more work on my end. Well, bottom line is although I am implementing the Reading Recovery Program, my heart is not into completing a project on that, which made it very hard to continue to do it as my project. My heart, on the other hand, is on raising awareness on childhood OCD, so I switched it. I am very excited to begin this new project and bring you into the world of OCD. So with that said please see below for my reason for action, my action question, my project method, and data collection method.

Reason for my action Research project: I have chose to do this project to raise awareness about childhood OCD and show the public what childhood OCD looks like. While unmasking this disease I would like to share my personal story about OCD and show you how I dealt with this disease as a young child. Lastly, I would like to survey teachers to see if 1) they know what OCD looks likes in children 2) if they know the symptoms and signs of OCD 3) provide them with some information and tips about recognizing OCD in children and dealing with it in their classrooms.

This project is  very important issue to me because I think my childhood education could have been a lot better if my teachers where able to notice and recognize my disease and help me through it oppose to just labeling me as special ed and sending me on my way.

Action Question: what is childhood OCD and how can we as educators recognize children struggling with OCD in our classrooms?

Project method/data collection: The main goal of this project is to raise awareness in the classroom of childhood OCD. First I would like to send out a pre-survey with brief questions about their (the teachers at my school) knowledge of childhood OCD, whether they can tell the difference between a child with OCD and ADD, and whether or not they have had any first hand experience with OCD. Once I receive all the surveys back I will collect all the data and put it into a graph to show the results. Based on the results of the survey I will put together a packet or hold a Professional Development training on Childhood OCD to teach teachers what childhood OCD is, what it looks like, and how to deal with it in your classroom. Once the packet goes out or I hold the PD I will then send out a post survey with brief questions to see if I raised any type of awareness about OCD.