Rationale for Narrative Analysis of Brock – Education 610

The purpose of this assignment was to do a narrative analysis. This required us to

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

through a narrative analysis. Were my impressions supported by Brock's experiences, and to

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

by video games at 15%. A favourite teacher represented 8% of the themes.

 The purpose of this project was to learn the skill of conducting a narrative analysis, but I

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.