Behavior Reduction Exercise

NOTE: Your final exam will consist of 100 questions selected from the following, as well as selected questions from in-class tests on Food Addiction and on The Joyful Mind; correct answers to those tests have already been posted to the doc sharing portion of the Ecompanion Website. You can use the answers to check the answers you gave on your chapter study tests. Your final exam is on Wednesday, September 12, 2012; You will have from 8:15AM to 9:45AM to complete the final exam. There are no make up dates for the final exam. From Chapter 1: 1. According to Shavelson (2001), author of Hooked, which three words define harm reduction? A. any positive change B. recovery from pain C. a

Thank you for your considering my application to the Applied Behavior analysis program. For all of my life I have known that I was going to help people. It could be said that it is in my DNA. I just never suspected what the capacity would be. On December 15thI graduated from Albright college, I began working at Melmark on December 16th. My first thought, on that first day was “Oh no, I can’t do this, I need to quit” That was over two years ago, and I have gone to work every day, with a smile on my face. While working at my first position, out of college, I discovered my passion. My passion, I find, is working with children and adults with autism and with people who suffer from addiction. Watching the smiles on their faces, the determination when they work to complete a goal, and just the progress makes every hardship worth it, I love it. Each day, in my position as an ABA, I run behavior support plans, IEPs, teaching plans and other protocols, and each day I truly wish that I could have contributed to these plans, protocols, and IEPs. I ponder the recommendations that I could come up with, I wonder that if I had been able to participate in these conversations to create these plans could I have brought something else to the table, a different viewpoint. Affecting the way that the plans are written and in turn ran, I feel that I could make a big difference in the lives of the children and their families also. Every two weeks each child’s team meets to discuss his or her

*Since Week 1 was unsuccessful in going to sleep around that specific goal time I changed my project by pushing my sleep goals back 30 minutes for the remaining 4 weeks.

Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) is the leading scientific method that helps patients with Autism to overcome their condition. In order to improve their condition, ABA specialists focus on a system of reward, which encourages positive actions like speech, social activity and life skill improvements. This works mostly with children as they are more likely to absorb and accept new challenges; this is commonly referred to as "positive reinforcement" in the literature and has become one of the leading directions for treatment. ABA therapy was devised and implemented by Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas at UCLA in 1987. Since then, ABA therapy has become a leading branch of psychology - behaviorism.

4. Why it is important to you to study this discipline in a school that emphasizes cultural awareness, competence, and understanding of diversity (see our Commitment to Diversity Statement).

A student named Jamie refuses to do her work. She is constantly talking and interrupting the other students and makes no effort to participate in class. The teacher has to constantly reprimand the student and it is causing less learning due to the interruptions within the classroom. She seems somewhat clear of the rules and procedures in the classroom, but is not motivated to follow them.

Are you the type of person who wants to be able to go to work everyday doing something you love, helping others who need it, and getting a smile on your face just by the smallest of things that someone does? That is the type of person I am, which is why I chose the career path of a Behavior Specialist. A Behavior Specialist is someone who works with a person who may have a disability, and they study and work with them to make things as easy as possible for their daily life. They focus on the perception of life, however sometimes hesitate to present the strong conclusions how behaviors cause certain emotion (Thompson). A Behavior Specialist is also known as a Social Psychologist, because they study how a person’s mental life and behavior are shaped by interactions with other people (“Pardon Our Interruption”). The four main behaviors that Behavior Specialists look for when studying the actions of a person are, “Self-awareness, emotion, motivation, and feelings” (“Modeling the Early Human Mind”). Although I believe being a Behavior Specialist is a dream job, there are always issues that go along with any job, in this case emotions play a role in the occupation working with people who need extra help.

I took this opportunity to understand my unhealthy habits and transform my behavior. In my Wellness Recovery Action Plan, the information brought light to the obstacles and how to overcome issues. After filling out the Schedule of Recent Experience (Wieitan et al., 2009) and Tactics for Coping with Stress (Weitian et al., 2009), it was a shock how much I put my body through. A finalized copy of my results can be observed in Appendix A, and the results of the Schedule of Recent Experience (Weitian et al., 2009) can be viewed in Appendix B. In the outcome, I conducted coping mechanisms such as therapy, exercise, and nutrition. Nutrition has been a challenge as a waitress and full-time student. I am always around food at work that led to overeating.

The addiction I chose to write about this week is a food addiction/compulsive eating. A food addiction is obsessive-compulsive relationship people have with food. Eating food is both vital and important in our everyday lives to give our bodies the nutrients, vitamins and calories that it needs. “Compulsive overeating, also referred to as food addiction, is characterized by an obsessive-compulsive relationship to food” (Karim, 2012, p. 7, para. 2). When people overeat, they engage in episodes of uncontrolled eating and will often find themselves consuming so much food just to feel comfortably full. Compulsive overeaters usually eat even if they are not hungry. People who have a food addiction have excessive thoughts about food that consumes

Likewise, paragraph 10 of Counts L and LIV alleges “[t]his information was then what any treating physician would rely upon in formulating his opinions concerning the treatment of his residents.” Paragraph 15 of Counts L and LIV alleges that, “the ultimate decision regarding behavior management options for [Leitzen] were by made by the ‘Behavioral Management/Resident Rights Committee.’” Paragraph 23 of Counts L and LIV alleges that Frances House failed to explore other options for Leitzen’s management. These allegations are unsupported conclusions that warrant the striking of the same.

It was interesting how the addicts described their feelings of cravings to their respective substances. They described the

Today schools are faced with an overwhelming amount of behavior problems as a result they have incorporated programs to help create a positive culture within each school system. Several behavior management programs have been implemented in schools all over the United States therefore the school environment can run more smoothly. Here are some approaches that aid in creating a positive and safe environment in schools.

During this period, I continued to refrain from consuming added (unnatural) sugars. I have decided to maintain this exercise through Lent because, as I said during the baseline period, my lifestyle had become unhealthy as it relates to the consumption of sugar. I am hoping that by continuing the exercise that it may become a lifestyle change and that I can maintain the habit of not drink sugary beverages and not consuming exorbitant amounts of sugar. The two weeks during the follow-up period were exceptionally easier than the two weeks in the reduction period. The cravings were less frequent, I thought about it less, and I was more able to focus the positive benefits of what I was doing. However, there were two times that I did have a strong craving; they were more intense than any of the cravings in the reduction period. My mood was much more level than it was in the reduction period and I was less irritable.

It’s easy to see why addictions are difficult to recover from and why it’s considered a lifelong practice, when you experience it firsthand. The process of abstaining was a long and arduous one. I learned that it takes commitment, courage, and the desire to change. In order to create change, you have to create balance in all areas of your life, because this issue not only affects the addict, but the people around him or her as well. I learned that recovery is a lifelong process full of good days and bad days, but that it can be attainable if you don’t give up. For me, choosing to refrain from sugar prompted me to commit to permanently changing the way I look at sugar and the way I use sugar. When I don’t consume sugar, I feel better, my moods and emotions are stable and don’t feel sluggish or tired. The feeling that I get from not eating sugar makes me want to continue with controlling the amount of sugar in my

Before I had started this project my initial reaction to having to give up soda was a little jumbled. I felt that this would be easy for me to do, but yet difficult. The reason being was that I knew this process itself would be a challenging one for me, but at the same time it would allow me to better myself. I knew the first couple of days would be a challenge that I would have to push through. This was one of the first signs of me realizing what someone who is going through the abstinence process experiences.