Personal Experience: My Journey In The ABA World

Over the 16 years I have been working with ACAT I have developed and maintained excellent relationships with internal and external stakeholders. As the manager of a team of 20 I have developed long-term relationships by leading by example, listening to staff needs and being available to assist whenever possible. I work with senior managers across all sites contributing to achieving Key Performance Indicators. I communicate with clients and their families, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and other allied health professionals. I convey information clearly, concisely and with confidence.

When I joined the Son Rise program as a sophomore, I had no idea what I would gain from it. The Son Rise program creates networks of volunteers that motivate speech and social interactions of autistic children. I was unfamiliar with special needs education but decided to take the plunge anyways and work with an autistic boy named Ainesh. The first few sessions I had with Ainesh were frustrating. Being a very goal-oriented person, I wanted him to talk, play and make eye contact with me. I left disappointed each time when he barely acknowledged my existence. However, I didn’t give up. I spent about four hours with Ainesh each week, and not a minute was wasted. I learned that there was no way I could completely understand how he views the world,

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.

This is why it is important that parents become trained in ABA. However, it is important that parents do not think that one approach will solve any child 's autism difficulties. The idea of using a “cookbook recipe” to fix their child is something that must be thrown out the window and techniques that encourage parents to become educated about the broadness of autism should be used. This includes learning how their child functions and ways to help design a ABA for their child rather than basing it off of statistics (Dillenburger et al.,2004).

Please accept this cover letter and attached résumé in consideration for the position of Instructor Therapist at Quinte Assessment & Treatment Group Inc. I believe that my education, experience, and passion for learning and working in the field of autism intervention make me an excellent candidate for this position.

I have been working with the Coweta County School System since August of 2000. I began as a paraprofessional working with students with Autism through the Emory Autism Program. I enjoyed working with special needs students so much that I entered the TAPP program to obtain my teaching certificate. I began working at East Coweta Middle School in the fall of 2002 and am still currently working there as an interrelated special education teacher. I have taught resource, collaborative, and co-teach classes. I have even had one year where I worked one-on-one with a student that required specialized instruction.

Our first speaker for SW 325 The Helping Professional in Health Settings class was Sharon Boudreaux. Sharon has a Master of Arts in Teaching of special education. She focused on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for teaching children with autism and other forms of developmental setbacks. Sharon is currently the Director of Education Outreach at the Autism Center of North Mississippi (ACNM). The ACNM, which Sharon helped in creating and growing, provides educational and behavioral services to families and schools to help support children with autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, learning difficulties, and challenging behaviors. The ACNM offers a multitude of services. Such services may include parent counseling, skill assessments, ABA therapy, services for schools, and parent and teacher training.

The Human Service area that I am most interested in is Family and Child Services. After I graduate, I will be going to the nursing field so I feel that Family and Child Services is related to nursing. I instantly asked my roommate if she know anyone because she is currently going to school to become a Speech Pathologist and she works with children that have disabilities. I had the opportunity to interview Ariel Rogan, who is the Manager of Autism Behavioral Technicians, at Centria healthcare. She oversees five Autism Behavioral Technicians that conducts applied behavioral analysis therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder. She also interact with the clients from time to time. Children with autism are usually integrated with children that have typically development, which results in a high level of bullying amongst the children with this disability. I believe this organization is special because it help children with disabilities cope and improve with developments.

In ABA there are various stages in which application are taught and applied. For example, there is a transition from researcher to clinician. Such efforts to connect the two groups in an effective manner has been limited when it regards understanding the bridging between the two and applying research to see if such communication has been effective.

My Autism classroom practicum (DSW) provided many opportunities to learn and grow. My commitment, patience, and genuine concern, yielded trust and co-operation from students, resulting in student’s improved outcomes. As my confidence grew, my ability to implement behavioural interventions improved, and I was better able to assist students to work to their fullest potential. Dealing one day with a challenging student, the teacher requested I oversee the other students. I had now the confidence, flexibility, and knowledge to take over this independent role. My ability to be independent, as well as a team player, and other attributes I learned here will translate well to the ABA field where these are essential

Because members of Autism in Motion are low on the autism spectrum, they don’t qualify for state funding; therefore, they are supported through donations and fundraisers. Programs are offered for those who are out of school but not yet employed. It helps them stay active in our community and it allows for them to learn, make friends, and get out of their comfort zone. Services they provide involve a variety of classes which includes cooking, creative expression, and theater. They also host social events and provide them with assisted job hunting. The goal of this program is to help adults with autism learn, make friends, and develop social skills that will help them succeed independently. As of right now, classes are at an affordable price but without the proper funding, they would have to increase the cost of each class, reducing the amount of people who are able to benefit from

I researched autism assistance dogs (AAD), specifically their training, eligible criteria and positive effects on the child. I read websites and books along with watching videos to get secondary information. I contacted an expert in the field - Danielle Mathews, service coordinator of AAD at Guide Dogs SA/NT, to obtain further information to support my findings.

As same as you, one of the topics of this semester that caught my attention was the technique of ABA to improve the behavior in children with autism. I found very useful your comment about knowing what motivates a particular student, and which are his/her interests to focus attention when we are talking about autistic children. I consider this point very interesting because this is the main point when we are using ABA to teach students with autism. Also, I consider this point informative because if we use this behavioral principles with all our students with or without disabilities is a useful tool to handle our students in every setting, especially in schools. Least, I think that as professionals we can help parents with children with autism

The Autism society was founded in 1965 with the help of Bernard Rimland. He has been helping the society grow slowly. It has expanded greatly over the years. Denixa Ruiz has been working as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) for 18 years. With this job she is gaining a background of caring with others. Upon finding out her son having autism she wanted to find out more so she started work at Autism Society. Through the Autism Society she hoped she could help other people struggling with autism, like her son. She started working at Autism Society about three years ago and it has been fulfilling, but it doesn’t come without its hardships. The job is very grueling both physically and emotionally. Seeing her clients in pain was taxing and it made

Overall, I thought that the information provided in this article was informative and it helped me to understand more about ABA. It is shocking to me than many educators are not taught about ABA when it can be so useful to not only teach students with autism but also special education students in general. I am very glad that I have the opportunity to learn about using ABA in the classroom because it will be very beneficial to me in my future career because I want to teach students with learning behavior disorders and moderate-severe disabilities at the elementary