Blog #6

Sample Vineland scoring

So far, most of my iQuest work has been with my mentor Jeanine, in her office or in a classroom. With Jeanine, I have gained such a large amount of knowledge already and continue to grow. I've learned how to safely restrain children when they're in danger of harming themselves or others, gained first-hand experience in classrooms helping teachers with games and lessons, and recently I learned how to analyze and score children based on the Vineland, a widely known psychology book. I've been recently working with my mentor, Jeanine, on trying to go visit a home program. Classrooms and very structured and controlled by the teachers, while home programs are more personal and usually more intense. I recently went to a workshop taught by Mary Ruth Cross on the techniques of play therapy. Having no prior knowledge with the therapy, I left the workshop with so much more information! 

 Both of my mentors have worked with children primarily, which was never something I was interested in. I have never been good with kids, and I usually feel uncomfortable around them.  With a very broad range of behavioral and mood disorders the children I work with have a much harder time expressing themselves and communicating, presenting me with an even bigger challenge of how to connect with them. Going into kindergarten classrooms and assisting the teachers with their activities has helped me learn how to react in such an unpredictable environment, familiarizing me with the world of autism.

Example of Token Economy Board!

 Both fields of therapy I have explored so far have been new to me. Although I don't plan on being a behavior analyst or play therapist, the experience I've gained from meeting professionals in these areas and watching them in their line of work is so valuable. Seeing how much work, at home as well as in the office, goes into helping these kids is very eye-opening. I have spent hours laminating and cutting out token boards for classrooms, and seeing how much teachers use and appreciate them makes all the work worth it. 

Blog #5

In researching famous, influential clinical and counseling psychologists on the web, Paul Elkman stood out among the others. Extremely certified, knowledgeable, and accurate, he is a cofounder of micro-expressions and studying them. Elkman also was professor at UCSF for many years, a local college. His focus is non-verbal behavior, something I've always been intrigued in. Being such a successful and prominent figure in psychology, Paul Elkman quickly captured my interest.Elkman obtained a Ph D in clinical psychology after a one-year internship at UCSF. In 1965, Elkman began researching nonverbal behavior, including hand movements, gestures, and facial expressions. In collaboration with W. Freisen, him and Elkman created the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) in 1978, otherwise known as the only tool that comprehensively measures facial expressions. He started studying depression patients and their facial expressions while lying, revealing micro facial expressions. He turned his findings over to the public after he retired, writing many books and articles. Elkman's childhood is harder to find, but he originally planned on being a psychotherapist yet changed his mind when his mother got a severe mental illness when he was sixteen.

Character Counts

Character Counts, a character education program, presents six important ethical values; Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. Although all six are important ethical values, I view responsibility as being the most vital characteristic  to acquire. Responsible people are constantly labeled as the "fun-ruiners" of the group, reminding others of the consequences and pushing people to take fault for their actions. The phrase "take responsibility" has gained a negative connotation in society, sounding more like a painful task rather than an inborn characteristic. Responsible people are those who constantly plan ahead to stay organized, do their best to maintain self-control in stressful or uncomfortable situations, and those who thoughts always precede their actions. Taking responsibility for your own thoughts, words, and actions is one of the most important skills to master, and one of the hardest. Owning up to one's faults and mistakes is near impossible without a good amount of self-discipline, another component of the responsible person.  

The importance of responsibility is especially evident in the field of psychology. Every practicing therapist must  know their personal responsibility, and its limitations. A therapist is responsible for every piece of advice given and path they direct a patient towards, but they are not responsible for the actions of their client. Some patients will blame a therapist if something is going wrong, trying to evade their own personal responsibility. Giving advice others, deciding which techniques to use with a patient, and exercising self-control in stressful situations all requires a great amount of careful thought and planning. A person lacking responsibility would not be able to balance all these tasks, unable to be an effective psychologist. 

By the end of January ...

By the end of the first semester, January 23, I want to be able to assess emotional disturbed and autistic children. Learning how to use a psychological assessment will come in handy regardless of which field of psychology I decide to pursue. All psychologists must learn how to accurately assess patients and decide how to pursue treatment. Providing a correct assessment is crucial in order to give effective treatment and improve the life of patients. Correctly assessing kids with learning and behavioral difficulties can improve functionality in the classroom. Many autistic children have difficulties verbally communicating, making their behaviors key insights into how their brain works with their disability. Correctly assessing patients also helps attribute whether their behaviors are a reflection of their disability, or a result from it. By the middle of October, I want to be familiar with the assessment tool my mentor uses to assess her patients. By the end of October, my hope is I will be familiar with the assessment tool and start to learn how to apply it in the classroom. By the middle of November, I want to be comfortable with the content in the assessment handbook and know what to look for when assessing patients. I want to recognize behavioral abnormalities and be able to scale patients in the handbook by December 1st. Hopefully, I will be confident in scaling and assessing patients myself when January rolls around. Recognizing and scaling behavioral abnormalities, as well as being familiar with the assessment handbook Jeanine uses, are achievable goals as long as I stay persistent!

Ms. X..?

I’ve been trying to answer the question, “If you could have one superpower, which one would it be?” since I was a kid. I’ve considered being invisible, controlling time, and even being able to make food appear whenever I want… but controlling minds would be the best. Not for evil purposes, more like Charles Xavier in the x-men series.

* 

He was called Dr. X, maybe I could be Ms. X? “Lady Who Controls Minds” was the other superhero name I came up with, and it doesn't really have a nice ring to it. 

Obviously, mind control would be the greatest superpower to have, hands down. I would never have to wonder what others are truly thinking, no one could ever lie to me, and true intentions would always be clear. Senior year and college would be a breeze. I would never have drama with friends, because I wouldn't associate with people whose thoughts and words lacked congruence. If I  could gain insight into my math instructor’s mind during a lesson, decoding the foreign language of AP Statistics would be much more simple. Not to mention I could be the greatest psychologist ever. A psychologist capable of reading minds is a deadly combination, but one who can control minds is unimaginable. I could cure almost any patient, easily turning negative thoughts into positive ones, and help anyone with mental disabilities gain social acceptance. Gaining insight into mentally disabled and diseased minds could provide information to many gray areas of psychology, potentially helping thousands. If only I could really control minds.

The Basics

The start of another school year after an incredible summer is always bittersweet (or just bitter, depending on how you see it). Some see senior year as a time to rest and enjoy being on top of the food chain,  throwing caution and grades into the wind. To me, this last year of high school is all about working towards my future. With a new job, iQuest, a long distance boyfriend, staying on top of my grades, and hanging out with my friends and family, I have a lot to balance.  I expect my senior year to be a lot of hard work, but very rewarding. 

Right now, it's all kind of intimidating. This year is the first I've ever had a job, a totally new, exciting, and tiring experience. It's also the first year I've ever had a long distance relationship, so it will be interesting to see how I balance time spent here and time spent visiting him in Southern California. 

Senior year is full of "first times" and uncharted territory, but that doesn't mean it's not exciting. This year is the first time I will be able to explore my passion -- psychology. I find psychology so interesting, every aspect of it holds my attention. Being in iQuest gives me the opportunity to truly explore psychology as a career, not just learn facts in a classroom. Learning a topic I actually want to learn instead of one I'm required to learn is so much more rewarding.
I can't wait to see what senior year has in store and what my new internship will teach me.
That's all for now!

Nicky :)