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.