Blog 16- My legacy

IQuest has given me the greatest experience during my senior year. I took my iQuest seriously and stayed consistent to the times I would go in every week, which ensured my progression. All my goals this year were accomplished because I made a commitment to myself and my mentor and wanted to excel in my field. The experience gained from iQuest contributes so much to my future and success in the field of psychology. The best advice I can give to future iQuesters is to stay consistent all year with your internship! What you learn from any mentor is so valuable and important. if you love your internship, knowledge will come easy because of all the fun you're having. Take advantage of all the resources Mrs.Sekara gives you and all the opportunities offered by your internship! There's always room for improvement, so be open to new activities and experiences. I'm so thankful for Mrs. Sekara connecting me with Jeaine Wilkinson, and I'll never forget what I learned over this year!

Blog 15- Final Reflection

I knew I would learn from Jeanine when we first chatted at Bagel Street in the beginning of the year, but I never guessed the type of knowledge and connections I would make with others along the way. My favorite aspect of iQuest by far were the connections I made with other psychologists, therapists, teachers, children and behavior analysts. By meeting and talking to so many people, I gained much insight on the fields of behavior analysis and psychology in general. I also learned a lot from sitting in on meetings and watching how they run and everyone interacts. Many people in this field are friendly and non-judgmental, and I loved it. Although, many conflicts arise between teachers, parents, kids and behavior analysts, and watching how Jeanine handles such confrontations was really helpful as well. 

When I first started iQuest, I was very uncomfortable with children, and this was my biggest hurdle throughout the year. Strange I know, but as an only child I wasn't around younger children much and I was always comfortable keeping to myself. When talking to Jeanine about this once, she told me, "you can't say that! You can't always think about yourself as being bad with kids, then you're going to believe it. You're not bad with kids! You love dogs and animals, so you have to be good with kids too,".

I really took this advice to heart, and I feel I have truly gotten better at communicating and being at-ease around children. Even with my younger cousins, I feel more comfortable talking and playing with them. I wish I would have been more engaged and less shy in the first few months of my iQuest journey, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere.

I spent half the time in home assessments or classrooms or meetings, but the other half of my years was full of office work. I filed, scored countless Vinelands, made binders for the patients, made visual cards and classroom materials, proofread assessments, made graphs for patients progress! Towards the end of the year, I became sort-of pro at making graphs and visual cards, and Jeanine asked me to teach another behavior analyst how to make graphs like I do! I took this as a huge compliment, as I always try very hard and am incredibly diligent in my work, and I love when it's noticed. I recommend this class to anyone who has a passion and wants to pursue it before college. I have a year of experience under my belt compared to those in my major, and that's a great advantage! My mentor offered a continuation of the internship through college, and I'm beyond excited and very humbled she would want to continue our relationship. I can not wait to see what the future has in gold, and although the I don't see myself as being a behavior analyst, the experience I gain from this internship is incredibly valuable. Looking back on my entire iQuest experience, I am incredibly grateful Mrs. Sekara connected me with my mentor, Jeanine Wilkinson. I never would have guessed I would learn so much and gain so much experience as well, and I could not imagine or want my senior year any other way!

Blog 14- Being Positive

One positive quote that resonates with me is, "Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?"~Dennis and Wendy Mannering. I love this quote because I always believe you get what you put out into the universe, and attitude applies. Since reading The Happiness Project in middle school, I've strived for constantly exuding a positive energy. Attitudes are contagious, and being positive is more beneficial for yourself and those around you. Of course, I know it's not realistic or healthy to be exuding happiness twenty-four hours a day, but there are no downsides to positive thinking. Being extremely empathetic, my happiness partly relies on the attitudes of others around me. The ability to quickly change negative situations into positive ones is hard to master, but I believe it betters yourself and those around you. Any kind of attitude is contagious, and I strive to be someone everyone wants to be around because of my continually positive energy!

RESILIENCE

Blog 13- Bucket List

1. Earn the title Dr.
2. See the Grand Canyon
3. Visit Niagra Falls
4. Skydive
5. Go to a foreign country
6. See a castle
7. Name a star
8. Tour Alcatraz
9. Make a homemade meal for my family
10. Have a cat
11. Scuba dive in Mexico
12. Go to Mexico
13. Go to Coachella
14. Walk the Great Wall of China
15. Change someone's life
16. Teach a seminar
17. Zipline
18. See the pyramids in Egypt
19. Gondola ride in Venice
20. Buy my own car
21. Get a tatoo
22. Ride an ATV

Blog 12

Five Things I've been procrastinating on...

1. Mailing final information into SFSU
2. School scholarships
3. Going to the gym
4. Looking at housing and financial aid for next year
5. Getting in touch with a physical therapist

Blog #10

 

The last few personality activities done in class have been enlightening and amusing! Because the Myers-Briggs and Holland Code tests described me so nicely, I want to show all my friends and see what they score as well! I love personality tests, as they are always frighteningly accurate. I know myself pretty well, yet the results of these tests always surprise me. Seeing my personality laid out, defined in words by a machine, I never expect the descriptions to describe me well. Some of my personality traits I overlook, while some I pay too much attention too, and seeing the results of these personality tests put some things into perspective for me. I always find the suggested job occupations of my certain personality intriguing, simply because they're usually ones I have never considered. For the Myers-Briggs personality tests, I questimated myself to be someone who looks for alternatives and makes decisions based on logic, when I scored as one who makes decisions based on feelings and judges life according to the set plan. These personality tests were both interesting and revealing.

Blog #9

Now a second semester senior, both my time in San Ramon Valley High and my internship are halfway over. Reflecting on my first blog, I have come so far in my knowledge and experience with behavior analysis. By the end of this semester, I want to have established a solid relationship with at least one client. Creating visual cue cards and scoring adaptive behavior scales has become easy and familiar to me, a goal I wanted to have mastered by the start of this semester. With an excess of new at home clients and programs in the company, I will have many more opportunities to get hands-on experience in the field!

At home programs can be far away or close by, either in the morning or during the day, making going to an at home program difficult to find time for. With my mentor's insanely busy schedule and my work and school schedule, finding a time where we both can go to an assessment has proven difficult. Luckily, I've gotten used to my mentor's busy schedule, now planning in advance when we can both attend at-home programs. Hopefully, this proves to be useful and I can get more time in the field. Also, after hiring a new office manager, I can easily text her and see if my help is needed in the office, expecting a quick response when my mentor is busy. Combining busy schedules proves to be the most difficult task in my iQuest, and planning meetings ahead of time is an easy fix. As my knowledge of behavior analysis and the practice has grown, my comfortableness around children has too. Prepared and experienced with the correct procedures to use, and when to use them, has eased my anxiety and boosted my confidence working with kids. Practice is the only way to truly excel and gain experience, so I can only hope having the chance to attend assessments and at-home programs continues to increase my knowledge and reach my goals!

End of First Semester! (Blog #8)

At the start of the year, I knew I would love iQuest, but I never knew how much. Working with my mentor, Jeanine, has broadened my knowledge about behavior analysis incredibly over the last four months. I've interned around 28 hours with Jeanine's business, Building Connections Behavioral Health Inc. Most of the work I've done has been split between office work and field work. I first learned how to score the Vineland, a book used to assess and scale behaviors. I have gone to Bollinger Canyon Elementary School twice, where I helped special education teachers with activites in the classroom and at recess. Children have always been slighty foreign to me, and entering a classroom without prior experience with kids, let alone austic children, was intimidating. Every teacher was very accepting, and never hesitated to help when I was noticably uncomfortable. Being in such an accepting environment made it easy for me to catch on quickly! During one session I was told to watch a girl named Kala, and before we went out for recess one teacher told me, "Make sure you watch her closely! She likes to sprint towards to parking lot,". Situations like this definitely made me nervous, but were simply routine for the other special education teachers.

In the office, I have sat in on meetings about proper restaint techniques when dealing with violent children, and was volunteered to have the restraints be practiced on me! I have also created numerous goal sheets and visual commands teachers use in the classroom. Sitting in on meetings between Jeanine and special education teachers has taught me the effort and patience needed to control the small, yet unpredictable classrooms. Visual cues and commands are often used in these classrooms, as many autistic children have difficulty effectively communicating. I love hearing teachers personally thank me for making token boards or visuals, saying how often they use them and how much the children enjoy them! Laminating and cutting small pieces of paper for hours, only for them to soon be chewed on, bent, and eventually destroyed, pays off when I see them being used in a classroom. 

I also attended a workshop on play therapy with Mary Ruth Cross. This workshop was something new and exciting, as I was unaware of play therapy's existence until Mrs. Sekara introduced me to Mary Ruth. Sadly, I could only attend half the workshop. Once again, the workshop was full of very knowledgable and accepting people! One thing I love about the world of psychology is anyone in the field of therapy is understanding, welcoming, and open. I have yet to meet one therapist or psychologist that did not leave me a little slice of their knowledge. The concepts and techniques behind play therapy I found intriguing, and a month later Mary Ruth gave me a tour of her office. The organization and layout of an office is especially important when dealing with play therapy, as you need  sufficient space for a play room. Basically, the therapist or mother plays with a child during a session, and that is it! The child directs the play in most cases, and the therapist reflects later on the patient's behaviors and actions. Connecting with our left brain breaks away from our right brain's linear pattern, making us less critical of ourselves and more playful. While at Mary Ruth's office, she asked to have a session with me, so of course I agreed. There was a sandbox in front of me, a room stocked with toys on every shelf, and when she told me to just play, I was stumped. I had a lot of questions and took a very long time to grab any toys off the shelf. Mary Ruth mentioned how children are always quick to grab whatever they want, corresponding to how more left-brained they are. The more right brained we home, the more critical we are of ourselves and our decisions, not letting our minds simply wander and be free. Although I haven't met again with Mary Ruth, the concepts she taught me stuck with me! 

As of lately, Building Connections Behavioral Heallth Inc. just picked up a new contract, which took 3 painstaking hours to edit by the way, and are getting referrals daily! I have gotten tons of practice scoring the Vineland due to all these new clients. Recently, many new clients have been around the Danville area, giving me the opportunity to go to home programs! The first home program I went to was in December with a girl named Cassidy. Primarily, I sat in on a meeting with Cassidy's mother and Jeanine, and made sure she was okay with me observing or being apart of Cassidy's sessions. The next week I met Cassidy. While Jeanine met with her mom, another behavior analyst and I played with Cassidy and helped with her homework. Simply playing with her was a little uncomfortable, because I've never been sure how to act around kids. Having another behavior analyst there boosted my confidence, and watching how she interacted with Cassidy started to ease my nervousness, as I learned from her. It is difficult to draw the line between treating this child as a child, and treating her as a child with certain problem behaviors that we are trying to modify. Although working with kids is outside of my comfort zone, I'm developing and gaining knowledge in a whole new field I would have otherwise avoided. With an abundance of new patients in the area, my experience working with children is only growing faster. The next semester should be full of unpredictable and novel opportunities, and I am incredibly excited to gain more practice in the field!