My family

My friends are my family.

It's hard for people who are close to their family to understand what I mean by this. I love my family. I would give anything to be closer to my mother, dad, and sister. I would do anything for them. When I think family not only my blood family comes to mind but these people who I surround myself with often. I love each and every person in my life much more than I think they realize.

My friends are my family. I love all of them deeply. I could not function without them in my life.

a few things to remember

remind yourself  I am NOT the mother of your child. I will wind up doing things differently than the way you do things. change is difficult for everyone. give another way a chance before you "show us how you do it.". to speak quite frank and quite honestly there will come a time when you will not be able to care for your child. isn't it best to ease the transition of change why you're still able to do it. I understand having a stranger come into your home to take care of your child is a difficult situation. but trust me when I say I am here for a reason

remind yourself  I could be flipping burgers at McDonalds , or do secretarial work to earn my living. I choose to service families like yours. I choose to work through behaviors with your child, I choose to come to work every day, I choose to love your child enough to see them through the hard times. and most the time I choose to put your child before my needs and my own personal life because that's how much I love my job and that's how much I love your family.

remind yourself  even though I am a stranger if anyone can understand even a fraction of how hard it is to raise your child I am the one who can.

Where my heart lies and why its gets in the way

I am an ABA therapist. I love and serve those in need of a little extra support.  I am the person who helps those that others think are lost.  I have a heart with an unmeasurable size and I use it everyday. 

My principle of thought derives from the study of ABA, or Applied Behavior Analysis.  In a nutshell I believe that behavior is solely driven by what motivates an individual.  I believe behavior is in direct association with a consequence, or operant conditioning if you have ever taken a psychology class. I use positive reinforcement to obtain desired behaviors.  It’s hard for people to grasp what that actually means.  A quick response I always say is this, "I choose to teach an individual what they CAN do versus telling them what they should not do."  Think of it this way; if the organism has only learned a certain behavior and you want to change that behavior. Do you think telling them no, or to stop is effective if they are unaware of what else to do?  If you however teach the organism an alternative eventually that response is automatic and the undesired behavior will decrease.  Using the word, no or anything similar only gets you so far.  More times than not when the organism is faced with the decision in a similar situation down the line they will revert to their learned response.  The word no, or anything similar does not teach anything other than at that exact moment in time the response is unwanted. 

This is not rocket science.  It is, to me, simple logic. And quite frankly this logic is extremely effective and successful.  I have seen ABA do wonderful things. It however, is hard work.  It takes consistency and patience.  It is not meant to create fast results it is meant to create lasting ones.
 
A downfall to my passion in this profession: thinking that I can and should fix everything. Sometimes I need to just say to myself undesired things will happen and it is not your place to try to fix it.

I am an ABA therapist. I love and serve those in need of a little extra support.  I am the person who helps those that others think are lost.  I have a heart with an unmeasurable size and I use it everyday.