Every day, children, adolescents, and their families experience the stressors of disease, injury or disability. In some circumstances, these children are sent to the hospital and trapped in a world where doctors, nurses and other health care workers come in and out of their small rooms poking, prodding and talking in a medical language that is foreign to them. With the assistance of a nurse to treat and care for the child, a Child Life Specialist (CLS) can help reduce these challenges and promote healthy coping skills and development. As a Capella student, my academic goal is to earn my Master’s in Psychology with a focus in Child and Adolescent Development. In conjunction with the practitioner-scholar learning method, the development of …show more content…
Although my aunt is not a psychology professional, her hands-on experience with my cousin exemplifies her knowledge of his disorder and ability to care for him. Her strength and aptitude accompanied by my cousin’s optimism inspired me to learn more about the human mind and how it works. Along with my involvement in “Best Buddies” in high school, I frequently was exposed to other types of mentally challenged students that had autism, Fragile X syndrome (FXS), cerebral palsy and ADD/ADHD. Best Buddies is an international organization that creates one-to-one friendships between individuals with or without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD); that offers social mentoring and provides an improvement in the quality of life to the special needs population (Best Buddies International, 2017). Our organization would sponsor activities such as dances, after school activities, and provide tutoring. It was very gratifying for me to help and change the lives of these students. With my personal experiences, my passion for caring for these extraordinary individuals grew stronger. My purpose and vision in life are working with children, especially the mentally challenged; to get the help and support, they require to face the difficulties of life. By earning a Master’s in Psychology in Child and Adolescent Development, I will be able to provide the knowledge, theory, and best practices …show more content…
Learning can occur by design, through study or instruction, or unintentionally simply through experience (Driscoll, 2015). Capella University graduate programs build from the reflective-practitioner model to the practitioner-scholar methodology of learning. All U.S graduate degree programs are designed by faculty experts in their fields and involve advanced, focused study in a scholarly experience that goes beyond the bachelor’s degree. According to Gullahorn (2004), Students' active involvement in the learning and discovery process is promoted by faculty mentoring and frequent interaction between faculty and students as well as among students in structured and informal settings. Together, the faculty and students form a graduate community of scholars that enhances learning and discovery as well as personal growth and professional socialization (p. 204 – 207). The practitioner-scholar learning model will allow me to use my cognitive skills to approach any problem that may arise throughout my studies and professional career. Together with my personal experience and expansion of knowledge in the Child and Adolescent Development field of psychology, I will be able to utilize my skills to my greatest ability as a
One being that the Scholar-Practitioner is located at the end of the continuum. This displays that the Scholar-Practitioner is the ideal level. McClintock states “Scholar Practitioners are committed to the well-being of clients and colleagues, to learning new ways of being effective, and to conceptualizing their work in relation to broader organizational, community, political, and cultural contexts.” From McClintock’s model, the Scholar-Practitioner is described as a scholar who has an intimate understanding of their specialty and are able to apply their knowledge in several ways. Capella’s Learning Model also differentiates the Scholar-Practitioner and describing them in that same fashion. The Capella’s Learning Model provides in depth examples of a Doctoral-Level (Scholar-Practitioner) assignment. In the assignment, terms such as extract and evaluate, demonstrate the higher level thinking required as a Scholar-Practitioner. Bloom’s Taxonomy also identifies terms such as evaluate and create as higher thinking processes. An expert, the Scholar-Practitioner, is able to put together information in innovative ways and think outside of the box, versus recalling information. Both the Capella Learning Model and McClintock’s Scholar-Practitioner Model support the idea of the Scholar-Practitioner being a researcher who is highly skilled and able to apply their knowledge in unique
Indira graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a Masters in Special Education in 2003. She works with mentally challenged youth to help them gain the skills necessary for a better life. She told me that children with disorders such as schizophrenia and autism never gain proper skills to lead their lives on their own, but they are very social and they know how to draw, play and communicate with other kids their age, the basic skills of a child. Children with disorders like ADHD and Bipolarity Disorder come to Frest School to learn how to cope with the disorder and lead a normal everyday life.
I come to Fordham University with expectations of completing my Masters of Art degree in Social Service. As a single parent, I have faced many challenges raising my special needs child. My innovation to help disadvantaged children with social and emotional problems encompassed me to continue to pursue a career in the Social Service Profession. This will increase my chances of being a successful Child Therapist. I am aware, prepared and committed to devoting my time towards my studies at Fordham University as well as taking advantage of all the necessary resources that Fordham University has to offer. My personal, academic and profession experience has given me the opportunity
Cognitive challenges also exist when counseling children with ASD as they have difficulty distinguishing their own mind from somebody else’s, this is known as theory of mind (Woods et al., 2013). Counselors should address deficiencies in theory of mind as the lack of knowledge in others feelings and empathy causes challenges across all social contexts for children. While there are a numerous factors to consider when providing therapy for children with ASD, therapeutic interventions are crucial to the development of social skills as well as adaptive emotional and behavioral responses in social settings.
An intellectual college student, who attends Lipscomb University explains the challenges and obstacles that students with disability encounter in school. I interviewed Rudy Castillo, who was detected with autism at the age of three to discuss his personal experience. This student as any other played sports throughout middle and high school but also was bullied by others. Rudy’s story explains his journey about overcoming the struggles that autism presents. After all, Rudy’s plan is to help others understand his disability and encourage those with autism to embrace their abilities. Through the support of his family, Rudy Castillo received help from a specialist in Guadalajara, Mexico.
My choice to become a part of the childcare profession was not just made casually. This decision was the result of a thought process about what I wanted to do with my life. I finally took a career in childcare because I believe that it is one of the most important duties performed in the community. Within this profession, I hope to find both personal and professional accomplishment. Hence, it is my desire to be a part of a noble profession.
It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I write to you today to express my intentions towards my future endeavors once graduating from your humble establishment with a degree in applied behavioral analysis. My intentions are to graduate from Saint Joseph 's University with a degree in applied behavioral analysis, then to proceed onto the next step in my career as a behavior specialist councilor, where I can help families through creating concrete goals and plans and models to measure these goals, as well as to ensure that parents are supplied with the resources required and an efficient team to help them.
The yearning to resolve social, development and academic challenges faced by children and families developed long before interest in this program. Although my undergraduate program was history, I used electives to learn about human development. One of my favorite courses was Introduction to Sociological Research. My research titled “College Promiscuity” examined 100 college students and their stance on human sexuality. My desire to learn more about human development also led to becoming a resident assistant. For two years I was the only resident assistant for 176 residents in the largest residence hall. I gladly accepted the challenge because overcoming adversities comes natural. My job description only required me to create two programs a semester; however, I saw a need to for monthly programs to create unity and social ...
My passion for volunteering has grown steadily throughout my four years of attending high school. I viewed volunteering as an escape from problems at school and home and focused on bettering the lives of other individuals. By joining a variety of volunteering opportunities, one club strongly impacted my perspective on the lives of others, Best Buddies. This club gives students the opportunity to develop friendships and relationships with other students who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. When joining the club I had only thought about the impact I would be making on the students with intellectual disabilities and thought very little about the impact the students would leave on myself. When being paired with a student named
After reading and evaluating both McClintock’s scholar-practitioner model and Capella’s scholar--practitioner learning model, My impressions were that McClintock's drew importance towards one achieving a high professional standard, Influenced by science, theory and research; intertwined with a balance of making connection with the real world and abiding by the ethical code of conduct. McClintock (2004) states, Scholar practitioner is committed to the well-being of clients and colleagues. Moreover, he emphasized that scholar-practitioners require unique understanding, knowledge and perspective through effective interrelations within the communities of practice. Capella’s scholar-practitioner learning model focuses on education identity, trainings, group knowledge, theory, application,and analyzing. Consequently, the aspects of McClintock’s scholar-practitioner model supports Capella’s scholar- practitioner learning model is that through these sets of guidelines, strategies and practices- scholars can become successful both personally and professionally while creating a balance of theoretical practice and connection through the real world.
Individuals’ perceptions of their life/worth have the power to control the goals that they can carry out and meet. Every day we are learning new things and everyone has his/her own unique ways of learning. My strong desire to help students with their academic, personal, and social needs make me a strong candidate as a school counselor. While completing my undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Program Administration I learned a great deal about myself. I have a passion for learning and want to share and express that love for learning with students. I feel that the Master of School Counseling program provides a direct path to my career goals of helping students to comprehend subject matter while learning to love learning as I do. Not only will
Although psychologists are becoming more integrated into the primary care and integrated care settings, it is still necessary, and will likely remain necessary for a long time, that psychologists advocate for their roles and educate other health professionals about their areas of expertise. Mesibov also noted that Wright underemphasized the additional roles that pediatric psychologists can be utilized. For example, parent training is an area were pediatric psychologists can help in the medical setting. Additionally, educating the community in ways to assist developmentally handicapped clients could generate beneficial
As a traditional Native American saying goes, “Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.” My heart was captured by pediatrics at an early age. My journey was started growing up in a small town of India with different but significant healthcare needs and limited availability of resources. During the school life, I was always attracted towards human biology. As a young student, I was very curious and used to ask many questions, and my teachers always explained every principle by scientific reasoning and rational thinking. Childhood, after all, is a time when every human begins to construct their concepts of the physical, social, mental and emotional portions of their life. In turn, these perceptions can profoundly
The number of children that display autistic traits keeps rising and the need for services is at an all-time high. Out of 10,000 children born, 60 to 100 children and families will be affected by autistic spectrum disorder (Gulberg, 2010). Autism is characterized by a lack of connection to other people, even parents, and an avoidance of interpersonal situations (Feldman, 2011). Children with autism also show limited, repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behavior, interest, and activities. Not one child with autism is the same as the next; each child has their own severity and indicators of autism. A child with intellectual disabilities and a gifted child can both be given the diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum, because of the wide range of severities. Many of these children will not attend special schools, but instead be included in the general education population by inclusion. Inclusion has been found to have a number of benefits for children with autism. In addition, negative perspectives have also come into play when discussing autism and inclusion. Furthermore, parents have the right to make decisions for their child on an individual basis.
In a world where diseases are spread rapidly around the world, society tends to forget the ones that affect families at home such as autism. Autism known as, “Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASD) are a group of lifelong developmental conditions that impact on a person’s ability to communicate, understand and interact with the social and physical world (Hamilton, Josette, Gillian Stevens, and Sonya Girdler 1). This disease mostly involves young children or young adults are at risk of poor outcomes in adulthood in many areas in their lives experiencing many challenges in employment, social relationships, health status and a quality of life. In the diversity of children at stake in this diseases tell the reflection on just how complicated autism is behind closed doors at home (Makin). In one moment the child can be normal while the next moment the child has an episode.