please reply to response 100

There are many skills and abilities that are very critical to be successful in my specialization field of psychology. Specializing in Applied Behavior Analysis, one must obtain very strong analytical skills. You must also be very observant. Analyzing a child is crucial for behavioral treatment. It is very important to get to know the child, be able to ask plenty of questions which could help give insight to behavior treatment plans, and best help the child. Working with children is a skill in and of itself. You must be able to relate to a child, be playful, and put yourself in a child’s point of view, rather than an adult. You must be understanding of the disability, and even more important, understanding of the abilities in which the children possess. Working with children with disabilities requires a great amount of patience, as it may take longer for a child to process what you are asking them to do, and you may even need to repeat it multiple times, or word it or express it in different ways for the child to understand you. You must be able to think outside of the box, and always be on your toes, aware at all times of the child and how to respond quickly to a triggered behavior.

Working in a school setting, I was given a great opportunity to be able to talk to the BCBA within the school. From talking to the BCBA, she gave me great insight in what it is like to work as a behavior analyst. One key competency that she pointed out was patience. You may come up with a behavior plan for a child after numerous encounters and observations of the child, and it might not work. There will be times where you have to critically think and be creative using a science based approach on treating the individuals behavior. She stated that it is important to never lose hope. Every student responds differently, and sometimes behavior plans take longer to work than others.

There are still plenty of questions I have about being a professional within the field of psychology. Although I have a foundation on competencies in which I need to acquire, I believe it is most important to know how to obtain them. I would like to know how to stay focused and organized when you have multiple students to work with. I would also like to know how to best stay confident in your work when the child does not seem to be responding to the treatment in which you are instilling. The practical value of psychology derives from the questions we seek to answer and the insight produced by our science in answering those questions. Even the most esoteric of basic research pursuits contributes to an accumulating base of knowledge that can be put to practical use. A line of inquiry need not be motivated by the goal of application to ultimately contribute practical value. This is the beauty of scientific psychology--applications may be deliberately sought or they may simply emerge out of basic understanding.(Breckler, 2008)