Abstract
PSY FPX 5002 Assessment 1 My goal is to treat children, adolescents, and their families, who suffer from a variety of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, such as but not limited to; intellectual disabilities, developmental disorders, autism, ADHD, and behavior issues, in an effort to improve their behavior and quality of life. My long-term goal is to become a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst co-owner of my own behavioral-health business. Short-term goals are the practitioner scholar model. As explained in the model, I will be implementing research to discover about ABA and non-ABA interventions and how effective they are. I will then be implementing these interventions with my own clients, as well as working with colleagues to ensure interventions are being effectively implemented in their cases. I will also naturally gain an effective multicultural mindset needed to work with diverse client and family problems.
Your Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar Vision: Families and children with intellectual disabilities, Behavioral Health practice.
Children and youth with different mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders are too often neglected and not given or don’t get the actual care they need. My ultimate aspiration is to be a BCBA and start-up a behavioral health company with my sister who is also a BCBA. As a practitioner-scholar, I will be acquiring a broad array of behavior interventions used in current ABA and non-ABA treatment plans for the treatment of children on the autism spectrum, and children suffering from other mental illnesses.
I will work with others to study the effectiveness of different interventions and transfer skills to clients, as well as their families in an effort to enhance their behavior and live a normal life. In the future when our business grows, we will have a multicultural strategy where families of all social classes as well as racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds are treated equally and are receiving the best unbiased care that we can offer.
Role as a Multicultural-Practitioner Scholar
Background
PSY FPX 5002 Assessment 1 Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) reduces challenging behavior in people with intellectual disability (Hassiotis et al., 2012). The theoretical and conceptual basis of behavior analysis came from experimental psychology, physiology, and philosophy, successfully merging theory with scientific rigor which has since been applied to applied settings, including hospitals, clinics, schools, family homes, and communities (Harvey et al., 2009). As a student of psychology, I am particularly interested in learning more about ABA therapy and the many techniques that it encompasses.
My dream is to be able to see all youth and children with intellectual disabilities receiving the care they need to have a normally functioning life. My long-term dream is to be a BCBA and open up my own mental health business. My short-term aims are in line with the practitioner scholar model and mean that I will be committed to the well-being and well-being of clients and colleagues alike, to being adequate in terms of learning, and to realizing and applying my work in wider organizational, community, political, and cultural settings (Distefano et al., 2004).
Vision as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar
Scholar practitioners are people who are motivated by a number of things such as their ethical practice. They care about having an ethics code and treating all their clients on an even playing ground regardless of the variances in culture. Scholar practitioners are also motivated by personal values. This means that they comprehend how one views themselves and this may influence the care that they are giving. Scholar practitioners do employ theory and research. By doing so they are they must be dedicated to learning new learning and assisting individuals and organizations in constructing their knowledge and effectiveness (Wasserman and Kram, 2009).
Scholar practitioners value the relationship they establish with their clients and the quality of the relationship they establish with clients. As a practitioner-scholar I will be researching different kinds of interventions that are utilized to address behavior problems, caused by intellectual disabilities, with special focus on Applied Behavior Analysis. “Behavior analysis, including advanced techniques for teaching and reinforcing adaptive behavior, should be part of a multidisciplinary approach to mental health services” (Harvey et al., 2009. p. 212). Throughout my master’s course I will learn about the results seen on different individuals who have received ABA therapy.
Vision as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar
I will see how the effect of ABA therapy has helped mainstream them into an ordinary functioning life. In mental health diagnosis and treatment, “racial and ethnic disparities are as widespread in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness as they are in other areas of health” (Snowden, 2003, p.239). As a result of this, multicultural competence is essential when working with clients. In serving clients now I will have first-hand experience of applying ABA therapy in the real world and concurrently learn and know more about ABA through my master’s studies. Practitioner scholar model can be a route for me to utilize when treating children and youth with intellectual disability.
Vision
Treating children and youth and enhancing their lives has always been something I wanted to do. My entire career I’ve worked with children and youth in a number of different settings. To be able to see a child change when they receive the right intervention is something that I think is rewarding. My aspiration is to have all children and youth with intellectual disability access to the treatment that they need, and I’d like to be a part of providing that treatment.
In running my own mental health business, I can ensure that no prospective clients are excluded based on any cultural differences. My master’s is in Applied Behavior Analysis, and this teaches us about three things: how behavior works, how the environment affects behavior, and how learning occurs (Autism Speaks, n.d.). In understanding these three, I can make an intellectually disabled child or youth see an improved functioning and lifestyle.
PSY FPX 5002 Assessment 1 Your Vision as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar
I have witnessed children from all kinds of diverse cultures overcoming the impediments in front of them during my lifetime. I would like to contribute more actively towards helping culturally diverse clients with intellectual disabilities eliminate their deficits in behavior. Care is not always properly distributed on an equitable basis. “Epidemiological research consistently reveals that African, Asian, Native, and Latino Americans needing outpatient care are unlikely to receive it” (Snowden, 2003, p. 239). In wanting to be a BCBA and own my own business, cultural competencies are necessary to develop and maintain. Although it is important to notice other individuals’ cultural differences, it is also important to notice one’s own cultural heritage.
As a multicultural practitioner-scholar I will become aware of my own cultural heritage and how it may affect the treatment that I am administering. I am at present a Behavioral Health Technician with clients that are very culturally diverse, and I have a BCBA who provides support on all of my cases. My BCBA is just great, and she is an enormous support system whom I call all the time asking questions. By communicating with her and gaining experience working with ethnically diverse clients I can gain the multicultural competencies necessary to become a BCBA running my own mental health practice after graduating from my master’s program.
Conclusion
We know that access, treatment, and quality of mental health care vary (Snowden, 2003). As a professional in the field of Psychology, it is our duty to have a good group of cultural competencies. My aspiration is that children and youth with intellectual disabilities from all cultures be provided with access and treated in such a way that they can be productive contributing members of society. To start making and believing in that vision, I want to establish my own behavioral health practice in order to provide quality interventions to those who are in need.
References
Autism Speaks. (n.d.). Applied behavior analysis (ABA). https://autismspeaks.org/what autism/treatment/applied-behavior-analysis-aba
Capella University. (2003). Learning Model Quick-Reference and Examples. Author.
Distefano, A., Rudestam, K. E., & Silverman, R. J. (2004). Scholar practitioner model. In Encyclopedia of distributed learning (Vol. 1, pp. 393-396). SAGE Publications,
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Harvey, M. T., Luiselli, J. K., & Wong, S. E. (2009). Application of applied behavior analysis to mental health issues. Psychological Services, 6(3), 212–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016495
Hassiotis, A., Robotham, D., Canagasabey, A., Marston, L., Thomas, B., & King, M. (2012). Brief report: Impact of applied behavior analysis (ABA) on career burden and community participation in challenging behavior: results from a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 56(3), 285–290. . https://doi.org/10.1111
Snowden R. L. (2003). Bias in mental health assessment and intervention: theory and evidence. American journal of public health, 93(2), 239–243. . https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.2.239
Wasserman I. C., & Kram K. E. (2009). Enacting the Scholar— Practitioner Role: An Exploration of Narratives. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 45(1), 12–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886308327238
