Summary of Experience
I have recently acquired an internship at the Adeline LaPlante Memorial Center in North Kingstown, RI. I worked as a behavior specialist for an eleven-year-old female client who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the beginning of my time there, I shadowed a few behavior therapists to learn how to effectively conduct therapy and carry out each goal. I was then paired with a client who they found me to be most compatible with and was trained how to effectively conduct therapy to work on the eighteen goals that she had. Her goals were behavioral and speech related. I not only carried out those eighteen goals, but I made two goals of my own. My first goal is behavioral related and my second goal is speech related. Her goals mostly pertain to behavioral, but due to the fact that I am a speech major I wanted to incorporate a speech goal that I can effectively carry out myself.
The first goal that I wanted her to achieve was to be able to consistently wear a bracelet. Some children that are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder are very tactile and do not like anything to be touching their skin, therefore, a bracelet. Her mother really wanted her to be able to wear a safety bracelet that states her name and the fact that she has Autism. However, whenever she has tried to have her wear a bracelet she will take it off and throw it or come home one day without it. I did research and had meetings regarding effective ways to approach this situation. I then made a social story regarding bracelets and would read it to her every session, accompanying a sheet of pictures with children her age wearing bracelets. We then shopped for materials and made our own. Every day we would increase the time intervals that she would have to wear it for. Eventually, by the end of our sessions she wore the bracelet for the entire session without taking it off and we completed that behavioral goal.
The second goal that I wanted my client to work on was related to speech. She previously has a goal that all specialists carry out with her that allows her to work on eight target goal words. Since my client is nonverbal, I not only wanted her to work on random target words, but I wanted her to be able to recognize and correctly articulate eight target safety words. There are many words that you have to know to be able to live safely, and it is important for her to be able to recognize these. I made flashcards and we worked on these words every session. At the end of our time, she was able to say many words with just a point and everyone at the office was extremely impressed with her quick progress!
I had worked with my client twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, for five hours a day. I would pick her up from the bus, and we would immediately start to work on her goals. I would take her out into the community and have her work on her social skills. Every session we accomplished her eighteen individual goals as well as my two goals.
