Reference no: EM133530616

Assignment:

I chose the first prompt and I do not believe that I practice ABA with a history of trauma in mind. This podcast has opened up a new way of thinking for me.

I learned a couple of things from Camille Kolu, while listening to the podcast. The first thing I learned was that trauma can result from adverse conditioning experiences and not just from abuse and neglect, and sometimes those behaviors can be harder to notice from just the client's history and background or the client could be hiding that behavior really well. The second thing I learned is that praise isn't always a reinforcer. For some clients, praise can be the complete opposite of a reinforcer due to an adverse experience, so they feel the need to be unnoticed and not in the spotlight.

An example Camille gave during the podcast was an experience she had with a child who smeared his feces on the walls of the bathroom whenever they were praised. Camille told the guardians of the child to no longer praise the child for the things they do. Unfortunately, while it didn't completely solve the behavior, it did reduce the behavior, which was an improvement. The last thing I learned was that as behavior analysts our job is to address the behavior that was shaped by the client's experiences and trauma and not the trauma itself. There will always be unpleasant experiences and our job is to help our clients react to the world around them in a healthier way. Instead of focusing on what we can't control, we should try to control our reactions to those experiences and traumatic events.

Reference:

What is trauma-informed ABA? Session 131 with Camille Kolu Cicoria, M. (Host). The Behavioral Observations Podcast, 2020, September 14.