Hello,
My name is Reyna Tejeda-Woodard and I am a Registered Behavior Technician with three years of experience in Applied Behavior Analysis. I am currently employed by Positive Behavior Supports Corporation. I believe I am the ideal candidate to receive this scholarship for reasons related to my incredible ability to perform in this field, personal socioeconomic status, and the future of ABA. I am dedicated to using principles of positive behavior support to improve the quality of life for any individual necessary.
My career in ABA came to be quite unexpectedly. By unexpectedly, I mean I learned about ABA through a conversation that I wasn't even involved in personally. Soon after graduating high school, I saw that a peer had made a post on social media asking for recommendations for jobs hiring immediately. I also was in the market for new employment after graduation, so I read into the comment section of their post to see if anything appeared to be a good fit for me. None of the frequently-hiring retail jobs people had shared their knowledge of touched my heart, or even piqued my curiosity. That was until I saw that Ms. Cook, a previous Special Ed. teacher whom I'd known from Godwin Heights High School, mentioned that Centria Autism was hiring Behavior Technicians to work with kids on the ASD spectrum- not to mention they'd provide extensive training to new-hires. Having spent numerous hours hanging out with Ms. Karen Rasche, the lead special education teacher at Godwin Heights High School, in her Special Ed. classroom I knew that this was exactly what I needed. I knew that my dreams to be a lawyer had long since started to fall apart and that my heart was longing for a meaningful career elsewhere. I had never realized that the answer was right in front of my eyes sitting in state-funded brown chairs and teacher-made tie-dye bean bags.
There had been such an important, sensitive, and broad audience of individuals who'd required various amounts of support right in front of my eyes. My unique ability to support them had been lingering in my life in numerous environments and instances and I hadn't even noticed it until right then. I immediately applied at Centria Autism and following my phone interview where I raved about my experience in the special ed. room and my unique, personal bonds with those in my personal life with developmental disabilities, I was hired to work in-center.
Unfortunately, I soon outgrew Centria Autism and chose to leave their place of employment per my own moral compass following an unethical run-in with the company's position on client abuse at the hands of another staff member. I'd witnessed an act of inexcusable violence and reported it, but when there was no action taken I knew I could not work at such an establishment that I felt was willing to even potentially jeopardize the safety of their client population.
Soon after leaving Centria, I was hired by MOKA Autism, where I met some of the most outstanding ABA providers I'd ever known and witnessed their mutual and individual roles in life-changing progress for their clients. It was at MOKA's clinic that I learned I wanted to do more than direct care, I wanted to have an even larger role in improving quality of life. It was then that I realized how badly I want, rather NEED, to become a BCBA myself, and ensure ethical, efficient, empathetic services are provided to every client that is enrolled in services wherever my place of employment in ABA may be.
In 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic, I moved to Arizona with my immediate family for a few months before coming back to Grand Rapids, Michigan in January 2021 to work for Positive Behavior Supports Corporation. Moving back to Michigan to work for PBS was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only have I gained so much knowledge from irreplaceable analysts and program managers, but I have also greatly diversified the population of clients I've worked with. I have worked with clients in countless environments including in-home, and in various places in the community of Grand Rapids. I have received training and opportunities for training that I've utilized countless times and I have even won a limited Professional Development course paid for by PBS after commenting a meaningful and relevant comment on a PBS Facebook Post. My greatest accomplishment at Positive Behavior Supports Corp. thus far is "graduating" a client out of therapy in 6 months and seeing that specific client's quality of life improve so massively following their completion of services in areas such as self-advocacy and socialization with peers.
I believe that this scholarship could help me be an asset to the future of ABA by helping me afford to continue my post-secondary education where I am nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in Psychology. Being both a mother and a student as well as a Registered Behavior Technician can be financially taxing when it comes to providing for my own child, my education, and supplies for my clients without reimbursement. Immediately following the completion of my AA. in Psychology at Grand Rapids Community College, I plan to begin pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Applied Behavior analysis from the University of Western Michigan at which time I will also begin working towards meeting the BACB's criteria to obtain the Board Certified assistant Behavior Analyst credential. Ultimately and finally, I am working towards obtaining a Master's degree in ABA as well as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst credential.
I am certain about my goals in ABA and unmovable in my stance regarding improving the quality of life for families with loved ones on the Autism Spectrum or diagnosis of related disorders. I am eager and thankful for the opportunity to learn from and work under analysts such as BCBAs Kathryn Stone, Rachel Follenweider, and BCaBA Laynie Villeneuve who have shared with me countless means of positive, gentle, effective therapy.
Thank you.
Hello! My name is Ashton Julian, my pronouns are they/them/theirs, and I am a student at Alfred University with Child Psychology and English majors. I am also autistic. As an autistic individual, I have firsthand experience with the way that students with developmental disabilities are treated in the public school system. I ran an animal therapy clinic at my high school that served students with developmental disabilities and I help teach horseback riding lessons to other autistic children on the most weekends when I am not in college.
As someone who is autistic, I think that the people we need to concentrate the most on are non-autistics. Instead of teaching me and other autistic people to mask and appear "normal", why can't we teach non-autistics how to properly support people who are different? One of the biggest problems that I have as an autistic person is that neurotypical people love to speak for me. Non-autistics will see me doing something different and immediately do everything in their power to make sure that I conform to them. They don't give me the chance to explain the why of my actions or thought process. The main issue with this is that it's well meaning. I know that there is no ill-intent behind these people's actions, they are simply trying to help me in the only way that they know how. I am not going to fault the moral character of a person because they don't know the correct way to help me. However, knowing that they don't mean to hurt me doesn't make my needs any less ignored.
I think that teaching people to focus more on the needs of the autistic person rather than the remedy of the situation will make a big difference. In my personal life, something that I struggle a lot with is overstimulation and emotional outbursts. I don't have any emotional regulation so I cry a lot whenever I feel like something is overwhelming. Most people's first response to me bursting into tears is to either remove me from the situation or change the situation somehow to fit their perception of the stressor. Very rarely am I asked "How can I help you?". This is very frustrating because of the time my ideal remedy is to simply continue with the activity. Non-autistics seem to feel that me crying is a failing on their part when truth is that it's just an emotional response that most of the time has nothing to do with them. I think that if I was allowed to explain "The reason why I'm crying is not because you are doing something wrong, it's because [x], [y], and [z] happened and my brain doesn't know any other response to it. I am still able to function, I just look like this." then it would be much less frustrating to everyone involved. But because the focus is immediately on salvaging the situation rather than how I feel, my needs are once again overlooked and a sub-par solution is provided for me.
Now, this isn't to say that everything autistic people do is justified and shouldn't be questioned. Of course there are things that just aren't acceptable and any behavior that causes harm to another person, animal, or themselves needs to be dealt with appropriately. However, I feel that once those major behavioral issues are dealt with, autistic people are expected to just conform to everyone else and that is really hard on our mental health.
This scholarship will assist me in my goals of helping people with developmental disabilities because I would like to write books or give talks on my experiences as an autistic person. I am pursuing an English major as well to help me. I think that with the right language and education I will be able to help others understand the struggles of the autistic community that aren't talked about as often. With this understanding, non-autistic people will know how to help us.
