I would say I have one of the most gratifying jobs. A job that allows me to make a real impact in the lives of children and their families.
I was recently referred by a preschool to help a 24-month-old girl who spent her morning wandering around in the classroom, dumping out toys, and literally not knowing how to play. Additionally, she was not able to make speech sounds and would communicate wants and needs by crying and complaining. After evaluating the situation, we decided that she would benefit from 1:1 intensive ABA therapy / early intervention rather than attending preschool for the following few months.
Three weeks into working with this beautiful girl and her family, we all started noticing a radical change in her behavior. She started greeting me with a smile and beautiful eye contact, pulling my hand to play with her, enjoying playing with toys, cleaning up toys, imitating a few gross motor actions, and pointing to pictures when requested. She started to slow down and grasp the world around her.
The highlight of my week was hearing her say “bye” in response to my cue. I knew she started to babble more, but I did not expect her to answer me “bye” as I was leaving. Experiences like this one, fuel my heart and push me to continue working in the field of applied behavioral analysis and dedicating myself to helping children and their families.