Week 3- Concepts & Theories

My concentration area, sociology, pertains to my job on a daily basis. The disability of my child I do habilitation for is autism, and that disability really changes the way the individual socializes with people. Social control is a key concept that I've seen being broken this past week. My child has not completely warmed up to me, and according to his mother it takes him awhile to adjust to change, as I am the first habilitaion provider he has ever had. His mother is a stay at home mother while the father works full time. Social control is a process that brings aboutconformity to socity's norms and laws. Informal social control is the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about the consistency to norms and laws. My child has shown his inconsistency to be able to show a sense of informal social control.

Social Learning Theory is a theory used in my concentration area os sociology and is used at my job site everyday of this child's life. In autism, the individual prefers routine and doesn't adjust well to change. According to this theory, behavior is learned by being rewarded for our actions and by observing and imitating the behavior of those around us. I reward my child with a given amount of time to break from school work or maybe even a healthy treat provided by his mother. I am also very reqpectful and nice to him to demonstrate the behavior I would like to see reciprocated. This process I go through every shift is a part of the social learning theory.

My other concentration area is family and human development, and in that field compromising is a key concept I use every time I am at my job site. Compromise is the intermediate style that results in some gains and some losses for each partyand is moderately assertive and cooperative. I have to compromise with my child in order to get him to sit still for a given amount of time in exchange for play time. It is my assertiveness as well as cooperation that get's him to do what I ask. He may not always listen, but that's the disability that I have to be patient with and work extra hard with.

Another key concept that I use at my job site in the field of family and human development is reframing. Reframing is one of the basic communication skills in moderating conflict. It means looking for a constructive way to describe whatever is going on, with the goal of changing perceptions and positions from negative and fixed to more positive and flexible. It helps move the resolution process along by giving and equally true, more positive view of what has been said. I have to reframe certain statements with my child in order to get him to understand why it is important to do the given school work or to use sign language instead of pointing in order to communicate more sufficiently. I have to change the wording for him to better understand what and why I want him to do something. Sometimes I need to change what I've said to sound more positive so that it sounds like somthing he may want to do more so than compared to how I worded it before. Overall, I have seen many key concepts and theories from both my disciplines used daily at my job site.