Week 7- Improvements

My internship is a little different than most of everyones. I don't neccessarily work in an office or at a job site. I work in a family's home where I was placed by the agency. I have only been to the agency's location in the beginning when I had to take some training courses. An area of improvement in this situation would actually be that they should offer not only more training but continuous training updates , that would be a nice refesher course or give a chance to ask questions about what we've been doing instead of always calling or e-mailing someone down at the school. My mentor is the one who turns in my hours to the agency so I have little ocntact with them. She is even the one to turn in her son's progress sheets, so I really have little communication with the agency after my training is complete. They offer other positions in special education, and I think that if I was actually working on the job site in the actual school, than maybe I might get more attention from the people down at the office.

I feel like if the school required more out of their prior to being hired than maybe they'd have more qualified employees working for them. Not to say that I'm not qualified, but after meeting a few of the future employees during training I'd like to say most of them were in the wrong field of work. A couple of them didn't even know what the more heard of disabilities were and what to expect our of the students. This position does not require a college degree or even a high school diploma, and I feel like an education is important when you're basically teaching another person their academics. Also understanding the various disabilities are important in working with a child with special needs. This job is not what I want to do in the future nor was it ever an option for me. I took this job, because I felt that it would help me to better understand what it's like to be inside the home of a family with a child with special needs. I now have a better grasp of what goes on in the home and I have a better understanding of what kinds of services are offered and provided by the state to families with children with disabilities.

I really enjoy being able to minor in 2 different concentration areas with the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree. I feel like I was able to study 2 different areas that I was interested in and couldn't quite make up my mind. Therefore witht his program I was able to explore more options and not get bored with 1 type of class. Studying both sociology and family and human development has really given me the knowledge I need in order to be successful in my career in social work. I feel more well rounded than I would have if Iwould have only been able to major in 1 specific field. In sociology, a theory that can be applied to my internship is the Social Learning Theory. According to this theory, behavior is learned by being rewarded for our actions and by observing and imitating the behavior of those around us. There are interventions offered based on the social learning theory and can teach appropriate relationship skills within the family or wherever needed. In my situation where I feel like the agency could have a little more contact with their off site employees and offer continuous training to all staff. Not so much that I need to relearn what I first learned in the initial training courses, but more of a time to make sure I'm doing my job right or to ask questions about how I could improve or better solve a problem. They don't exactly go over every scenario possible in the initial training courses, and I could have possibly learned a few more things if they would have applied the social learning theory in continuous courses if they were offered. If everyone used the social learning theory than everyone would learn and follow after each other. We could be each other's role models in the work place and have more respect for each other's ideas if their was a mutual observing and imitating of each other's behaviors. With a better communication system always leads to a better chance of success in whatever the situation may be. The social learning theory should be integrated in the workplace no matter what your position is or what your degree may be in.