I am greatly enjoying being a Master’s student in special education. This year is course work, and next year, I will be doing my thesis. The other day, before I was due to attend my class on severely disruptive behaviors, my mother and I had a discussion. When I was younger, I used to say inappropriate things or poke people in order to obtain “feedback.” It didn’t matter if it was positive feedback or not. If people got upset with me, I would always be baffled and say things like “why are you upset?” or “You’re so sensitive!” I didn’t understand how small behaviors could make somebody angry and my brain could just not put myself in their shoes. It wasn’t until I was about 20 that I figured this out. Maybe it was because I reacted differently to that kind of treatment. If my peers did those kinds of things to me, I would laugh inappropriately or get over-stimulated by it. When I was younger, my parents often thought that I was deliberately trying to annoy people because I’d say “I wanted to see what your reaction was” as if it was an experiment. However, I was always baffled by the results of the “experiment” every time which is probably why I repeated it.
On the other hand, if someone was experiencing an emotion I understood, such as feeling sad over a loss, I would be right there. I remember when I was a little girl and my grandmother gave my brother and I some pretty beach rocks as “presents” at a picnic. My brother lost one of his rocks in the field. Right away, I offered to give him one of my rocks. I knew what to do in that situation.
In my work experience, I worked with one child who had severe autism whose only way of seeking interaction was inappropriate behaviors such as hitting or spitting. Each time he was punished, he would repeat the same behaviors again even during the punishment. This individual wanted social connections, but was rewarded by any social response, even very negative ones.
As I take this course on children with emotional/behavior disorders, especially in subject matter where it pertains to autism, I realize I carry with me some understanding of the psychology behind these behaviors. In some cases, it is not a child simply “being bad,” but one that is confused or trapped.
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That's actually a very good scientific trait.
Today I read about John Mattick, who is a geneticist. He said that scientists have 2 basic attitudes: "That's sounds interesting" which is very rare, and the non-believing attitude.
Their attitudes can definitely shape experiments.
And Social Response Theory (and practice) is very cool. People can be rewarded by any social response. And some responses may be rewarding for social reasons, and some for unsocial reasons.
I think the human animal can be very discerning and selective. And while it's learning, it takes the widest amount of feedback.
With the rocks, I think the solution was embedded with the problem, and that you had experiences you could work with.
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