Psychology and Human Behavior

Psychology and Human Behavior

The Association for Behavior Analysis International is involved in analyzing the behavioral patterns of individuals and give advice on the right professions to pursue. The organization is involved in several events that are aimed at promoting dissemination of the science and provide continuing education opportunities for practitioners in the field. The organization is associated with undertaking activities from the psychological field of study. Besides providing events on science, the organization provides job placement services for both applicants and employers. The organization has operated for a long time as a bridge between applicants and potential employers. In addition, scholarly articles and journals are produced and supplied by ABAI to learners. The journals contain critical information that could be of significant value to the learners. In pursuance of a psychology course, the ABAI provides crucial information required in a successful career building process. For example, the journal articles provided by the organization are essential in providing relevant information involving psychology courses. Also, the analysis of behavioral patterns useful for different professions is useful in creating a successful career.

Unit 6

Psychology and Human Behavior

Mental disorder is associated with behavioral patterns that cause distress or impairment in human functioning. The definition of the features of various mental diseases varies between different individuals. One of the most common mental disorders is Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which is associated with lack of attention and excessive reaction that leads to interference in functioning and the development of the body. The signs and symptoms associated with ADHD include lack of attention or excessive hyperactivity in situations that do not require any reaction. ADHD and many other mental disorders have been overlooked in schools, with little consideration been given on how a child is behaving or acting and that might not be their fault. The blame goes on the child and how it is just excused, or they’re not just trying hard enough.

People living with ADHD have been facing several challenges due to the perception of the society towards the condition. In most cases, people living with ADHD are taken to be pretenders who deliberately lose attention during activities. Lack of understanding of people living with ADHD can be associated with the poor infrastructure of the institutions that deal with individuals with ADHD (Miranda, Jarque  & Tarraga, 2006). The structures that should help individuals living with ADHD have not been developed in many institutions. People living with ADHD require special programs to help them in dealing with the daily problems brought about by ADHD. Some of the helpful programs needed are behavioral therapy that aims at helping individuals in changing their health. Behavioral therapy could involve practical assistance in helping individuals by giving individuals selected tasks to undertake or assignments that require group participation. The current school program does not recognize the attendance of students with ADHD and thus has not established programs to involve the specials programs for managing ADHD. Also, ADHD patients require counseling on behavior management and the particular activities that can help them to deal with the problems associated with ADHD. The school has however not put in place proper counseling programs to help in serving students with ADHD.

The education sector needs to embrace changes in its programs to incorporate the welfare of people with disorders. Schools should accept the fact that some of their students have been affected by ADHD and that their welfare should be taken into consideration. Changes should be advocated to ensure that the life of students who have ADHD is made easier in the schools. One of the changes that need to be embraced is the inclusion of programs to ensure that behavioral therapies and counseling services are included in the school curriculum so that the students could access them for free (Moore et al. 2019). The move will be crucial in ensuring that more individuals with ADHD are given a chance to continue with their education regardless of the challenges they have to face because of the condition. The challenges facing students with ADHD should be broken down to manageable levels so that school administrations have an easier time while dealing with the challenges. Breaking down of the issues could involve task assignment so that the implementation of the individual programs does not confuse implementation. The procedure of helping students with ADHD should be well-structured to avoid impacts that could come with poorly followed structures. Poor service delivery could give a feeling of discrimination towards students with ADHD.

The teachers are closer to students and thus should be educated on the right methods to use while dealing with students affected by ADHD. Training teachers should involve helping teachers to be able to identify ADHD cases among students. The signs and symptoms of ADHD should be the primary concern while training teachers. After identifying the ADHD cases, the teachers should be taught how to manage such cases. For example, teachers should be taught how to address issues related to ADHD. The primary challenge faced by students living ADHD is the lack of recognition. The behaviors associated with ADHD tend to affect the relationship between people. People living with ADHD tend to behave in funny ways that need to be understood to relate well with them. The training of teachers could serve well to improve the lives of the students in school. Training teachers involve ensuring that the teachers are comfortable in accepting the challenge posed by the ADHD situation. The lack of understanding could make teachers treat students in a way that could make them feel discriminated and make their lives become hard in school. Also, teachers should be trained on the methods of dealing with students with ADHD such as giving more time for assignments or giving them particular tasks that help them to keep their attention focused on class work. Also, teachers could be trained in the right way to address the parents to children affected with ADHD. The teachers can help in helping the parents to train their children on behavior changes.

Individuals living with ADHD need support from different walks of life. Since ADHD is a mental disorder, dealing with it requires a settled environment that does not involve distractions. Distractions could involve behaviors that lead to a feeling of discrimination. When individuals feel discriminated, the most immediate response is creating a mentality of rebellion (Evans et al. 2016). Rebellion could mean that the individuals stop valuing the help that is being given to them. Once students turn rebellious, education becomes hard to be given. Rebellious students are always at risk of becoming under-performers in class-work. One of the measures that can be taken to support individuals living with ADHD is counseling. Counseling can be done in a way that the students feel included in deciding the counseling event. The support can also be given financially. Students living with ADHD may also require financial support to undergo through the special programs that help to address the challenges caused by ADHD. The importance of support is to minimize the adverse impacts that could come about due to improper control of the ADHD.

In sum, students living with ADHD should be supported in their desire to get education. The support could be made effective by changing the organization of schools to include the welfare of students living with disabilities. Training of teachers is essential in the management of ADHD situation in schools and should be considered. Students living with ADHD need to be supported in their bid to achieve education goals. Generally, students struggle day to day, and from the outside, they look like average students. But the battles they have to face within are not seen.

References

Evans, S. W., Langberg, J. M., Schultz, B. K., Vaughn, A., Altaye, M., Marshall, S. A., &            Zoromski, A. K. (2016). Evaluation of a school-based treatment program for young adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84(1), 15.

Miranda, A., Jarque, S., & Tarraga, R. (2008). Interventions in school settings for students with    ADHD. Exceptionality, 14(1), 35-52.

Moore, D. A., Richardson, M., Gwernan-Jones, R., Thompson-Coon, J., Stein, K., Rogers, M., …             & Ford, T. J. (2019). Non-pharmacological interventions for ADHD in school settings: an       overarching synthesis of systematic reviews. Journal of attention disorders, 23(3), 220-          233.