Greetings! My name is Mina, and I am a recent graduate from the University of California, Davis where I received a Bachelor's of Science in Psychobiology and Human Behavior. I am currently enrolled to begin my Master's in Applied Behavioral Analysis at the School of Professional Psychology at the beginning of Fall 2012. I have always had a fascination with behavior and how to modify that behavior through techniques that can benefit those who use them and those they are used on. During my undergraduate career I was employed as a private tutor for an ADHD sophomore in high school with a severe anxiety towards school and work. As a result he had a negative attitude toward school work and hardly applied himself from fear of failing. After I intervened, I put him on a strict schedule and utilized positive reinforcement to try to bring up his marks. Within 4 months, he had raised all his grades an entire letter and by the end of the year had increased his GPA by almost two points, from a 1.7 to a 3.5, and was on the Honor for the first time in his life. He had started gaining the confidence that he had initially lacked and after 18 months I was not only comfortable leaving him with the skills I had helped him develop, I was no longer needed. He was able to maintain his grades without outside help and was considering going to college for the first time in his life. Working with that boy was so rewarding on so many levels for me; I was not only helping a child who had lost hope in his academic ability, I was able to help him realize his potential. That experience even inspired my current career goal as a Applied Behavior Analysis to help other people with learning disabilities or anxieties reach there true potential.
back to top