Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Learning
I've had people ask me where I learned all the stuff I know about supporting adults with developmental disabilities since I often point out that I don't have a college degree and yet I now write books on that subject.
Well, eighteen years of hands-on experience taught me a lot, but where I learned to sort out what I had learned and be able to put it into coherent thoughts so I could pass on what I knew to others and to link together the concepts I had figured out to put them into practice in a manner that best benefited our clients was from a co-worker. When I was a program director, the smartest thing I ever did was hire someone who was a lot smarter than me. I take full credit for that.
Michael Floyd (who died of cancer a few years ago) had worked in the mental health field for 25 years when I hired him. This guy knew behaviors! He knew the book learning part and he had 25 years of putting techniques into practice. He was also good at explaining things like actually defining what a behavior is, operant and respondent behaviors, behavioral chains, informed consent, and so much more.
You don't know exactly what those terms mean? You probably know about the concepts but just not the names. You may not know how to expand on what you know by truly understanding the terminology involved, too. All professions have their own particular jargon.
Does this mean that you need a college degree? Nope. In most cases, you just need someone like Michael to help you understand what you already know. That's why all of my resource books are written in easy to understand terms so anyone can grasp the concepts fully. I'm not saying that I ever knew as much as Michael did, but that's not the point. The point is that the more you know about what you know, the better you'll be at your job. How to put what you do know into practice is more important that knowing the fancy college terms.
Please let me encourage you to never stop learning!
