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My classes as a Human Development and Family Studies major at Auburn University have taught me skills and knowledge about psychology, children, families, and research. Below is a selection of what I consider to be the most important classes and course work I went through in college.
Course Work
Child Psychopathology
Fall 2017
This class was about various disorders, how children manifest them, possible causes, as well as interventions per the DSM-5. These deep dives into academic, behavioral, and mental problems exposed me to some that I had not known of before. One of these was Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), which I chose as the topic for my research paper. As I explored research articles about the disorder, I gained knowledge about its different ways of expression based on factors like age and gender. Later, I was assigned a case study of a child with symptoms similar to ODD and asked to identify the ways environment, genes, etc. could be contributing to the behavior. The skills I practiced in this class will aid me in my future practice in areas of assessment and intervention.
Teacher's Assistant
Statistics and Research Methods
Fall 2017
To be honest, when I first entered Statistics class I didn't understand why research and statistics are so integral to every field of study. As I went through the course, I knew that the concepts were important, but also that I didn't have a good enough understanding of them to use them on my own. Because of my excellent grade performance the first time, I was asked to return as a teacher's assistant. As part of my duties I would hold two hours of office hours per week, help students in the classroom, as well as teach two class sessions on my own. I accepted so that I could become more intimate with the material which I knew I would be using in the future. It was challenging at times, especially since I can't say I was particularly confident in the subject. However, the second exposure to the material allowed me to grow and gain greater understanding. I also emerged with practical experience of teaching under my belt, which will decrease my learning curve for any future experiences.
Parent Education
Fall 2016
This class was about how to teach parents or groups of adults in general about various concepts. Often, when one wants to work with children they think only about their interaction with kids, when usually you will have to work with the adults just as much. The environment they create for the child is ingrained in the child, so in affecting change, intervention must include the caregivers. To learn how to teach parents, I completed a research project about a parenting topic. I chose to discuss parent involvement in their child's education and the profound effect it can have on the child's academic engagement. After my research, I teamed up with other students who had a similar topic and created and presented a class session on the topic. This information about parent involvement in school will not only be helpful in my work as a school psychologist, but the experience presenting on it and my other training regarding parent education will make my work with children more effective.
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