Jacqueline Marra '10 is spending the spring of her junior year in Hamilton's Cooperative Education Program with the New England Center for Children. She recently described her activities as a participant in the program.
"I'm currently working one-on-one with three different preschoolers diagnosed with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. Many of them have severe communication and social deficits and some are completely non-verbal," said Marra. "We deal with a lot of challenging behaviors and constantly use positive reinforcement to reward the kids for doing their work and having good behavior. Teaching these children can be extremely difficult and draining at times but it's even more rewarding when the kid you're working with finally understands something after months of practice and looks up at you with a huge smile on his face."
Marra said that by using positive reinforcement, she teaches the students basic preschool curriculum (e.g., naming colors, letters, and numbers), social skills, occupational therapy skills and speech skills. "At NECC we teach using errorless learning, meaning we use full manual or verbal guidance when we first introduce a lesson and gradually fade out prompts until the student can work independently," she explained.
In addition to her work with the children, Marra is taking graduate-level classes in applied behavior analysis through Northeastern University. She'll return to Hamilton with full academic credit for the semester.
The New England Center for Children, in the Boston suburb of Southborough, is a community-based residential school for children and adults with autism, behavior disorders, mental retardation, and other related developmental disabilities. A dozen or more Hamilton graduates are employed at the facility, according to its founder and executive director, Vinnie Strully '69.
After NECC, Hamilton students often pursue their psychology senior projects in related areas. For example, this year two NECC veterans will be researching employee support issues in similar programs that are part of Upstate Cerebral Palsy in Utica.
For more information about the NECC program please contact Jonathan Vaughan in the Psychology department.
"I'm currently working one-on-one with three different preschoolers diagnosed with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. Many of them have severe communication and social deficits and some are completely non-verbal," said Marra. "We deal with a lot of challenging behaviors and constantly use positive reinforcement to reward the kids for doing their work and having good behavior. Teaching these children can be extremely difficult and draining at times but it's even more rewarding when the kid you're working with finally understands something after months of practice and looks up at you with a huge smile on his face."
Marra said that by using positive reinforcement, she teaches the students basic preschool curriculum (e.g., naming colors, letters, and numbers), social skills, occupational therapy skills and speech skills. "At NECC we teach using errorless learning, meaning we use full manual or verbal guidance when we first introduce a lesson and gradually fade out prompts until the student can work independently," she explained.
In addition to her work with the children, Marra is taking graduate-level classes in applied behavior analysis through Northeastern University. She'll return to Hamilton with full academic credit for the semester.
The New England Center for Children, in the Boston suburb of Southborough, is a community-based residential school for children and adults with autism, behavior disorders, mental retardation, and other related developmental disabilities. A dozen or more Hamilton graduates are employed at the facility, according to its founder and executive director, Vinnie Strully '69.
After NECC, Hamilton students often pursue their psychology senior projects in related areas. For example, this year two NECC veterans will be researching employee support issues in similar programs that are part of Upstate Cerebral Palsy in Utica.
For more information about the NECC program please contact Jonathan Vaughan in the Psychology department.
