Week 2, Assignment 2

This week’s assignment was a bit challenging.  There were lots of information that ultimately lead me to very useful data.  I am currently doing some research for one of my classes and had difficulty deciding the area I wanted to concentrate on; however, the research we did this week led me to decide on the topic.  My research will focus on Human Validation Therapy.  The sources of information were endless, however, when utilizing what I’ve learned, I was able to narrow down my results to less than 2000.  I was overwhelmed with the sources of information and took me a good 2 hours to narrow down the articles I wanted to use.  I realized that “Inadequate research is merely to gather data and synthesize it” (Research Strategies), therefore,  in order to be successful at gathering information, it is important to remember to take your time and think outside the box and be creative. 

Virgina Satir is a pioneer in Transformational Systemic Therapy and was one of the founders of the family therapy movement. Her beliefs provided her with an unshakable confidence that human growth is natural and are moving in a positive directions.  This is a topic I would like to explore further. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! My name is Lizbeth; I am currently working towards my bachelor’s degree in Psychology. I attended two community colleges near my home town before transferring to a University. This is my second term and I am looking forward to the on-line experience and excited of being part of the Chapman University system. 

I have worked in the Special Education department at an elementary school district in Orange County for the past 18 years.  I oversee the compliance of all student’s Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). My line of work is very interesting due to its complexity in this specific subject area of discipline. My interests in this field grew as the years passed, therefore, when I decided to go back to school, I knew immediately that education was the way to go.

On a daily bases, I have the opportunity to help staff members, answer questions about different topics, but my rewards come when I can provide assistance to our students and their families. As our Special Education population increased, so the demands and responsibilities of our educators. Being informed about the rules and regulations in our field not only serve as a guide, but as a bridge to communicate with our families in order to provide a quality education for all of our students. 

Research is a big part of my job and I use this information to pass it along to different groups in our department. Although there is an immense amount of information at my disposal, I always have to be cautious on what I choose to share with our staff. Thankfully, many of my answers come from the Department of Education (gatekeeper) and can trust the information I gather from their website.  One of the downsides, is that all rules and regulations are based on legal interpretation, and the interpretation may vary based on who is interpreting the law.  On these instances, making a determination, may implicate legal assistance from our council.