As a senior in college, I wanted to make sure that going into the social services, in the field of mental healthcare, was something that I could be effective at. When I became aware that there was an opportunity to do a 1000- hour yearlong externship of volunteer work at QUEENS CHILDREN’S PSYCHIATRIC CENTER on the grounds of CREEDMORE PSYCHIATRIC CENTER, working with autistic children, some who also had multiple brain damage, I jumped at the opportunity to do something constructive and gain real- world experience before investing additional time and money into this field. The program consisted of working four hours per day, five days per week, for a 50-week year and being incorporated into the curriculum for these children. It included writing up progress reports and attending case- worker meetings as a member of the team for each assigned child.
B.F. Skinner was a professor at Harvard University who used behavioral modification to teach and alter behavior in patients, but he was criticized for his use of negative reinforcement for poor behavior. In the application of his techniques that we were to use, only positive reinforcement would be implemented to teach basic concepts such as identifying colors, basic mathematics, vocabulary and other elementary concepts. Praise, art& crafts, or treats such as favorite cookies or candy were employed to elicit a correct response depending on the preferences of the child. Progress was extremely slow, and most of the time it was statistically insignificant. It was difficult to come to work each day fully intending to accomplish something positive to improve the lives of these institutionalized children that I cared for when the desired outcome was rarely achieved. After a while the skeleton key that I used to enter the ward would alert my children of my arrival and they would come running down the hallway to greet me in their own way.
Over time and in different circumstances, I observed that many of the professionals who worked with these children seemed burned-out, physically present and completing their work, but without an emotional attachment. I’m sure that they had gone into this line of work with the best of intentions, but the daily grind had ground them down like an emotional gristmill. This must have been a sad realization after dedicating their lives to this work. I completed the program and received my certification at a dinner in our honor, although I had already decided that this line of work was not for me.
Ten years later, as a young father, I came home from work one day and put the key in the lock of our door and I heard my children running and yelling Daddy is home, Daddy is home! and as I opened the door and was assaulted by my army of little tykes I
realized in a moment of epiphany how my children from all those years ago had viewed my arrival on the ward each day. Those children entered the age of majority many years ago and most likely entered the adult population. The building is gone now, but I still wonder sometimes at how those unfortunate children fared in their challenging lives.
Jim -June 26’
