Free Motivation Letter Example: ABA Master’s Programs at George Mason

I’ve spent the majority of my life without a purpose or goal to work towards.  I had chosen a college and graduated simply because it was something to do, not because I necessarily strived for an education or to better myself.  It was because of this that I found myself at age twenty-four with no job and no prospects with options dwindling.  In desperate need of growing up I packed up all my belongings and moved half way across the country to make a new start.  

My first job in North Dakota was as a Direct Support Professional.  Even though this was an entry-level career it was the first and vital steps to giving me a real-world, practical use for my degree in psychology.  While I was helping teach these amazing people how to be as independent as possible, I was also learning more about the foundations of behavior analysis.  I didn’t completely understand it then but every individual I worked with that had “target behaviors” had a plan of action for the staff to follow.  This plan would often be reviewed by a Behavior Specialist whose expertise would allow us to better assist the person to live a life free of target behaviors.  While I was still a Direct Support Professional my supervisors trusted me with becoming an instructor for a class called Therapeutic Response Through Positive Behavior Supports.  This class stressed that all behavior has a meaning, be it sensory, avoidance, tangible items, etc.  I would stress in this class that the goal of our agency was never to control the behaviors of person, but instead to teach an alternative behavior to allow the person to get what they want.  

I enjoyed this position for six years before finding myself ready for a new challenge.  My supervisor at the time recommended that I apply for the Staff Trainer position and I was incredibly surprised when I was picked.  For some agencies that do similar work in other states, a staff trainer might be a completely different job but a lawsuit in 1985 meant that a staff trainer in North Dakota had a number of other duties.  The lawsuit in question led to North Dakota being one of the few states in the country that required their direct care staff to become Direct Support Professionals.  In order to become a DSP in North Dakota you are required to take a number of “modules” written by a Special Education professor at Minot State University.  

My task as the new staff trainer was to teach these modules to every new staff.  The classes touched on a wide variety of topics to better serve our clients.  Topics like: the legal rights of individuals with disabilities, achieving personal outcomes, person-centered planning, supporting individuals with disabilities in the community, working with client’s families, amongst others. The most important class that I instructed was that of Positive Behavior Supports.  While I had already touched on this topic while teaching the Therapeutic Response class, this delved deeper into the concept of the ABCs of behavior, the antecedent, behavior, and consequence.  I taught that all behavior has a purpose and if someone is showing a challenging behavior (verbal and physical aggression, sexual risks, stealing, property destruction, etc.) it was always for a reason.  Our task along with other members of the person’s team was to hypothesis WHY they are doing what they are doing and what behavior we can substitute to better get the person what they want.  I enjoyed this time in my career and felt that I excelled in the position but after three years I was again ready for a new test of my abilities.   

I have been a program director for three years and it has been one of the most fulfilling jobs I could imagine.  I work closely with our clients every day to help them achieve their goals and manage their behaviors.  My client list is wide ranged but have found that I really enjoy working with adults with challenging behaviors.  Some of my clients include: a middle-aged male who broke a woman’s jaw over a few dollars, a young male who enjoys tricking young female staff into seeing naked and/or masturbating, and another young man that will run into traffic if given the chance.  Along with these extreme behaviors I work with other adults to receive mental health treatment for ADHD, Bipolar disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression, to name a few.  As a Program Director I am in charge of coordinating the support team.  This team includes supervisors, direct support staff, psychiatrists, psychologists, guardians, behavior specialists, and occupational therapist in order for our clients to get the help they need and deserve to live the most fulfilling lives possible.  The challenges of this career change every day but what I absolutely love is seeing the change in a person once they receive the right staffing and plan of action.  One of my proudest moments was running a meeting for a man with a past history of sexual abuse of child and was on a line-of-sight, highly restricted behavior plan.  After working with him for a year, following the guidance of a BCBA Specialist, we were finally able to move him to a simple support plan and remove all restrictions.  The client has absolutely blossomed under the BCBA and this was the first inkling that becoming a BCBA Specialist was what I wanted to do next.

As a BCBA Specialist I would be able to continue working with Individuals with challenging behaviors and help them become active and meaningful members of society.  The ABA program at George Mason stood out to me for their reputation.  Your school has a high success rate with the BCBA exam and is touted as one of the best ABA Master’s programs on the official BCBA website.  I believe that specializing in Special Education would be the right path for earning the BCBA as this is the field, I would be serving the most.  I would be honored to attend your school to progress my career and learn how to better help the population I have been working with for over a decade.  I believe that I have shown my passion and experience in this field and would do well with your program.