Training in Autism

Training in Autism

The World Health Organisation estimates that one in every 500 people have some form of autism and there is evidence of a marked increase in cases over recent years. Demand for teachers with specialist knowledge of autistic children's educaionalneeds is there fore growing. Possible workplaces for professionals trained in working with autistic children include NGOs, early intervention programmes, remedial centers and curriculum development units.
There are already a number of places that offer courses training people to educate children with autism. These range from short courses aimed at parents, to longre courses for teachers and other professionals. The Rehabilitation Council of India (www.rehabcouncil.nic.in) has compiled a three month curriculum focusing on autism. Unfortunately, take up at some of the centres delivering the training has been low, with a centre in Hyderabnad pulling out due to lack of numbers.
The Chennai based V-Excel Educational Trust (www.v-excel.org) runs programmes focsing on autism that range from week end to two year courses. There is a buring need for professionals in the field of special education. Emploers are looking for people with uninhibited creativity, well developed thinking skills and a total commitment to the children who they are providing a service to. There is a severe dearth of teachers and institutins, and parents struggle to arrange services for their children with special needs.

A NATIONAL ONE-DAY WORKSHOP ON BEHAVIOR-BASED SAFETY

A NATIONAL ONE-DAY WORKSHOP ON
BEHAVIOR-BASED SAFETY on Saturday, 8th March 2008

(Venue: West End Hotel, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020)

Introduction:
People behave unsafe because it saves their time and effort (taking short cuts, not using PPE). Environmental solutions don’t work as effectively as people may remove guards and work in bad housekeeping. Punishment may lead to negative effects. Attitude change does not help much, as it does not really convert into behavior. So behavior-based safety (BBS) can be tried for still better safety results.

BBS emphasizes that take active responsibility for safety of each other. Target observable behavior, focus on positive consequence we expect to receive i.e. change unsafe to safe behavior; monitor behavioral trends of each individual or group everyday / week / month in order to understand percentage of safe and at-risk behaviors across departments during the years.

Total safety culture encompasses that safety mechanisms are in place and active, and then implementing BBS gives wonderful results. According to a senior safety professional, “punishment never works for sustainable results for safety in organizations”. Another safety professional added, “BBS is going to be one of the best components of safety in the years to come”. According to another senior safety professional, “you may have operational controls at the workplace; you may have told employees for safety, human beings still meet with accidents due to unsafe behaviors”. BBS believes that psychological change can be achieved with repeated and active care of each other. BBS underlines that when 80-90 percent of accidents and injuries are due to unsafe behaviors; let us focus on unsafe as well as safe behaviors. Behavior is objective, definable, observable, correctable and measurable.

A chief safety objective of every plant is to achieve zero accident. Since safety in the organization can not be less than 100%; the participation of employees from every plant in safety also has to be not less than 100%. That is what Behavior Safety is all about.

We can accomplish this objective if we train every workman / employee on the concept and process of behavioral safety. Before training of employees, we need to sensitize or promote the concept of Behavior Based Safety (BBS) among the HOD’s, and front-line managers.

Why Behavioral Safety?
Research and experience indicate that:
1. 90% or more of the accidents are due unsafe human acts or behaviors;
2. 50% of the unsafe behaviors are identified or noticeable at any plant at any given point of time;
3. 25-30% of safety awareness is lacking among employees which gets reflected in their unsafe behaviors;
4. Unsafe behaviors are at the core of any near misses, injury, accidents. If we control unsafe behaviors, we may not even have near misses.

So we need to focus our efforts on unsafe and safe behaviors in safety.
BBS secret of success is that the safety control is in hands of each employee, they feel empowered and responsible.

What Behavioral Safety Training Does?
BBS is one of the best and latest safety approaches. BBS is process of repeatedly going to an employee and making random observations till he reaches safe behaviors and learns the concept of self-observation and observing others for safe performance. Eight aspects that behavioral safety takes care of in order to prevent unsafe behaviors and promote safe behaviors are:
1. PPE
2. Housekeeping
3. Using tools and equipment
4. Body positioning / protecting
5. Material handling
6. Communication
7. Following procedures
8. Visual focusing

With the help of a checklist, BBS trained observers create data on the above eight critical behaviors to guide their observations. Each observer observes at least one of his co-workers daily. If there are 500 workmen, 500 checklists are created per day on unsafe and safe behaviors in the organization, this way safety becomes a daily reminder which in essence builds safety culture. We can almost daily-check an increase or decrease in unsafe and safe behaviors by creating this BBS data base.

BBS Implementation
BBS is by the people, of the people and for the people. It is based on the established principles of behavior theory in Psychology. The implementation of behavioral safety project gets started with every department the day after they complete one day training on BBS. The concept and process of BBS has quick application and easy to be understood by people at every level. Every department can produce a graph of unsafe and safe behaviors of their workmen every week, every month. So one can compare the decrease in unsafe behaviors and increase in safe behaviors month by month. Every quarter of the year, all the departments can be compared on unsafe and safe behaviors of their workmen or operators.

Workshop Objective:
The workshop would provide exposure and experience to the BBS Concepts; Observation and Feedback processes; and implementation of BBS in an organization. The workshop shall be useful in understanding and application of the concept and process of behavior based safety for safety professionals and managers at all levels concerned about correcting unsafe behaviors for reduction of accidents and promoting safe behaviors for developing injury-free culture in their organizations.

Topics:
Before BBS is launched in organizations, training exposure to the employees is essentially envisaged. Hence BBS training workshop should include the following components / inputs:

FORENOON
Concepts of Behavioral Safety
Processes of Behavioral Safety
Implementation of Behavior Safety

AFTERNOON
Practicum on Behavioral Safety
Action Plan
BBS Quiz

Participants:
The course is intended for Directors / Top Management, Sr. Managers, Functional / Front-Line Managers, and Supervisors. A minimum of 30 participants are required per workshop. For Workmen / Contract Workers the workshop can be held in Hindi language.

Methodology:
The topics will be presented through interactive lectures cum discussion, practicum, active reading of material, mutual experience sharing and plan of action. In general, the medium of instruction is English language.

Reading material:
A set of reading material in English language shall be provided on the above topics to the participants. For workmen, a set of this reading material can be provided in Hindi language.

Venue: West End Hotel, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020, tel. 022-2203 9121. Website: www.westendhotelmumbai.com

Fee: Rs 5,000/- per participant to be paid by DD in favour of ‘BBS INDIA’ and to be sent to: Mrs. A. Kaila, 04, Shiv Sagar Apartments, Bhabola Chulne Road, Vasai Road (West) - 401202, Mumbai.

Faculty:
Programme coordinator: Dr H L Kaila is Professor of Psychology, has 25 years professional experience in the field of industrial psychology, has published books / articles and participated in national / international conferences. He is BBS trainer and member expert panel at National Safety Council. Tel.: 09322006518, 0250-2384562. kailahl@hotmail.com

Dr H L Kaila has conducted BBS workshops for ITC, ESSAR, Reliance Industries, Colourtex Industries, Reliance Energy, Ultratech, GAIL, Chambal Fertilizers, RKHS, NPC and also co-conducted 20 safety awareness surveys for various locations in India.

Further queries: contact Dr H L Kaila, Mumbai, India .
Tel.: 093220-06518, 0250-2384562. kailahl@hotmail.com

Books in Psychology

Books in Psychology

I. Personality :
1. Personalilty Development - Elizabeth Hurlock - Tata McGrawHill - Delhi
2. Theories of Personality - Calvin Hall, Gardner Lindzey & John Campbell John Wiley & Sons, New York
3. Personality - William Samuel - McGraw Hill International Book Co., Delhi
( may not be available in India )

II. Abnormal Psychology :
1. Robert Carson, James Butcher and Susan Mineka - Pearson Education - LPE - India
2. Irwin Sarason & Barbara Sarason, Prentice Hall - EEE - India
3. Coleman - supposed to be the best Book - Out of print - not easily available in India
( Pl. check up www.Amazon.com for Second hand books )

III. Counseling :
1. Modern Clinical Psychology - Sheldon Korchin - CBS Publishers, Delhi
2. Counseling Psychology - Vasantha Patri - Authors Press, Indian Inst. of Counseling Delhi
3. Counseling & Guidance - Narayana Rao - Tata McGraw Hill, Delhi
4. Mastering Counseling Theory - Ray Colldge - Palgrave Macmillan - N Y
5. Prctical approaches to Counseling - Margaret Hough - Pearson Education
6. Clinical Practice of Psychology - Eugene Walker - Pergamon Press, N Y
7. On becoming a Counselor - Eugene Kennedy - Gill & Macmillan, NY
8. Theory & Practice of Counseling & Psychotherapy - Gerald Corey, Brooks cole, California
9. Behavioural Counseling - John Krumboltz & Carl Thoreson - Holt, Rinehart & Winston, NY

IV. Psychological Assessment & Testing :

1.Psychological Testing - Frank Freeman - Oxford and I B H, India

CALL FOR PROPOSALS For the AAPA 2008 Annual Convention at Boston

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

(1)INTERACTIVE SESSIONS; (2) SYMPOSIA; (3) POSTER SESSION

For the
ASIAN AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
2008 ANNUAL CONVENTION
August 13, 2008
Boston , MA

"Interdisciplinary Approaches to Resisting Ethnocentrism, Racism and Intersecting ppressions: Practice, Research, Theory, and Community Interventions "


The Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) invites submissions of proposals for the AAPA 2008 Annual Convention to be held in Boston, MA on Wednesday, August 13 th, 2008. The convention theme this year is Interdisciplinary Approaches to Resisting Ethnocentrism, Racism and Intersecting Oppressions .

In recent years, our country has witnessed a disturbing surge in the number of overtly discriminatory acts against people of color. In spite of the fact that ethnic minorities are now the demographic majority in many parts of this country, the sociocultural context of racial bias, exclusion, and violence continues to profoundly shape the lived experiences of people of color and the communities in which they live. Research, practice, and advocacy efforts aimed at resisting racism, ethnocentrism, and intersecting oppressions for individuals, families, communities, and institutions are particularly encouraged. Special attention will be given to proposals that involve interdisciplinary or community collaborations.

Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following topics within Asian American psychology:
Interdisciplinary models for understanding the cultural, psychological, economic, and political effects of racism and ethnocentrism, including interactions with other systemic oppressions ( e.g. gender, disability, sexual orientation, social class, etc.)
Individual and collective strategies for resisting racism (and internalized racism), colorism, and ethnocentrism Challenging stereotypic depictions of APIs in literature, film, television, and news media Racial socialization, racial identity development, and adaptation within API families and communities Increasing therapists' awareness about and racism, ethnocentrism and intersecting oppressions Overcoming racism, microaggressions, and ethnocentric practice in the therapist-client relationships Therapeutic strategies for addressing race and experiences of racism and oppression with clients of color Addressing interethnic biases that challenge alliance-building across diverse API ethnic communities Empowering APIs through activism and political organizing The role of White allies in the fight against racism and ethnocentrism.

Who may submit
AAPA members at all levels of training (professional, graduate level, and undergraduate level), including non-psychologists, interested in psychological issues affecting Asian Americans are encouraged to submit proposals. Undergraduate proposals are encouraged. Non-AAPA members at all levels may also submit proposals.

To reinforce the convention's theme on interdisciplinary collarborations, we also particularly encourage submissions from non-psychologists, including members of related mental health professions (e.g. nursing, social work, education) as well as members of other professions and fields that are not primarily psychological in nature (i.e., sociologists, anthropologists, journalists, clergy, artists, writers). Because resisting racism and ethnocentrism are challenges present for all people of color, we particularly encourage submissions from members of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP), or the National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA). All presenters are required to officially register for the convention.

Types of Submissions
Deadline for all submissions is March 24, 2008.

SESSIONS
Interactive Sessions (60 minutes) provide an environment for focused discussions and interactions. In a typical session, a facilitator( s) introduce the topic and set up a context for subsequent discussions and interactions among participants. Send proposals via email (cover sheet and proposal as separate RTF or MS Word Attachments) to Joyce Chu at jchu@pgsp.edu.

Symposia (60 minutes) are forums where multiple presentations around a common theme are addressed. A typical symposium will include presentations from various perspectives by subsequent presenters. An invited expert discussant may provide feedback. Send proposals via email (cover sheet and proposal as separate RTF or MS Word Attachments) to Joyce Chu at jchu@pgsp.edu.

If applicable, please submit interactive sessions or symposia proposals concurrently for poster session consideration. Do not submit a separate poster proposal for a session that you would also like to be considered as a poster. Instead, clearly indicate on the cover sheet under "A: Type of Program" that you would like your session proposal to also be considered for a poster presentation.

No individual paper proposals are accepted. Single research papers should be submitted as posters.

POSTERS
Posters are conceptual and/or empirical reports presented in the form of a poster. In a poster session, multiple posters are displayed to disseminate information and elicit interactions with participants. Send proposals via email (cover sheet and proposal as separate RTF or MS Word Attachments) to Sara Cho Kim at sarakim@wisc. edu.

AAPA Conference Related Awards and Application Process
Student Travel Awards. AAPA offers some travel awards for student presenters. AAPA student presenters who have paid dues for 2007 and 2009 are eligible to apply. Priority will be given to the first authors, students who have not received the award before, and students traveling longer distances to convention. Following the acceptance of your proposal, students should send application materials to the AAPA Awards Chair: Fred Leong at fleong@utk.edu. Please see the AAPA website for further information: www.aapaonline.org/membership/awards.htm.

Division on Women (DoW) Awards. The DoW offers two awards:
The Division on Women Award is given to a presenter of a session related to psychological issues of Asian and Pacific Islander women to celebrate and highlight work on Asian American women's issues. Following the acceptance of your proposal , applicants interested in the DoW Award should send application materials to the DoW co-chairs: Juli Fraga at drjulifraga@gmail.com or Elayne Chou at elaynechou@comcast. net For more information see AAPA website: www.aapaonline.org.

The Alice F. Chang Student Scholar Award is given to the best poster presentation related to the mental health of Asian and Pacific Islander women. All accepted and presented posters submitted by students as the first author are considered for this award. The best poster will be judged and awarded at the convention.

Number of accepted proposals allowed

There is no limit to the number of submitted proposals per individual. However, individuals can only be the first author and presenter of ONE proposal. In the event that multiple submissions are accepted, submitters will be asked to choose ONE proposal to be presented at the conference. Exempted from this rule are presenters who are invited speakers and discussants in symposia.

Audiovisual Equipments
Following the acceptance of your proposal , presenters will be asked to indicate their needs for audiovisual equipments. AAPA will provide flip charts, over-head projectors, and will try our best to provide LCD projectors for power point presentations. However, please be aware that we cannot guarantee LCD projectors available for all presenters.

Guidelines for proposals
The deadline for all proposal submission is March 24, 2008.
All proposals should include:
a separate cover sheet (see below) with all required information provided an Abstract (50 to 100 words) with no author names, and a Program Summary (500 to 700 words) with no author names.

For submissions to interactive session and symposia, submit only ONE program summary that integrates the multiple presentations within the proposed session but also clearly indicates the titles and contents of each presentation within the symposia.

The proposal title should be clearly indicated on top of the Abstract and Program Summary.

Proposals will be sent for anonymous reviews. As such, the Abstract and Program Summary should NOT include identifying information of the authors and/or presenters.

The cover sheet and the proposal should be sent as two separate MS Word or RTF email attachments.

Submitters will be notified by email upon receipt of their proposal.

Submission outcomes will be sent by email on or before April 28, 2008.

Ethical Concept of Psychologist

Ethical Concept of Psychologist

All psychologists must uphold the same ethical standards about confidentiality even though each state imposes different legal limits on their ability to protect clients' confidences. The resulting ethical-legal confusion is exacerbated by legally based confidentiality training that treats legal exceptions as if they were the rule and fosters the impression that attorneys are now the only real experts about this aspect of practice. This article provides an ethics-based confidentiality practice model that clarifies the ethical rule and puts its legal exceptions into ethical perspective. Like the Confidentiality section of the American Psychological Association's (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, this outline would apply to all psychologists regardless of state laws, but the details of its implementation would vary according to role and setting. It can be used as a universal training outline, a consultation and supervision tool, a guide to professional practice, and a basis for clearer ongoing conversation about the ethics of 'conditional confidentiality.' Psychologists can use this practice model to regain their status as experts about the confidentiality ethics of their own profession.

Proponents of absolute confidentiality have always emphasized the clinical consequences of placing conditions on the protection of confidences. (See, e.g., Bollas & Sundelson, 1995; Siegel, 1976). But conditional confidentiality also has important ethical consequences. Many of the 'conditions' now placed on confidentiality allow psychologists to avoid risks to themselves. For example, when psychologists obey reporting laws, they thereby avoid the legal and financial risks of civil disobedience; but this simply transfers the risk to the clients whose confidences are betrayed. Similarly, when psychologists disclose information against a client's wishes in a court case, they avoid a contempt citation, a financial penalty, and incarceration; the risk is borne instead by the client whose confidential information becomes public information.

Initially, the ethical obligation was unambiguous. The first APA Ethics Code (APA, 1953) required psychologists to "guard professional confidences as a trust" (p. 55). The next three Ethics Codes (APA, 1959 [p. 280], 1963 [p. 57], 1968 [p. 358]) retained that concept of guarding
confidences: "Safeguarding information about an individual.. . is a primary obligation of the psychologist." Clearly, the profession was not ambivalent about what constituted ethical behavior.

By the 1970s, however, there was significant disagreement within APA about how to respond to the new child abuse reporting statutes and duty- to-protect laws. Many within the profession were concerned that the legal demands for disclosure meant a lowering of the ethical standard (Siegel, 1976).

That stance, albeit commendable, created an unfortunate stalemate. Unable to agree on a new ethical standard, the profession maintained the status quo: The 1979 APA Ethics Code, although significantly revised in other respects, had nothing new to say about confidentiality (Pope & Vetter, 1992). This left psychologists ethically responsible for upholding confidentiality standards enacted two decades earlier, during a very different legal era.

The profession's ethicists had difficulty deciding what to say about confidentiality in the 1970s, and 30 years later, psychologists still have difficulty understanding their ethical obligations about it. Psychologists will "reach for the ethical ceiling" about confidentiality only if they have a sturdy ethical floor on which to stand. This ethics- based organizing schema can serve that purpose.

Conversations about confidentiality can be enhanced by the existence of an ethical outline that applies to all psychologists regardless of state laws, practice settings, or professional roles. Psychologists can use this practice model to place legal mandates into ethical perspective, to frame ethical questions more clearly, to seek consultation more confidently, and to protect clients' confidentiality rights more effectively. In short, psychologists can use this practice model to reclaim their status as experts about the confidentiality ethics of their profession.

"Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version of the same problem that experts fall for."
--Cognitive psychologist Amos Tversky (1937-1996)--

Career in DRDO

About Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is a 30,000 strong Scientists/Technolo gists organisation working in 52 disciplines. In Psychology DRDO has an institution named Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) which was established in 1948 and located in Delhi. There are at present 78 psychologists working in different areas of psychology, and is the largest psychological institution in Asia. Research, Product and Process development, Personnel Selection are the flag ship activities of DIPR.

Career openings are as Junior Research Fellow(minimum eligibility: Masters in Psychology), Research Associate(minimum eligibility: PhD in Psychology), Scientist(minimum eligibility: Masters in Psychology for Scientist B, and PhD for Scientist C, etc), Senior Technical Assistant (minimum eligibility: Graduate in Psychology), etc. The openings appear in Employment News, and in the website www.drdo.org and at times in some of the national newspapers.

The worklife is challenging with plenty of facilities.
If you are passionate about psychology then DIPR is the place where you have to be.
Enjoy the journey of Science.