Article archive / September 1, 2009
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 1. Source pages: 5.
Above, Scott applies an ABA principle to an individual.
Scott Williamson’s internship was pivotal. He had just graduated from McNeese State University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. That summer he worked in a private practice setting with autistic children in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
He describes the experience as one that “made me really happy, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I was sold. That was it. It was just a matter of getting it done.”
Scott had been a science major until he took a psychology of learning course with Dr. Cameron Melville. He worked in the lab, he trained a rat (#86), and he emerged a psychology major.
As an undergraduate he then knew he wanted to be in the field of psychology. With his direction further clarified by his internship, Scott enrolled in the Applied Behavior Analysis masters program at McNeese.
The ABA program, recently accredited by the Behavior Analytics Certification Board, reunited Scott with Dr. Gordon Bourland, with whom he had consulted during his summer stint in the world of private practice.
Dr. Bourland taught Scott how to run a treatment with a child, develop an instructional path, and teach errorless learning. Scott says he really loved the method “because it’s so creative while sticking to principles, and also individualized.”
Scott completed his master’s degree and is now on the McNeese Autism Program staff, where he enjoys working with Janice Huber, the MAP program director. She was the private practitioner with whom Scott had done his internship.
As he contemplates where to pursue his doctorate, Scott is glad to have time off from course work, so that he can focus on his job, which he loves, and on the ABA certification exam, which he takes this fall.
Scott offers this advice for upcoming psychology students. “Find what you’re interested in and read up on it. In addition to textbooks, find the journal article in the reference and read that. If you take one thing away from each article, you’ve got something. Go beyond the textbook. Go a little further.”
For those already in his chosen profession Scott asks for “more working between different schools of thought and different interdisciplinary works. We should be able to find ways to work together no matter what, to find the good parts of each other’s views. If we have competing views, how can we make it better for the individual? Rather than getting bogged down with semantics, work together and benefit the individual. How can we be more effective?”
When asked what he enjoys about his own work, Scott recalled the first time a child said “I want the spinny,” using words instead of a gesture to get a toy. “The first time you hear that functional request, that first approximation, it’s just beautiful to hear.“
Scott Williamson, who is generous in his praise of those who have taught him, is himself praise-worthy. He is both a scientist who adheres to the principles of psychology and a practitioner who respects the individuals whom he serves.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.