[Gentle music]
Angie Soleman:
I chose the Master of Applied Behaviour Analysis at Monash University.
Monika Fritz:
Behaviour analysis is an opportunity to understand behaviour better, but to understand that with the science of intervention.
[On-screen text: Master of Inclusive Education Program – Master of Master of Applied Behaviour Analysis – Monash University]
Monika Fritz:
Angie's role is to bring the lens of behavioural analysis to the workforce and to the schools so that we can better understand the function of a student's behaviour, so that we can also design interventions that help that student meet the need in a more functional way and therefore be able to learn.
Angie Soleman:
There was an epiphany when I was actually doing the Masters and I was doing the work at the same time, where I finally understood why I was doing the things that I was doing and the impacts that that could have. And then I was able to use my own clinical judgment in circumstances and make my own informed decisions about what was best for a client in that moment.
Monika Fritz:
When you are working with complexity with a lot of other professionals, sometimes it can be quite challenging to hold your voice with a light on what is meeting the need of that student.
Angie Soleman:
People are reluctant to change and that includes when we are asking people to change their own behaviours to support the change in the students behaviour. And the science really helps to provide the evidence base for what we're doing.
Monika Fritz:
We have, for example, built a model in Bayside where every team has a behaviour champion that is individually mentored by her. But we've also set up a twice weekly opportunity for every member of our Bayside Peninsula area to be able to access Angie to discuss any complex issue, any week.
Angie Soleman:
The Department's done really well to jump on board with it so early, but we are in the baby stages of implementing it and I really think it's going to end in really positive culture change within the school system as a whole, and I want to be a part of that.
Monika Fritz:
If I would have ten of my staff say they want to do it, I would find a way to accommodate it because the impact that it has on not just the students but the staff in schools who actually have to manage this complex behaviour is phenomenal.
[On-screen text: Disability Inclusion – Education for All. Victorian State Government – Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne]
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