The grass is always greener

There is a cliche that the grass is always greener on the other side which says so much how people will never get contented with what they have.

In my previous company, people always complain of stress, having long hours at the office, barely allowed to work from home, demanding bosses and clients. Management would often comfort us that at least we have the best benefits and perks than other companies. Then people would answer in whispers that its not what matters if you barely have work-life balance to enjoy those.

In my current company, the bosses are advocates of work-life balance probably because they came from the country that is often named as the happiest country. They would allow people to go work from home even on the mundanest reasons sometimes even if you do not have a reason at all. Asking for emergency leaves are given like candies in a candy store so we know that oftentimes some just say they have an emergency at home when they need to go off work and just forgot to get approval beforehand. People can freely surf the net including social media sites even at the sight of the managers. But still you would hear people that they want to leave because of poor monetary benefits and perks.

Thus, I rest my case.

posted from Bloggeroid

What motivates us?

There is an old adage: “Choose a job that you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” meaning that if you enjoy your occupation, work doesn’t seem like . . . well, work. Some research suggests that this isn’t necessarily the case (Daniel & Esser, 1980; Deci, 1972; Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). According to this research, receiving some sort of extrinsic reinforcement (i.e., getting paid) for engaging in behaviors that we enjoy leads to those behaviors being thought of as work no longer providing that same enjoyment. As a result, we might spend less time engaging in these reclassified behaviors in the absence of any extrinsic reinforcement. For example, Odessa loves baking, so in her free time, she bakes for fun. Oftentimes, after stocking shelves at her grocery store job, she often whips up pastries in the evenings because she enjoys baking. When a coworker in the store’s bakery department leaves his job, Odessa applies for his position and gets transferred to the bakery department. Although she enjoys what she does in her new job, after a few months, she no longer has much desire to concoct tasty treats in her free time. Baking has become work in a way that changes her motivation to do it. What Odessa has experienced is called the overjustification effect—intrinsic motivation is diminished when extrinsic motivation is given. This can lead to extinguishing the intrinsic motivation and creating a dependence on extrinsic rewards for continued performance (Deci et al., 1999).

 Source: Reading Material for edx course: UBCx: PSYC.4x AP® Psychology - Part 4: How Behavior Works

Obnoxious people

"This is an important concept for obnoxious people: selective niceness. This guys considers himself to be nice in the specific, but not in general, that is, he's nice to certain people when he wants to be, but most unpleasant and difficult the rest of the time and he feels good about it"
- from What Would Machiavelli do? By Stanley Bing

posted from Bloggeroid

Motivators

There are two great motivators in life. One is fear. The other is love. You can lead an organization by fear, but if you do, you will ensure that people won't perform up to their capabilities.
- Jan Carlson

posted from Bloggeroid

Alone

The man who goes alone can start the day. But he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.
-Henry David Thoreau

posted from Bloggeroid

Myths on Children with Special Needs

Lack of proper awareness about children with special needs especially in a developing country like ours inevitably causes a lot of myths to be spreading around and sometimes thought to be truths or facts by many.
One of the most common myth I know is that some people think that children that are mentally retarded, with Down syndrome and autism are one are the same. I have personal experiences with this one since my child has autism, so when I tell other people that my son has autism more often than not they would say, he doesn’t look like one. I guess they always think that autistic children also share the same distinct physical characteristics that is often associated with Down syndrome.
Aside from the physical characteristics that they often generalize as to should be the same for all children with special needs, they don’t think each child as unique. So they would always assume that if they meet one child with special needs, they already know what a special needs child are as a whole.
Another myth that I am aware of is that special needs children cannot be independent, that they have to be taken care of for the rest of the their lives. That they need to have a caregiver 24X7 to attend to their needs.
After watching the videos and reading the materials in the course I know for a fact that the above myths that I stated are really just myths and DEFINITELY not facts.  Mentally retarded, kids with Down syndrome and kids with autism are NOT the same. They might seem similar at first impression (DEFINITELY not on the physical characteristics) but on their social skills or behavioral tendencies, but they differ in several aspects. Mentally retarded kids are those kids with intelligence and abilities that are below that are expected of their age, Down syndrome is a genetic disorder which causes the distinct physical characteristic to kids which has this disorder. Autism on the other hand is a disorder that affects how a child communicates, interacts with other people and adapts to his environment. I just learned however through this program that 60-75% of kids with autism are mentally retarded.
Reading through the materials I also learned that each special needs child is also unique as much as a normal child is unique from each other. So it would really be very difficult to predict their potential that is why we should never lose hope and limit them to what they were able to do yesterday, or can do today as they could possibly surpass it tomorrow.
Lastly, although as mentioned that each special child is unique some might need living assistance but not all would need 24 x7 caregiver assistance for the rest of their lives. If early and properly trained (and depending on the physical capabilities), a child with special needs can live independently or at least with minimal assistance. The important thing is we don’t limit them to what they can do. We should let them develop their potential so they can be as independent as much as they can. It may not be 100% (again for some maybe) but at least to some level they can do some things independently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hierarchy of needs for Children with Special needs

I searched the Internet for what psychologists think as the hierarchy of needs of humans and below they say is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. 

 

 

 

Of course I don’t think the needs of Special needs children differ but I think it just differs in the order. 

Below is for me the hierarchy of needs for children with Special needs: 

 

 

 

For me, the highest priority in the needs of children with special needs is belongingness and love needs. 

First and foremost, they need to be completely and unconditionally loved by their family and friends.  Their disability should be completely accepted and understood by their loved ones. I believe this need to be first and foremost be addressed before any of their other needs. 

Also, I also believe that if this is addressed properly, it would be easy to address the other needs and or the other needs will unconsciously be addressed. 

Second is self actualization, each one of them like any other human being is unique and has different potential and needs to achieve that full potential. They need to achieve that too how little it might some seem compared to other non-special needs children. 

Third is the esteem needs, the need to be able to have a feeling of prestige and accomplishment. They need to feel useful and not someone that can be ignored. 

Fourth is their safety needs. They also need to feel safe and secure.  

Lastly are the physiological or the basic needs like food and water.