My girlfriend and our graduate program/her career

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Hi all,

My girlfriend is (or was) in an applied behavior analysis graduate program. As I'm sure you know, this is a field that involves treating people with autism using operant conditioning. She has received fantastic marks in her program (she's carrying a GPA of 3.69), she worked in a lab for a well known professor (that subsequently quit her job with one day's notice last July), and received a stipend from the program. Furthermore, she's also employed at a behavior analysis agency at the moment. She's held the job for a good 6 months now and is doing pretty well.

A couple days ago, she received a letter from the program telling her to take a semester off and receive counseling for her "behavioral problems" that would interfere with her ability to be a good clincian. In graduate school terminationese, this basically means, "We don't like you - you need to leave the program." What my girlfriend and I both know now (hell, I knew it the moment she opened her mouth - I'm sure the faculty knew it, too) is what they mean by "behavioral problems" is her undiagnosed, very mild Asperger's Syndrome.

She is being let go after completing all of her coursework with great grades and only has to do her internship. She's even nearly done with her master's thesis. What is startling about this is the fact that they are letting her go for something they knew about when they first met her (her AS is mild but completely obvious).

Obviously, this is utterly devastating for me as I love this girl. What the hell can she do now?

she needs a sympathetic therapist who can work on her social skills and will be willing to write a glowing report of your girlfriend's progress at the end of the semester off. she also needs the uni to spell out specifically what behaviors (with examples) it objects to. nothing is more frustrating than not knowing exactly what you have to work on.

Oh, they definitely told her what she needs to change in no uncertain terms. Personally, the girl is so damn high functioning that I don't think she needs a semester off. Hell, she already works as a therapist and does a fine job at it!!

I wonder what, exactly, these mysterious "behavioral problems" are??
If they refuse to specify, it's probably the unspoken aspie inability to have that unspoken, intangible communication the super-socialites have. [sigh]

Who's behind this? Is there a single professor in her department that has it out for her? Or is there a fellow student who does, one that happens to be the favorite pet of a leading professor in the department? Departmental politics can get pretty nasty. This could very well be some kind of personal vendetta.

Seriously, it smells personal to me.

A behaviour analyst needs to have great communication skills, great body language, good eye contact, communication skills and excellent
analytic skills if she is lacking in these things herself she wont be able to heal others
I have been doing remedial teacher course and i always fear i wont be a good teacher because of my own drawbacks.
so i didnt spend much on the course its just a short term course
Maybe she can set up her private practice instead of working here.

Why do you need great body language and eye contact to heal people?

I'm a behavior analyst, my body language and especially eye contact are horrible but that doesn't get in the way of helping people at all.




This. There's no reason to panic exactly, she needs to just roll with it and do her best to address the issues.

If you feel comfortable saying so, I'm just curious, what school is she going to? I only ask because it may be the same school I went to( because of the professor that bounced last summer on short notice)... Who knows, I may even be able to help if that's the case. You're welcome to PM me if you like.