I went to the dentist and he said, “Barry everything looks good, but er um, er – Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Have you been punched in the face?”
Of course. Lots of times. Occupational hazard.
My dentist went on to tell me that he couldn’t tell how long ago it might have happened, but definitely looks like a punch. Probably have to replace that tooth. Expensive. Yuck.
If you have been doing this awhile, you have probably had feces thrown at you, been punched, bitten, scratched, kicked, spit on, or had other pleasant work-day experiences. Now, as our treatments have been Poogi-ing over the last 25 years, this happens less and less. But episodes like this are still inevitable from time to time. In all likelihood you handle those punches in the face well. You can remain calm, act professionally, ensure safety, and provide effective treatment. But if my experience is common, there is another kind of punch in the face that you probably don’t handle nearly as well: Criticism.
Despite being models of professionalism in dramatic situations, let someone criticize the prompting method or the data collection procedure and watch behavior analysts freak out and engage in absurd unprofessional behaviors.
An important behavior if you really want to be on a POOGI is to carefully listen to criticism and use it to improve. Sure, sometimes the critic is wrong and you want to ignore that. But criticism is often a gift. If you really care about the POOGI, you should reinforce when people criticize. That’s how it works. You have to be able to take both types of punches.