Alecia Ngai

532 Hamptons Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta | (403) 471-5322 | alecia.ngai@outlook.com

Objective
To pursue a career in an environment that continues to challenge me and further develop my
professional skills, while allowing me to fulfill my passion for helping others.

Education

BACHELOR OF COMMUNITY REHABILITATION AND DISABILITY STUDIES | 2013

- 2017 | UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Related coursework:
o Practicum: focus on development of services and programs, supervision in community
practice, and senior level management skills in partner agencies, associations and systems
o Social constructions of disability and health, social problem theory, and narratives as
foundations for interdisciplinary study, health capacity, community practice and personal
empowerment
o Clinical and inter-professional skills for working in recovery and consumer driven
programs in Community Mental Health and Disability
o Social role valorization theory in the context of values and assumptions for all person and
their place in the community
o Ethical decision-making issues and practices for service providers, researchers,
interdisciplinary teams, agencies and policy developers
o Cognitive, social, and emotional development of children with disabilities in the context
of their family, school, and community
o Understanding and demonstrating professional practice in the service of children with
special needs and their families
o Practice issues for professionals working in community development and interdisciplinary
teams, with a focus on acknowledging that partnership and community action are key
components of rehabilitation practice
o Disability and the law; foundations of Canadian legal principles and practices as they
affect community rehabilitation
o Introduction to neural and cognitive concepts underlying human behavior in physical
activity, motor control and learning, and health
o Technical terms of medicine and the life sciences
o Cognitive psychology, brain and behavior psychology, social psychology, abnormal
psychology, developmental psychology
 o An introduction to the scientific study of language, including the analysis of word,
sentence, and sound structure, and the exploration of language as a human, biological,
social and historical phenomenon

DISABILITY STUDIES DIPLOMA | 2010 - 2012 | MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY

Related coursework:
o Gaining a detailed understanding of the various disabling conditions; including specifics
on potential causes (environmental toxins, genetics, physical trauma etc.),
common/prominent characteristics (cognitive, behavioral, physical features etc.), and the
variety of interventions, treatments, and supports that are found to be beneficial
o Fundamentals of intercommunication and interpersonal communication skills, including
interactive practice with peers in the form of a prepared counselling session
o Development of a support group, with a detailed written plan and presentation of the
individual sessions that would occur throughout the course of the group
o Vocational rehabilitation: learning how to assist individuals with determining areas of
interest in work opportunities, developing resumes and cover letters, preparing for
interviews, learning about professional practices and expectations, advocating for
individuals to receive paid employment positions, and working with employers to
establish individualized accommodations
o Advocacy with a focus on advocating for vulnerable individuals,

HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA | 2009| SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL HIGH SCHOOL

Related coursework:
o Highest levels of Math 30, English 30, and Social Studies 30, Chemistry 30, Biology 30,
Introduction to Psychology, Career and Life Management

Professional Experience

RESPITE WORKER | FSCD | SEPTEMBER 2010 PRESENT

As a respite worker I am responsible for caring for the individual in their home; allowing
the parents to have a break from the stress that is often associated with the extra care needed for
individuals with disabilities. Typically, my duties include taking the child of the bus after school,
preparing a snack, carrying out hygiene routines, engaging them in interesting and stimulating
activities, and generally supervising and caring for them. The child I work with display some
challenging behaviors such as pinching, hitting, pulling hair, and kicking when they are upset.
This has taught me some methods on how to work with these types of behaviors. Some of these
include redirection, recognizing triggers, reading body language and other signs leading up to
outbursts, providing warning before transitions, knowing when giving space is needed and when
it is necessary to intervene, and communicating with the family. I have also learned ways to
provide sensory stimulation based on the childs needs, which often also aids with reducing
challenging behaviors.

PRACTICUM STUDENT | CALGARY SCOPE SOCIETY | SEPTEMBER 2016 APRIL

2017

Completed 260 hours. During my time at SCOPE, I attended three ShareVision training
sessions to learn how to use and set up SCOPEs site. My main project work involved setting up
and customizing their ShareVision website, developing and giving a basic training presentation
for staff, providing a summary handout of the training session for staff use, and creating a
detailed user manual for future use of staff and managers. I also assisted with the Adult Social
Knowledge and Social Knowledge in Practices groups offered to clients of SCOPE. Another
project I would on was completing extensive research about leadership, succession planning, and
designing leadership development programs. I summarized the findings of my research and how
they applied to SCOPE in a PowerPoint presentation for future use by upper management.

PRACTICUM STUDENT | CEREBRAL PALSY KIDS AND FAMILIES | SEPTEMBER

2014 - JANUARY 2015

Completed 130 hours. My work included contacting individuals and businesses seeking
donations for the silent auction at the annual Light Up a Kids Life Christmas party. I was also
responsible for updating a spreadsheet used for tracking who was contacted, who donated, and
what was donated. On the day of the Christmas party I helped to set up and monitor the silent
auction tables. Some side projects I worked on included reviewing and updating resource
documents, and collecting inspirational quotes for use in the newsletter.

PRACTICUM STUDENT | DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESOURCE

CENTER | JANUARY 2012 APRIL 2012

Completed a total of 150 hours. This was the final practicum during my Disability Studies
Diploma program at Mount Royal University, and focused slightly less on direct service and
more on learning about organizational structure and framework, development of services and
programs, and managerial levels within an organization. I started out my time a learning about
DDRC, their organizational structure/framework, funding sources, the programs and services
they offer, who they serve, and the overall workings of the organization. During the beginning
portion of my practicum at the DDRC I worked directly with clients involved in the newly
developed Center for Learning and Leadership program. This service was designed out of need
to support clients on site for the occasional situations where being supported out in the
community was not possible. I observed and participated in morning discussion sessions with
clients, which covered a variety of topics based on certain themes decided upon for each month.

I was also heavily involved with the afternoon client and staff training workshops where I
assisted my supervisor in facilitating the discussions and workshops. These workshops covered a
variety of relevant topics such as: dress for success, current events and advocacy, goals, life
stories, employment development, assertiveness, mental health and wellness, and the Toast
Masters Club. On one occasion I was given the opportunity to facilitate a workshop on my own
as my supervisor had an unexpected meeting she needed to attend. The workshop I facilitated
was one of a series that focused on current events. We started off by introducing ourselves to
each other, and then I explained what we would be doing for that days workshop. During the
session clients and staff were provided with newspapers for that day and worksheets with
questions to answer about their article. They were given time to search through a variety of
newspapers for articles that interested them and that they could discuss with the rest of the group.
After about 20 minutes when everyone felt they had enough time to complete the task we went
around the table and shared what we had discovered from the chosen article. After getting to
thoroughly experience the new program, I was tasked with evaluating it. I developed surveys for
the staff to complete, and collected anecdotal feedback from the staff and clients. Before creating
the evaluations forms I looked at numerous examples in how they were formatted, rating scales
used, types of questions asked, and the ways questions were answered. I then analyzed the
feedback I collected and summarized my findings in a report for my supervisor and other
managers at the agency.

The professional hands on work experience I received at the DDRC taught me a variety of
valuable skills. Before my time here I had never assisted in cofacilitating training groups in a
professional setting such as this. I felt it was very educational having the opportunity to directly
participate and observe the different methods my supervisor used during the morning and
afternoon groups. I was able learn how to organize and prepare the room for the type of group
and planned activities, assist my supervisor in facilitating discussions or activities, and helping
individuals throughout the session. The most important thing I feel I learned from this experience
was the different methods that can be used to facilitate learning and discussion in a life skills
training style group. The activities encouraged individuals to actively participate in the group by
creating a welcoming and safe environment, having worksheets with guiding questions to fill
out, using large sheets of paper or a board to summarize points during group discussions, or
having tangible projects to work on and complete. What I had learned helped to prepare me for
the group I unexpectedly ran on my own. The process of evaluating the programs taught me how
to develop surveys, collect anecdotal feedback, analyze my findings, and create a report
summarizing it all. Working closely with my supervisor gave me a great experience working as a
team member, as well as learning about good leadership skills through observation. Overall, this
practicum gave me a great introduction to responsibilities, expectations, and types of work
involved when working in organization likes this one.

PRACTICUM STUDENT | CHRISTINE MEIKLE SCHOOL | SEPTEMBER 2011

JANUARY 2012

I completed a total of 100 hours for this practicum. The focus of this practicum was
developing an Evidence Based Rehabilitation Intervention (EBI) program for an individual at our
placement, who was experiencing challenging behaviors. Initially the time I spent in the
classroom was spent getting to know the children and observing them for potential challenging
behaviors they may exhibit. I then had to decide which child to choose to develop a behavioral
intervention program for. The remainder of the practicum involved me carrying out the four
phases that are involved in creating and implementing and EBI program.

The first phase involved me determining what behavior I had chosen as the focus of the
EBI, and establishing long term and short term outcomes or goals. One thing I learned from
completing this phase was the importance of phrasing the goals in positive terms instead of
negatively. I think this stuck with me because I believe it would be more motivating and an
overall more positive experience if the approach is itself positive. I feel this encourages the
individual to display preferred behaviors instead of making them feel like they are being
punished for who they are and how they may behave.

The second phase required me to find out some background information on the child I
had chosen, conduct an observational assessment, and a functional assessment. Obtaining a
detailed background on an individual and the current situation they are in, can help in
understanding behaviors they are exhibiting and in developing strategies to alter challenging
behaviors. Completing an observational assessment gave me the opportunity to learn how to
develop tracking sheets to record a baseline before intervention, identify the dimensions of the
behavior that would be most useful to record, and determine what factors may be influencing the
occurrence. Completing a functional assessment allowed me to learn about recording the
antecedents, behavior, and consequences that occur to try and target what the function of the
problem behavior may be. I had learned about these methods in a behavior modification class in
my program, but the practicum experience taught me how to implement and use these tools in
practice.

The third phase is when I attempted to use some of the intervention methods to alter the
challenging behavior I had identified. This provided me with a valuable learning experience
where I could try and use of the different methods I had learned about in my class. I had to
decide which types of procedures I would use to reduce the unwanted behaviors, and which to
use to increase more desirable behaviors. One aspect of my learning I found to be important was
the idea of using the least intrusive and non-aversive techniques before others; as well as
focusing on increasing desirable behaviors that will replace undesirable ones, instead of only
focusing on decreasing the problem behaviors. From further experience, I have had in the field I
have found this to be applicable to the ways professionals approach challenging behaviors. I find
this approach to be important because it focuses on increasing positive behaviors instead of
punishing an individual. Also, I believe it is follows best practices and is more ethical to start out
with non-aversive and intrusive methods first.

The final phase was to provide further recommendations to support changes that have
occurred or different methods that may work better, and suggestions for future programming that
may be beneficial for the individual. I found developing material for this phase was somewhat
challenging with the little practical experience I had, but was beneficial to my learning because it
was difficult. It made look further in depth into the process I had gone through, how to improve
on it in the future, and how to apply an intervention program more long term. Overall, I found
this practicum experience to be a bit challenging for me, but also learned a great deal from
struggles I encountered.

PRACTICUM STUDENT | CAPITOL HILL ELEMENTARY | SEPTEMBER 2010

APRIL 2011

Completed a total of 125 hours. This was my very first practicum placement and it possessed a
main goal of introducing students to what frontline work with individuals with disabilities is like.
I worked with children with special needs in one of the two Teaching of Attitude, Social Skills,
and Communication (TASC) classes at the school. TASC classes are designed to provide more
intensive support for students that have moderate to severe cognitive and developmental
disabilities. The focus of the programming in TASC classes is to help students develop functional
living skills, communication, appropriate social interactions, health and safety awareness, play
and leisure, work, and addressing any individual needs that are identified. The overall goal is to
assist children in developing the skills necessary to be as independent in their lives as possible.

My duties included assisting the children in their scheduled daily activities such as, morning
circle time, arts and crafts, physical education, cooking, smartboard learning games, lunch time
routines, sensory stations, fine and gross motor skill building, swim therapy, supervising during
recess, music, and many other tasks related to working on independent goals. Through
observation of the professionals in the classroom and participation in daily routines I learned
about the roles and duties of special education teachers as well as educational aids.

I learned a variety of professional skills needed to work with children in a classroom setting.
Some of these skills included: ways to encourage participation in different learning activities,
methods to assist children with completing tasks while promoting learning and independence,
establishing daily and weekly routines, warning and transitioning between activities throughout
the day, types of work or tasks that can promote learning different sets of skills, appropriate
professional behavior and communication with children and colleagues, ensuring the safety of all
in the classroom, and adapting to individuals childrens needs and goals. More generally, I
learned about the great importance of confidentiality as a professional working with individuals
with disabilities, and how to act as a professional in the field in a way that protects the identity
and integrity of others.

CASHIER/SALES ASSOCIATE | BED BATH AND BEYOND | OCT. 2009 APRIL 2010
My duties included assisting in the initial store setup and opening, providing superior customer
service, merchandising, full knowledge of working the cash register for sales and returns,
assisting in opening/closing the store and cashing out register, and top/back stocking.

SALES ASSOCIATE | THE ALDO GROUP INC. | JULY 2007 OCTOBER 2009
My duties included providing excellent customer service, merchandising displays, retrieving
and selling products, ringing sales through the cash register, assisting in daily opening/closing
of the store, and organizing/unloading stock