COUN 678 – Counseling Children and Adolescents in School Settings

Course Purpose:
This course provides an overview of theories and techniques of counseling children and adolescents in school settings. Emphasis will be placed upon the counselor’s role as a facilitator of normal developmental processes to promote academic success.

Learning Objectives/Course Goals:

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

·         Understand typical and atypical developmental characteristics in children and adolescents

·         Know how to successfully utilize brief, play, family, and other expressive therapies with students in schools

·         Be able to design effective individual and classroom guidance interventions based on student needs (identified through individual assessment and overall school needs assessments)

·         Understand the history and background of PL-94-142/IDEA

·         Understand professional school counselors' roles in working with students with exceptional learning needs

·         Be able to identify cultural, environmental, cognitive and personal/social barriers affecting student success, and identifying individual and systematic interventions for working with these student barriers to success

·         Understand and apply legal and ethical guidelines when working with children and adolescents in schools

·         Identify child and adolescent risk and protective factors

·         Understand resilience in children and adolescents