School Counselors

1
School Counselors Role in Special Education

• Julie Vazquez Dixon
• Branden Hackney
• Megan Kingsley

2
IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

• Ensures individuals suffering from disabilities
  receive appropriate education in least
  restrictive environment
• Requires public schools to develop Individualized
  Education Plans (IEP) that outline specific
  special education and related services to meet
  needs of individual students

3
IEP

• Must be developed by team of knowledgeable
  persons and reviewed annually
• If parent disagrees with IEP, they can request a
  due process hearing or appeal a states decision

4
504

• States that no individual in US with a disability
  should be excluded from, denied benefits of, or
  subjected to discrimination under any program or
  activity receiving federal funding
• Considers child as having a disability if that
  child functions as though disabled

5
Differences between IDEA and 504

• 504 is a civil rights statue IDEA is federal
  programmatic statue
• IDEA receives federal funds 504 does not
• All students who qualify for IDEA are
  automatically covered under 504
• Some students do not qualify for IDEA but do
  qualify for 504
• Students who qualify for 504 receive
  accommodations in regular classroom

6
IDEA Eligibility

• Mental Retardation
• Multiple Disabilities
• Orthopedic Impairments
• Other Health Impairments
• Speech or Language Impairments
• Traumatic Brain Injury

• Autism
• Deaf-blindness
• Developmental Delay
• Emotional Disturbance
• Hearing Impairments
• Learning Disabilities

7
504 Eligibility

• Child must have identified physical or mental
  condition that substantially limits major life
  activity
• Walking
• Seeing
• Hearing
• Speaking

• Breathing
• Learning
• Working
• Caring for self

8
504 Examples

• Includes
• communicable diseases
• temporary disabilities
• allergies
• asthma
• illness due to the environment

9
School Counselors Role

• Defined by ASCA
• Advocacy
• Transition planning
• Behavior modification
• Counseling parents
• Making referrals to specialists
• Improving self-esteem
• Working as part of the school multidisciplinary
  team
• Teaching social skills
• Serving as consultants to parents and school
  staff

10
Consultation Role

• Multidisciplinary team approach
• Mandated by IDEA when identifying students with
  special needs
• Team members must include
• parents, classroom teacher(s), the special
  education teacher, a school psychologist (or an
  individual who can interpret evaluation results),
  an administrator with the authority to make
  decisions
• may include
• speech and language clinician, a physical and/or
  occupational therapist, a school counselor, and
  other professionals.                    

11
Offering Related Services

• Example If social skills are inhibiting academic
  progress, then social skills should be identified
  on the Individualized Education Program (IEP) as
  the skill area affected by the disability.
• IDEA does not require that a student obtain a
  psychiatric diagnosis to be eligible to receive
  related services. Counseling is referred to as a
  related service under IDEA

12
Duplication of Services

• Students with disabilities who are involved in
  counseling activities are getting double
  services, once from special education and another
  time from the counselor.
• Some school counselors make it a point not to
  actively counsel students with disabilities
  because they feel that they are already getting
  services from special education and that special
  education students are not on their caseload

13
Case Study- ADHD

• A first year teacher comes to you in despair
  because of the behaviors of an extremely
  hyperactive student in her classroom. She has
  tried to be patient with the student but is at
  her whits end. She has not contacted parents yet
  and the student has not been tested for ADHD but
  you think it might be a good idea.
• What do you do? What strategies do you suggest
  for the teacher?

14
Working with ADHD Students

• Remember, you can NOT suggest that the child be
  tested for ADHD you and your school could be
  sued and have to pay for the testing/treatment

15
Functions of ADHD related behaviors

• Avoid/escape tasks
• Gain adult or peer attention
• Gain access to an object or activity
• Sensory stimulation
• DePaul, G Eckert, T. (1997). Interventions for
  students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity
  disorder One size does not fit all. School
  Psychology Review, 26, 369-382.

16
Strategies for ADHD Students

• Establish clear rules
• 1-2-3 Warnings
• 2 minute notices
• Behavior Picture
• Catch good behavior
• Time Limits
• http//www.familyeducation.com/whatworks/item/grou
  p-index/0,2554,1-9126,00.html?detoured1

17
Case Study- Autism

• Michael is a high-functioning student with autism
  in the 7th grade. He is currently being
  mainstreamed and receives resource services
  through his Language Arts class (a resource
  teacher in addition to the regular ed. teacher).
  Recently, the regular ed. teacher Ms. Kingsley
  reported to you that Michael has been retreating
  into his own world more and more. This is not new
  behavior but it seems to be occurring more often
  and it is starting to affect his performance in
  class. The resource teacher Ms. Dixon reports
  that he is a very bright student, but has
  difficulty making friends because he is lacking
  in social skills. In fact, the science teacher
  Mr. Hackney reports that Michael eats lunch with
  him every day.
• What do you do? What strategies do you suggest
  for all of the teachers involved with Michael?

18
Suggestions for Social Stories

• Social Stories should
• Be in the first person, and if possible, use the
  client as the main character.
• Be specific to the situation a child is facing.
• Be succinct
• Include what not to do (behavior that is
  occurring) and options for what they can do
  instead.

19
Social Stories

• The use of social stories was developed by Carol
  Gray for use with children with autism spectrum
  disorders including Aspergers Syndrome. These
  stories are used to teach children appropriate
  social behaviors (safety, self-care, manners,
  behavior in specific settings, sharing, etc.) by
  providing them with real life social situations
  and appropriate responses.

20
Case Study- Transitions

• Branden is beginning his senior of high school.
  Since 4th grade he has been attributed
  accommodations do to an IEP. As he grew in the
  educational system, his accommodations also
  progressed to reflect new needs. Entering high
  school, a meeting was set up to once again assess
  his IEP.
• Now in his senior year, Branden is preparing for
  college and is concerned about his disability. He
  and his parents have scheduled an appointment to
  speak with one of his teachers, Mrs. Vasquez, and
  his school counselor, Ms. Kingsley. What should
  they do?

21
Important Aspects

• Facilitate the development of a plan of action
• Help with understanding the disability
• Empowering the student to seek help and to
  advocate for himself
• Be accessible to advocate or facilitate
  understanding between all involved parties
  (family, student, the future place of higher
  education).