Date of Award
1992
Document Type
Practicum-NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Child and Youth Studies
Advisor
Mary Ellen Sapp
Keywords
counseling, counselor education, counselor training, elementary, guidance, in-service training, secondary, special education, teacher education, teacher training
Abstract
The practicum was designed to address the problem of learning handicapped secondary school students ana their parents who have limited contact with their guidance counselors. The intervention purported to make a group of high school age learning disabled students and their parents more knowledgeable about academic requirements for graduation, postsecondary education, vocational options ana community services. It also sought to train ana sensitize a group of high school guidance counselors to the needs of special education students ana their families.
The writer developed a three-month program of structured weekly activities for the students, each focusing on a particular theme. Guidance counselors met regularly with the writer to discuss the students' concerns and feelings as well as to learn about group counseling strategies that proved most successful. The parents of the students met twice with the writer.
Analysis of the data revealed that the students generally found the intervention to be very helpful in conducting the academic and social aspects of their daily lives. They were particularly enthusiastic about the practical Information presented and Its application to their concerns about the future. The writer noted increased counselor sensitivity to the needs of learning disabled students ana their families and expressed a their willingness to increase contact time. Parents felt the program benefitted them and their children and expressed their desire for it to continue.