TPC-Journal-V5-Issue2

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 2 221 would provide school counselors the opportunity to practice collaborating with teachers. Recommendations also have been made for school counseling programs to increase coursework covering the ASCAModel and strategies related to students with special needs (Isaacs et al., 1998; Milsom & Akos, 2003; Studer & Quigney, 2005). Similarly, it is recommended that school counselor preparation programs require experiences with exceptional students to increase competency and positive attitudes (Milsom & Akos, 2003; Studer & Quigney, 2005). Recommendations: Infusing Special Education into the School Counseling Curriculum Students being trained in counseling programs to become school counselors can build their knowledge and experience related to special education throughout their counselor education coursework. An integrative approach may be provided in which material about special education is infused into required studies (Studer & Quigney, 2005). However, coursework must be organized and comprehensive across all courses in the program, including core courses and those specifically designed for school counseling students. Courses that lend themselves to infusion of special education activities and assignments include the following: learning and development, career, group, ethics, theories, multiculturalism, techniques, assessment, practicum and internship, as well as courses specifically designed for school counselors like introduction to school counseling or a leadership and advocacy course. Infusing activities will be discussed in depth below, and requires creativity and flexibility on the part of counselor educators in the field. Assignments and teaching styles may need to be adjusted to incorporate special education material into the standard counseling curriculum. It should be noted that when training school counselors in special education concerns, a combination of requiring specific disability coursework in conjunction with infusing such information into existing coursework is more effective (Milsom & Akos, 2003). Designing such a course is beyond the scope of this article; therefore, suggestions for infusing special education material into existing courses required by CACREP will be discussed. Course Assignments Related to Special Education Counselor educators can adjust class requirements for assignments to include aspects of special education. For example, students could compare and contrast typical child development and its implications regarding specific disability categories for children. School counseling students also could locate a specific student with special needs and formulate a case study about that child in which various aspects of developmental and learning theory would be identified. Assignments for a career course could require students to identify considerations for children with special needs when applying career theories and engaging in career planning (e.g., closely analyzing strengths and needs to align with viable career options when applying Holland’s approach). Students would then design a career exploration activity with these considerations for a student with special needs in mind. When completing an assignment such as group counseling planning, students could design a group for children with special needs. The group would address specific issues that these children face and for which they may need support (e.g., self-esteem), and include appropriate activities that would be accessible for the children involved (e.g., for activities that require reading or writing, replace the language with pictures, or create activities based on reading ability). Additionally, school counseling students could design a group and discuss how they would make accommodations for students with special needs in a group consisting of regular and special education students (e.g., pairing students for activities or reading content aloud to the group). Likewise, when completing an assignment for a school counselor course, such as developing a classroom guidance lesson, school counseling students could learn about accommodations similar to those discussed above that would ensure that all students could fully participate to their ability level. Laws and ethical issues surrounding special education can be addressed in a professional issues class, ethics course or course specific to school counselors through the discussion of case studies and scenarios. The cases used should depict various school counseling ethical and legal dilemmas involving students with special needs