Counseling
at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) |
Counseling
Staff
Cynthia Hunt
Heidi Camacho
Alison Aubrecht
Matthew Rider
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The primary focus of
counseling services at KDES is to ensure that students have every
opportunity to successfully function in the classroom and school
community to their highest capabilities. Counselors serve on
each academic team to promote the positive well-being of all
students. Counselors work closely with other professionals in
the Mental Health Unit, teachers and families to assess, document
and plan counseling needs as part of a student's IEP or IFSP.
Integration on each academic team allows counselors to become
familiar with the child in his/her routine environment. Counselors
see students not only in private, but in the classroom, lunchroom
and other school settings, to promote carryover of skills into
the child's life.
Counseling is provided to increase skill development in social
interaction, decision-making, enhancing self-esteem, and developing
effective communication skills within the classroom setting.
Counseling is provided directly to students through individual
and group therapy, play therapy, peacemaking, and crisis intervention.
Services are also provided indirectly through consultation with
teachers and referrals to both internal and external programs
or agencies.
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Counseling
at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) |
Counseling
Staff
Ricky Suiter
Kathy O'Brien
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Counseling services
provided at MSSD are based on a developmental approach designed
to meet both the specific and general needs of deaf students,
ages 14 to 21. A personal counselor serves on each of the four
instructional teams and collaborates with teachers and other
support service specialists to improve the well-being of MSSD
students. Counselors work closely with the school social worker
and school psychologist to address the social and emotional needs
of students and families. A counselor is also assigned to the
dorm to address the issues pertaining to dormitory life.
Counseling services for freshman and sophomore students often
deal with issues related to adjustment to MSSD including being
homesick or transferring from mainstream settings. Counseling
services for juniors and seniors often focus on transition
issues.
Personal counselors provide individual, group and crisis
counseling to address a variety of issues including:
- peer conflict resolution
- decision making
- social skills
- communication difficulties
- relationship issues
- issues in adolescence
- substance abuse
- family conflicts
- sexuality
- identity
- depression
- suicidal thoughts and threats
- sexual harassment
- teenage pregnancy
- sexual assault
- anxiety and readiness related to entering the world of
college, other training, or work.
Services extend beyond the school day into dorm life in the
evenings. Counselors work closely with dorm staff providing
workshops on identified topics, such as Sexual Harassment and Values
of Dating.
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Psychology
at KDES and MSSD |
Psychology
Staff KDES
Robert Whitaker
MSSD
Lori Ann Schmidt
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The psychologists provide
a range of services to support the mental health and educational
programming of students. Assessments are completed upon referral
when learning, emotional, behavioral, or attention problems are
suspected. The psychologists also provide consultation services
to parents, teachers, staff members, and administrators on various
issues related to achievement, educational progress, and emotional
well being. Consultation is provided on behavior management,
discipline, attention deficit disorders, and learning disabilities.
Specific issues are also addressed such as bed wetting, nightmares,
etc. The psychologists closely coordinate with other members
of the Mental Health Unit, Student Services Team, and members
of the academics teams to assure that results of their evaluations
and recommendations are reflected in the child's program.
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Social
Work at KDES and MSSD |
Social
Worker Staff KDES
Georgia Weaver
MSSD
Jessica Whitney
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Social workers round
out the mental health staff as they work closely with students,
families, other support service team members, and members of
the academic staff to support student well being with the goal
of promoting academic and personal success.
Individual assessments of a student's functioning are completed
through family interview, classroom observation, consultation
with classroom teachers, other support services personnel and
residential staff as appropriate. Individual, group and family
counseling services are provided as needed to focus on enhancing
family communication, awareness and development of appropriate
coping skills related to separation, grief, stress, depression,
divorce, relocation, family and interpersonal relationships,
as well as other areas that impact on a student's development.
Services are coordinated with community agencies as needed
to meet the needs of the child and family. Referral for additional
services through community agencies are often coordinated by
the social work staff.
The social work staff provides training to faculty and staff
in a variety of areas including suicide, depression, child
abuse, sexual harassment, and other mental health issues. This
training promotes faculty and staff awareness related to the
identification of students who may be in need of assistance
related to these areas.
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 Integrating Clerc Center National Mission Priorities
and Activities |
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CASWS professionals at Kendall and MSSD are involved in a variety
of activities that impact on the Clerc Center prioritiy areas of Literacy,
Family Involvement, and Student Transition. In addition to addressing
routine mental health needs and crisis intervention, services strive
to incorporate preventative approaches to support student growth in social
and emotional domains. Some of the activities, information sharing and
strategies that occur include:
Literacy
Literacy Base Therapy Approaches
Counselors employ literacy based techniques such as:
- Bibliotherapy—A therapy approach incorporating books on themes
related to a student's struggle area. At the high school the counselors
share articles from newspapers or journals related to special issues.
- Journal writing—Students document their thoughts and feelings
regarding specific issues in journals that are used in individual
counseling sessions to help students articulate their challenges.
- Therapy dialogues in print—Concerns are communicated on paper,
chartboards or chalkboards for students uncomfortable with talk therapy.
- Read aloud stories—Stories are read aloud to groups of students
in the elementary school to provide examples of how social skills
are learned and applied in a variety of situations.
Assessment
The psychologist at Kendall School provides academic testing to assist
in the development of appropriate literacy goals. The psychologist
also serves as a member of the Assessment Planning Committee focused
on determining appropriate evaluations to provide valid and useful literacy
information on students.
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Family Involvement
Project Harvest
CASWS professionals, and students from Kendall School and
MSSD work in collaboration with city-wide agencies to provide food
to families in need during Thanksgiving. Students volunteer to collect
and organize food donations for this annual event.
We Care Fund
CASWS professionals are involved in a campus-wide fund raising
effort to support Kendall School and MSSD families in need. Fund raising
events are scheduled throughout the year to provide holiday gifts to
families, financial assistance for summer camp, and necessity items
for designated families.
Therapy Consultation
CASWS professionals integrate innovative therapy approaches
including Sandtray Therapy and Play Therapy. Plans include family involvement
and education related to these techniques to support carryover of the
benefits of these strategies from the educational environment to the
home and community.
Parents As Partners
Counselors serve on the Parents as Partners committee at Kendall School
to stay abreast of needs, opinions, suggestions and concerns from the
parents.
Home/School Communication
Communication between counselors and parents of students receiving
services is maintained through phone calls and letter writing to discuss
their child's needs and progress. Counselors work closely with the
school social worker to ensure involvement of families in the counseling
process and coordination of community services with the 27 states represented
in the high school program.
The psychologist involves parents in the assessment process for both
triennial and referral evaluations. In addition, the psychologist makes
recommendations for behavior management in the home.
Newsletters
Counselors write articles for the team newsletters sent out weekly
to families explaining what areas the counselor is focusing on in the
team. Parents are encouraged to reinforce at home skills learned at
school.
Presentations to Families
The psychologist provides presentations and organizes panel discussions
on various topics for families. Recent presentations and panels have
been on the topic of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Deaf
Children, and Improving Communication Between Families, School and
Medical Professionals.
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Transition
CASWS professionals help develop
students become independent, positive contributors to society. CASWS members provide tools for students to learn how to successfully
transition through different challenges of life. Some activities provided
by the CASWS staff that support development of transition skills
from preschool through graduation from high school include:
Social skills training
- Social skills development is addressed by counselors in the pre-school
integrated hearing /deaf classroom through teaching and modeling understanding
and acceptance of differences.
- Counselor participation in community meeting in the nursery classroom
to explore and teach feelings-based vocabulary through role play and
other play techniques.
- Counselor lead social skill training in the kindergarten to address
turn taking, waiting, sharing, apologies and other feelings- based
vocabulary.
- Counselor led meeting with students on the first and second grade
team to provide cooperative activities to help develop social skills,
problem solving strategies and early self awareness.
- A counselor on Team 4/5 provides a lab as part of a comprehensive
team activity to focus on preventative and intervention techniques
to teach self-esteem, understanding of self and others, manners and
adjusting to change.
- Counselors lead group counseling to address the social-emotional
needs of adolescents on the 6/7/8 Team. Separate boys and girls groups
have been established to provide attention to special issues unique
to these age groups.
Curriculum Development
Counselors, and other members of the CASWS staff are working to create a comprehensive
developmental spiraling social skills guide to be implemented from
kindergarten through 12th grade.
Residence Hall Collaboration
A counselor works in the dormitories during the evening hours to provide
counseling services that specifically addresses the needs and issues
of the boarding student. The dorm counselor has the opportunity to
observe and interact with the students outside of the academic environment.
Counseling and dorm staff provide workshops on a variety of topic areas.
KICK (Keep It Cool...Kick the Habit)
Residence and counseling staff have established a program called KICK
to heighten awareness of drugs and alcohol. The program is educational
and also includes therapeutic components based on student needs.
Drug Awareness Week
At the high school, CASWS staff established a drug awareness
week which will now become an annual event. This week incorporated
presentations from community representatives, poster contests, and
role playing activities. Activities for the week focused on health,
school policies, legal issues, peer pressure, decision making, how
to remove yourself from the wrong crowd, accepting responsibility for
your actions, etc...
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National Mission and Collabration Activities
Supervision
Supervision is provided to students from Gallaudet University professional
programs in social work, psychology, and counseling.
Collaboration
CASWS members collaborate with professionals such as family educators, transition specialists, teachers
and administrators at the Clerc Center and Gallaudet University Departments.
This provides an interdisciplinary perspective to better meet the needs
of students. Some collaborative efforts include:
- Creating a video clip of self-assessment questions in ASL with
the ASL/Multicultural specialist
- Combining services with the occupational therapist to jointly
meet the sensory integration and social-emotional needs of a student.
- Working with professionals in the Training and Professional Development
department to provide in-service training.
- Serving as members of the Community Building Training Committee,
Mentoring Committee and other committees.
- Working alongside academic team members to provide comprehensive
assessments and plan intervention to meet individual students' special
needs.
- Working with the Gallaudet University Departments of Counseling,
Psychology, Social Work and Gallaudet Mental Health Center to share
best practices in service delivery and to support training programs.
As part of a grant from The U.S. Department of Education, the Kendall
School social worker teaches and consults with the Gallaudet University
Social Work Program to train Masters level social workers to work in
schools with deaf children.
Presentations
CASWS staff members provide in-service training to faculty/staff,
presentations to visitors, and lectures to outside professionals, families
and community agencies on a variety of mental health topics.
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