Chapter 8 Consultation and Collaboration TriadicDependent Consultation Traditional

Chapter 8 Consultation and Collaboration

Triadic-Dependent Consultation: Traditional consultative role of expert providing advice Traditional area of expertise for School Counselors Community Resources Social & Emotional Developmental Issues Career Development Educational Opportunities • Referral to mental health & social services • Specialized knowledge of divorce, grief, peer relations, etc. • How does the child’s developmental level relate to an issue (e. g. , motivation, comprehension, etc. ) • Information/resources for parents/students • Assisting teachers with infusing into curriculum • Summer enrichment activities • Universities, technical schools, financial aid

The Top Ten Ways School Counselors Can Support Teachers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Call on counselors to help you understand the whole student. Consult with counselors for professional advice. Tackle problems before they become insurmountable. Offer students an empathetic listener. Guide students’ decision-making. Collaborate with a counselor to integrate counseling & class lessons. Work with counselors & teachers to design professional development that meets your needs. Allow a counselor to make peace. Explore career options. Ask a counselor to clarify the severity of a problem. Reproduced with permission from I. Brodie (2013, April 20). The top ten ways school counselors can support teachers (Web log post). Retrieved from: http: //www. ed. gov. blog/2012/06/the-top-10 -ways-school counselors-can-support-teachers/

Functions of School Counseling Advisory Council • • • Needs assessments Analyzes collected data Creating the foundation of the program Managing & delivering the program Disseminating the results to various stakeholders American School Counselor Association (2012). The ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs (3 rd ed. ). Alexandria, VA: Author.

Family-School Collaboration Provisions in No Child Left Behind (NCLB) • State departments of education & school districts must provide professional development opportunities that enhance educators’ & parents’ understanding of the importance of collaboration & the skills to achieve goal-oriented partnership programs • Schools must share with parents information & decisions about students’ placements & the school’s performance • Schools are expected to increase equity in education by making more of an effort to include families, even those who are currently involved, & by ensuring that communications with parents are clear, useful, & executed in languages that all parents understand

Day-Vines & Terriquez (2008). A strengths-based approach to promoting prosocial behavior among African-American & Latino students. Professional School Counseling, 12, 170 -175. 1) Collected data on referrals & suspensions by race & type of offense 2) School discipline committee developed several interventions to ensure more equitable disciplinary procedures & practices a) Posted rules & consequences in classrooms b) Lunchtime workshops with students to identify student rights & responsibilities 3) Conducted after-school faculty & staff in-services for teachers & students regarding how to promote positive school climate a) Teachers & students shared effective strategies 4) Administrators identified & worked with teachers with highest levels of disciplinary referrals, observing classroom 5) School discipline committee surveyed students & teachers for additional suggestions 6) Development of center offering mental health services & tutoring

Collaborative Consultation Teacher Special Education Parents School Counselor Areas of Expertise • Frequent observation provides insight regarding child’s academic & social functioning • Individualizing instruction • Child’s interests, abilities, & goals/direction • Understanding of change & group problem-solving process

Solution Focused Theory-Assumptions • People are growth oriented & proactive self-healers • The resources clients need lie within personal history • Reality is constructed through language, & if you change a person’s language, you change their reality • Helping people “rewrite their stories, ” through the use of questions that alter people’s language results in a “cognitive shift”

Phases of Solution-focused Consultation Pre-Session • Goals are help the consultee identify strengths & objectives & Initial • “How would you like the student to be? ” (p. 249) Structuring • “How would you like to be with your student? ” (p. 249) • “How will you know when consultation is successful? ” (p. 249) • Such questions help the consultee to think more about future possibilities to increase the consultee’s hopefulness Establishing • Little emphasis on discussing the problem as the focus should be Consultaupon solutions tion Goals • Goals are to be defined in concrete, behavioral, measurable manner, & identified in the affirmative expectation (rather than B. B. (2000). A model of solutionidentifying the absence of a behavior Kahn, focused consultation with school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 3, 248 -254.

Exception Questions Not Knowing Questions • Tell me about a time when you saw that happening? • How did you manage to do that? • When was a time when your son turned in his homework? • How were you able to encourage your son to do his work? • Tell me about a time when your • How were you able to help your daughter was following your rules. daughter understand how serious this was? • Tell me about a time when you were connecting with him. • How were you able to connect with him that time?

Scaling Questions/Progress Use to assess abstract issues Discuss what client will do to increase a point • Managing anger, self-esteem, confidence • On a scale of 1 -10, how well are you handling your anger? What would be doing if you were to go from a 4 to a 5? ” • What steps could you take to get it to a 6? Discuss who will notice • What will they notice that you are doing different? the change If response is 7 or higher, ask client to explain why they are so confident

Systemic Consultation • Student’s presenting problems are viewed as resting within the interactions between the teacher & student & between the teachers & parents (White & Mullis, 1998) • The student’s behavior is seen as functional & exploration of the various contexts of the child’s life is necessary to determine the potential purpose of the behavior • The consultant explores with the teacher the history of his or her relationship with the student, examining the reciprocal interactions between the teacher & student • The consultant seeks to help the teacher generate new perspectives of the student & their relationship with the student, which often leads the teacher to develop new solutions

Tasks of Parent Consultation 1. Join • Use active listening skills to demonstrate understanding of the parent’s thoughts, feelings, goals • Affirm the parent’s strengths 2. Identify • Obtain understanding of how parent is perceiving the issue or parent’s frame problem 3. Reframe 4. Identify goal 5. Explore exceptions 6. Generalize • Help the parent acquire a new, more adequate frame of the issue/problem through reframing • “At this point in their development, what would you like your son/daughter to acquire? ” • “When you have seen your daughter displaying those qualities? ” • “How did you help your son/daughter do that? ” • “It sounds like you want to do more of …. ”

Systemic Approach to Parent. Teacher Conferences • Systemic understanding of behavior • How do consultees contribute to or maintain the behavior of student in question? • Observe or ask questions about patterns of interaction • Focus on process vs. content • Observe the interactions (who & how) vs. the content of information

Parent Teacher Structural Goals Student 1. Establish effective hierarchy 2. Decrease enmeshment • Communication between parents & teachers • Block triangulation • Parents making school based decisions • Parents failing to promote autonomy in child 3. Decrease • Parent-teacher communication disengagement • Parent-child interactions -Encourage parent to be involved with child

Steps of Parent-Teacher Conferences 1) Rapport building • Share positive characteristics of student • “I enjoy Johnny’s sense of humor” • “He is a pretty outgoing kid” • Attempt to ease parent’s anxiety/defensiveness • Parents see child as an extension of themselves 2) Establish agenda • “Who & why” – Explain purpose • “I wanted to meet because I was concerned about the recent decline in Johnny’s grades. ”

3) Equalize Participation a) Ask for parents’ perspective b) Acknowledge their “Expertness” c) Facilitate constructive communication • “We would like to hear your view of…” • Explain that since they are the person most knowledgeable about their child, ask about their view of the issue • Avoid using jargon (IEP, SEP, DEP, 504) to decrease power differential • “Avoiding taking the bait” • 1) Reframing: “I think your anger shows your concern. ” • 2) Remind of goal/”Block”: “We all seem to be concerned about John’s disruptive behavior. ”

Steps of Parent-Teacher Conferences 4) Develop consensus • Focus on Overt Behaviors -E. g. - yells out, doesn’t complete work, yells, etc. -Avoid general adjectives that convey judgment (“bad attitude, ” “disrespectful”) • Summarize group’s view of what child needs • “I hear the group saying that Matt seems to have the ability to do well in math but he isn’t completing work, & our goal is help to complete his work more often. ” 5) Explore exceptions • “When are times John you’ve had success in getting John to complete his work? ” • Parents checked daily planner, limited his TV • Teachers moved John’s seat, checked daily planner

6) Identify Agreed Goals & Responsibilities a) Establish • “So we’re going to focus on increasing Johnny’s homework measurable goal completion rate. ” b) Clarify roles • Parents will check agenda on daily basis & establish & reward for completing work another meeting • Teachers will sign off on his agenda c) Prepare for • Research suggests that new approach takes 20 times before student’s likely effective challenge of new • “How do we want handle things when John does not bring hierarchy home his agenda? ”

Behavioral Consultation Process • The consultant draws upon test data, observations, records & interviews • Seeks to define the problem behavior in measurable, objective terms • E. g. , - “the number of times the student speaks out without raising his or her hand during class or without being called upon the teacher” 2) Problem • Identification of the contextual variables related to the behavior of concern, Analysis including the antecedents & consequences, through observation in the setting • Identification of the student’s skill deficits (e. g. , organization, social skills) thought observation, work samples & interviews 3) Plan • 1) establish objectives Implementation • 2) select interventions • 3) consider any barriers to implementation • 4) select appropriate assessments 4) Evaluation • Determining the effectiveness of the intervention through collection & analysis of data 1) Problem Identification Step