~Tentative Course Syllabus~
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT THERAPY
HPC 6290-101
~SPRING 2012~
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Graves, NCC, NCSC, LPC, LPCS, ACS
Office Hours: Most Mondays and Tuesdays 1-5:00 and by appointment
Contact information: (828) 262-8376
Class Time: Tuesdays 5:30-8:20 p.m.
Class Room: Rm # 301 Reich College of Education
Course Description: The application of child development and counseling theories to the practice of counseling children and adolescents. Focus will be on clinical practice, diagnostic skills, play and art therapy, family systems interventions, parent training programs, and behavioral interventions.
Course Content: This course addresses the knowledge, awareness and skills necessary for working therapeutically with children, adolescents, and their families through individual and group approaches. Subjects include:
~Individual counseling process with children/adolescents
~Developmental theories
~Techniques, approaches, and interventions appropriate to children/adolescents
~Diagnostic assessment of childhood disorders
~Treatment planning for children/adolescents
~Exceptionalities in children/adolescents
~De-escalation theory and techniques
~Working with parents and families
Knowledge and Skill Competencies: The counselor-in-training will:
1. Identify special issues and concerns of children and adolescents.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of counseling and conceptualization skills appropriate to working with children and adolescents developmentally with the goal of gaining insight into the youth’s worldview.
3. Develop the ability to utilize culturally and developmentally appropriate group and individual counseling techniques and interventions with children and adolescents.
4. Articulate the various theoretical approaches to working with youth; be able to identify and apply an appropriate approach to case studies.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical and legal implications of working with minors.
Methods of Instruction: This course will have didactic and experiential components requiring each student not only to have read, but also be familiar with, the readings and to participate in thoughtful discussion based upon those readings. Course activities may include (but are not limited to): role plays, professional interviews, out-of-class observations or activities, presentations to the class, lecture, group work, organizational group meetings (such as for group presentations), and engaged class discussion and demonstration which may at times require students to provide peer evaluation/feedback. Class activities and assignments will be directly related to the competencies listed above. Special emphasis will be placed upon pertinent and recent research in child/adolescent counseling. Class discussions will include the sharing of ideas, attitudes, experiences, conceptualizations of the reading and related activities, and the impact of multicultural and under-served populations’ issues within kids’ various social macro/microsystems.
Counseling Philosophy:
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." Paulo Freire
Working with children and adolescents is about intentionally submerging yourself in their worldview, perspective, and values – and feeling the landscape around you. Yes, we keep one foot above water in our own worlds. But it isn’t until we understand the logic of the world in which they live that we can help them swim over the threshold of what is to what can be. Nor will they invite us to do so until we have visited that world and found it as rich in color and dimension as they do. Until we understand.
This is why working with kids is, essentially, advocacy, education, and facilitation. It is about stepping outside our advantaged and powerful adult world into a restricted and often unempowered child’s world. It is about helping kids to use their own paradigms, metaphors, strengths, resources, and life experiences to their healthful advantage – to better manage their own worlds. In this way, they learn the skills that can carry them through a lifetime of reflecting, decision-making, and learning. As Freire says, we side with the powerless in order to empower them, to assist them over the threshold to a place where greater possibility exists of hope, opportunity, self-efficacy, and self-actualization.
Required Texts and Readings:
1. Vernon, A. (2004). Counseling children and adolescents. (3rd Ed.) Denver: Love Publishing.
2. Kearney, C. A. (2006). Casebook in child behavior disorders. (3rd Ed.) Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education.
3. Naar-King, S., & Suarez, M. (2011). Motivational interviewing with adolescents and young adults. New York: Guilford.
Other Resources for Bookmarking, Downloading, and Reading:
1. NC Child Abuse Reporting Law (11 pages) http://www.capefearpsych.org/documents/ChildAbuseReporting.pdf
2. Review of the NC Child Abuse Reporting Law & its implications for you; print off and read at least Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 (about 18 pages) http://www.sog.unc.edu/pubs/electronicversions/rca/rca.htm
3. Motivational Interviewing website and resources:
http://www.motivationalinterview.org/
Recommended Texts
The instructor will be recommending many helpful texts and/or resources throughout the semester. Students will have a chance to peruse recommended resources in class and are encouraged to purchase those they find helpful. Those that the student deems may be helpful in the longer term may be added to their professional “wish list”.
Student Performance Evaluation Criteria:
1.Attendance and Participation: (See policies on attendance and participation below.) Attendance: The texts, readings, and handouts used in the course are complementary to lectures, discussions, and presentations. Therefore, regular class attendance is expected and necessary to ensure mastery of course competencies. If you know in advance that you must be absent, it is expected that you, the student, will make arrangements to get notes from the missed class and notify the instructor of the reason for the absence prior to class. If more than one class is missed, the student will be required to have a conference with the instructor and withdrawal from the course may be recommended. N
Participation: You are expected to read and complete all assignments before class and participate in class discussions and activities. You are expected to contact administrators at area children/adolescent facilities at the beginning of the semester to schedule observations/experiences. Please dress professionally for your observation unless otherwise suggested by facility personnel. Also, you will be expected to complete the required research for article reviews, parent program reviews, and other course assignments. Students are expected to complete all assignments on time and formatted according to 6th Ed. APA standards. All work must be typed and professionally presented for feedback. No late assignments will be accepted. Cell phones and pagers should not be answered and be turned off or placed on silent during class. Please discuss with the instructor any presenting concerns/questions with assignments well prior to their due dates.
DUE: throughout the semester Points Possible: 15
2.Parent Program Review: Identify a commercial program for parents that is appropriate for use with the parents of some sub-population you hope to work with (the same population that you will target the Article Review assignment below). Obtain a copy of that program, review the materials, and write a one-page summary that assesses its strengths, weaknesses, how it would need to be modified for use with your particular population/setting, etc. Remember to utilize both university libraries as well as professionals’ resource libraries in your chosen field. In your review, be sure to include all the necessary information that a principal, agency director, clinic director, or inpatient facility manager would need to know in order to assess whether or not the program is appropriate and feasible for that setting (and budget).
DUE: 01/31/12 Points Possible: 15
3. Letter of Commitment to Experiential/Observational Exercises: Prior to the second class meeting, you will receive an Experiential/Observational Exercises Guidelines packet. Once you have fully investigated your options (as per the information provided), prepare and submit to me a brief statement with agency information, agency contact names and numbers, specific dates and times, brief description of your intended activities, age/stage of children, what tasks you will need to complete in order to gain permission/clearance to participate in the experience, and any other pertinent or explanatory information that I should be informed of. Statements must be type-written, thorough, and should evidence the fact that thoughtful, intentional planning has occurred with relation to your professional deficits and goals.
DUE: 02/21/12 Points Possible: 5 (Statements will be kept on file for reference.)
4.Article Reviews: Identify the setting and population of children/teens that you have an interest in counseling. Select three high-quality research or research review articles related to the setting/population. Both the articles and your reviews of them should be relevant to you – focus on new ideas, counseling theory, and recommendations presented in the articles that are applicable to working with your identified population. Reviews should be one to two pages per article. Follow APA (6th Ed) format for annotated bibliographies.
DUE: 03/06/12 Points Possible: 15
5.Case Study Treatment Plan: During the semester, read one of the following books below or watch a film-rendition of one of them. After reflecting upon the child/adolescent in the book/film, write a brief case study of the client/student in the book/film such as you would present to colleagues at a case management or professional consultation meeting. In order to do this, you may need to choose a point in the film or book where you would intervene in the story as this child’s counselor. Then, draft a multi-dimensional treatment plan outline for counseling this child that you feel is appropriate to their needs and is appropriate to your professional setting. You will bring this Treatment Plan with you to class the night it is due and hold a mock case consultation in class with your classmates and the instructor. They will be collected at the end of the mock consultation. Case study examples are found throughout the Vernon text. Treatment plans should include previous therapeutic successes/failures (e.g., what has/hasn’t worked), S.M.A.R.T. primary goals, secondary goals, how you will know that goals have been met (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely), child’s assets specific to meeting those goals. DUE: 04/17/12 Points Possible: 15
Options: White Oleander (Fitch)
Girl, Interrupted (Kaysen)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (Shriver)
6.Letter of Completion of Experiential/Observational Exercises: At the end of your experience(s), submit to the on-site supervisor of that experience (with whom you worked during the experience) a letter that you compose stating all the information listed above in the “Letter of Commitment” section and ask him/her to sign their name and contact information (for verification purposes) as an attesting to their knowledge/witnessing of your time and efforts there at the site/school/agency, etc. One letter for each different type of experience (or site) is required.
DUE: 05/01/12 Points Possible: 20
7.Reflection Paper of Experiential/Observational Exercises: Upon participation in and completion of your Observational/Experiential exercises, write a reflection paper on the experience(s). Further information and guidelines will follow later in the semester.
DUE: 05/01/12 Points Possible: 20
Grading Criteria:
Attendance/Participation (attending class, actively engaging in class): 15 points
Parent Program Review 15 points
Letter of Commitment (Observations/Experiences) 5 points
Research Article Review 15 points
Case Study Treatment Plan 15 points
Letter(s) of Completion (Observations/Experiences) 20 points
Reflection Paper (Observations/Experiences) 15 points
Total: 100 points
NOTE: The instructor reserves the right to delete, add to, or modify course assignments and readings in order to tailor the course to students’ needs, strengths, and deficit (e.g., midterm and/or final exams). Due advisement will be granted students should this situation arise; grading scales would change accordingly.
ASU Graduate School Grading Scale (given by %):
A = 95-100 A- = 90-94 B+= 86-89 B = 83-85 B- = 80-82 C+= 76-79
C = 73-75 C- = 70-72 F = Less than 70
Overall Expectations of the Instructor
General Etiquette: Because this is a graduate class, instructors and students share responsibility for learning experiences. Expectations for students and instructor include: being on time, turning cell phones ringers off and placing them out of view, respecting peers and instructor by not engaging in side conversations (verbal or electronic), listening to peers, sharing airtime, and being prepared for class. Your enthusiasm and energy are important for your learning, your peers’ learning, and the overall success of the class. This will help facilitate group activities, whole-class engaged learning, and class discussion.
Attendance and Participation: I trust that students will give the same commitment to their peers in this professional training course that they would to their future clients. In other words, while missing one class in extenuating circumstances may be understandable, missing more than that establishes a pattern of unreliability with clients/kids and, in this case, with peers who rely on classmates to be present for their presentations to provide feedback and interaction. A student with multiple unexcused absences may be asked to repeat the course. A student having a medical or professional conflict (excused absence) with the course schedule should speak to the professor in the first week of the semester to discuss their situation. A student’s grade is influenced by their level of attendance as well as their participation in the full class. Therefore, students are expected to arrive on time to class and to stay for the duration of the class meeting.
Readings and Assignments: Do them. Do them on time.
Writing Style: All work is expected to be of graduate level caliber. Papers (should one be assigned) should be written using current (6th Edition) APA style. Writing for presentations should follow the same guidelines. You are encouraged to have your work proofread prior to turning it in. Excessive typographical and grammatical errors detract from the content of your work and will be reflected in your grade. All assignments should be typed, with 1 inch margins, double-spaced, and stapled – except as noted otherwise. Double sided use of paper is encouraged. Fancy packaging is unnecessary. Please turn in original copies only (not xeroxed).
Timely Submission of Assignments: It is expected that all assignments will be submitted by the deadlines noted in this syllabus. Late assignments will not be accepted except for extraordinary circumstances that are pre-approved by instructor. Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the dates indicated in this syllabus.
Electronic Communications: Cell phones, notebook/tablet computers, PDAs, etc are one way of communicating with others and the world around us. Another way, one which adds to the depth of experience in the present moment, is communicating with the fullness of our presence (words, thoughts and actions) with those immediately around us – being fully engaged in the present moment. The efficacy of counseling itself lies in the present experience of the moment with others. Students are, therefore, asked to deactivate these devices prior to the class starting. Cell phones (etc) may be checked (etc) while on scheduled breaks during the class. As a professional counselor you would not interrupt your client session to text or take a personal call (unless it was an emergency – and even then, most schools and agencies have strict policies in place for staff use of cell phones and other devices that distract from attending to clients/kids). Therefore, please give your classmates the same high quality of respect and attention that you would give your future kids/clients. If you are unable act in a professional manner you may be asked to leave the class.