Counseling Children and Adolescents in Schools: Social Emotional Development and Exceptionalities Course – COSC 611

Course Description

A comprehensive course focusing on the most effective counseling theories and techniques when working with children and adolescents in a school setting. This course specifically examines the characteristics of children and adolescents with exceptionalities and how this impacts service delivery. There is also a focus on the role of school counselors in relation to advocating and supporting all students as well as issues related to religion and spirituality in the school counseling setting.

Rationale

Based on a biblical worldview, the goal of this course is to synthesize academic knowledge and skills with biblical values, moral dimensions, and ethical implications. The school counselor licensure program at Liberty University maintains a continuous cycle of evaluation and revision in order to achieve its mission of developing competent professionals with a biblical worldview for Christian, public, and private schools. It is important for professional school counselors to gain a more in-depth understanding of the counseling theories and techniques used with children and adolescents in the school setting (e.g., play therapy, solution-focused counseling, etc.). This course provides the candidate with the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate students’ emotional, psychological, cognitive, social, and spiritual development and to promote successful transitions in the personal, social, career, and academic success of all students.

Method of Instruction: This 8 week course is delivered in a digital asynchronous format, with Canvas® as the primary instructional delivery method. Students complete one module per week over the duration of the course. 

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

Course Requirements Checklist Assignment

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview. 

Advising Acknowledgement Quiz

The student will acknowledge he/she has reviewed the Advising Guide.

Discussions (2)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the candidate will participate in 2 Discussions throughout this course. The candidate must not attach threads or replies as files. The candidate must instead type directly into the Discussion. Threads must be at least 500 words. One reply must be at least 250 words. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E, F, H, J, K, L)

This assignment (paper) is a synthesis and application of course readings and additional outside sources related to the professional school counselor’s role in knowing and applying developmental theory to counseling children and adolescents in schools. Additionally, professional school counselors must demonstrate knowledge and understanding of categories of exceptionality in school-age students, laws addressing students with exceptionalities, understand their role in working with students with exceptionalities, and how to provide appropriate, research-based strategies in counseling those children and teens. The body of the paper should be 3-4 pages, not including title and reference page. (CLO C, E, G, I, M, N, O)

The candidate will create a presentation for teachers and parents in PowerPoint. This presentation will describe a transition program for diverse high school students with the goal of increasing their participation in postsecondary opportunities. In addition, teachers will be provided tips on how to be more inclusive regarding all aspects of diversity (culture, race, ethnicity, spirituality, religion, etc.). The candidate will provide research to support the presentation and will cite a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed sources in current APA format. (CLO: A, B, C, F, I)

As the culminating benchmark assignment for this course, the candidate will integrate learning from course Modules: Weeks. Each component within the benchmark will be specific to the chapters and concepts discussed in course readings. This assignment must be 8–10 pages in length (excluding title page and reference pages). (CLO: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I J, K, L, M, N, O, P)

Quizzes (7)

The candidate will complete a quiz each week (with the exception of Week 7) that covers the course material. Each of these 7 quizzes quizzes will have 25 multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions and each quiz question. All quizzes will be open-book/open-notes and have a 1-hour time limit. There will be a 1-point deduction for every 5 minutes over the allotted 1-hour time limit. The quizzes cover the content of the module: week readings. Each quiz may only be taken one time. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E, G, K. L, M, N, O)

This quiz covers the Professional Dispositions. This quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 10 multiple-choice and essay questions, and will have a 1-hour time limit.