In the United States, as many as 6.4 million public school students, or 13%, receive special education services for specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, other health impairment, autism, intellectual disability, developmental delay, emotional disturbance, multiple disabilities, hearing impairment, or orthopedic impairment (Children and Youth with Disabilities). There are some disabilities that students are born with or exhibit early on in their life, such as Down syndrome and autism, whereas other disabilities develop later in life (Krahn, Walker, Correa-De-Araujo, 2015). School dropout is a significant problem when working with this marginalized at-risk student population.
Dropout rates reported indicate students …show more content…
Since research shows that social skills programs are more effective when implemented with general education students and students with disabilities are together, classroom interventions allow school counselors to reach both populations of students. In addition, classroom teachers are familiar with the social skill strengths and difficulties of the students in their classroom, making classroom-based social skills an essential approach as well as teacher-counselor collaboration (Miller, Lane, & Wehby, 2005). This approach also allows the school counselor to be visible in the school while interacting with a large number of students that the counselor may not normally interact with. This presence lets students know more about the counselor role, as well as where to go if they need …show more content…
One example includes how students with disabilities are indentified for intervention efforts. Even though having a disability is highly associated with dropping out, it is not the most reliable predictor or within the power of educators to change. The counselor should use other manageable predictor variables with this at-risk population such as absences, tardies, skips, course grades, and credits. These variables are important to know for intervention purposes, and can be used for evaluation and student referral efforts. These are also variables that can be manages through the school database system, making it possible for the counselor to run reports on students without the need to rely on teacher report (Sinclair, Christenson, Evelo, & Hurley, 1998). Another limitation includes the teachers that would be involved in the social skills classroom interventions. In order to implement classroom-based interventions, teachers have to the tools required to address the needs of their students. To do this, counselors will also need to implement teacher training and consultations that will allow for teachers to successfully address social skills (Franklin, Moore, & Hopson,
Dropout rates reported indicate students …show more content…
Since research shows that social skills programs are more effective when implemented with general education students and students with disabilities are together, classroom interventions allow school counselors to reach both populations of students. In addition, classroom teachers are familiar with the social skill strengths and difficulties of the students in their classroom, making classroom-based social skills an essential approach as well as teacher-counselor collaboration (Miller, Lane, & Wehby, 2005). This approach also allows the school counselor to be visible in the school while interacting with a large number of students that the counselor may not normally interact with. This presence lets students know more about the counselor role, as well as where to go if they need …show more content…
One example includes how students with disabilities are indentified for intervention efforts. Even though having a disability is highly associated with dropping out, it is not the most reliable predictor or within the power of educators to change. The counselor should use other manageable predictor variables with this at-risk population such as absences, tardies, skips, course grades, and credits. These variables are important to know for intervention purposes, and can be used for evaluation and student referral efforts. These are also variables that can be manages through the school database system, making it possible for the counselor to run reports on students without the need to rely on teacher report (Sinclair, Christenson, Evelo, & Hurley, 1998). Another limitation includes the teachers that would be involved in the social skills classroom interventions. In order to implement classroom-based interventions, teachers have to the tools required to address the needs of their students. To do this, counselors will also need to implement teacher training and consultations that will allow for teachers to successfully address social skills (Franklin, Moore, & Hopson,