Course Syllabus, Fall 2006
RHAB 711
Rehabilitation Counseling Practice II

Course Description:
Good counseling practice involves a combination of a sound theoretical base and familiarity with the most up-to-date research. This course in rehabilitation counseling practice builds upon the basic communication skills and knowledge and understanding of good counseling process and techniques that students acquired in Counseling Practice I (or equivalent). In this course, students will integrate into their own personal counseling styles a new knowledge of counseling theory and practice, reinforced in simulated individual counseling sessions.

Goal: The purpose of this course is to provide rehabilitation counseling students with knowledge of classical counseling theories, and with an experiential context in which to practice these approaches.



Assumptions and Expectations:
All students enrolled in this course are adult learners with personal and experiential backgrounds relevant to the class. Further, many students at the graduate level have prior career experience in fields related to rehabilitation and other counseling, or professional and/or personal experience with the populations discussed in this course. Also, each individual enrolled in this course has personal goals he/she would like to achieve and specific information that he/she would like to gather during the semester.

Therefore, each student is expected to be an active participant in all class projects and discussions, and a portion of the course grade will reflect the degree to which the student has actively participated in the course. Graduate-level performance is expected on all projects, as is graduate level initiative, curiosity, and personal responsibility. Coursework will be highly challenging but also highly applicable to each student’s personal situation.

Instructor assistance is available upon request. Students may schedule individual appointments at any time and can generally expect to find instructors available during posted office hours. To ensure instructor availability at a specific time, please make an appointment. A professional level of courtesy and mutual respect is expected both on the part of the student and instructors at all times.

Academic honesty:
Each student is expected to review and abide by the “Carolina Community - Rule of Academic Responsibility” found online at
http://www.sa.sc.edu/carolinacommunity/housing.htm#Academic%20Responsibility (Scroll down to Student Affairs Policy STAF 6.25 )

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTE: Copying from any source, including cutting and pasting from the internet, without appropriate attribution, is considered academic dishonesty. It is expected that NO material will be cut and pasted from web sites for any purpose as relates to this class without proper attribution of that source.
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTE: “Appropriate attribution” requires that you give credit for ideas taken from a source other than your own mind. If you use the exact words from another source, they must be within quotation marks, and the source must be cited. If the ideas come from another source but you do not use the exact words, you must still cite the source of those ideas.
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTE: Obtaining assignments or parts of assignments (e.g., a paper, part of a paper, take-home tests, etc.) from another source (e.g., another students, an internet source, etc.) and submitting it as your own work, is academic dishonesty and may result in a lowered grade, a grade of F, and/or expulsion from the university.

Course Objectives:
1. Students will be able to discuss 8 basic counseling theories and describe differences among them in terms of philosophy, processes, techniques, and application to people with disabilities.
2. Students will be able to demonstrate the basic processes and techniques of each theory through simulated counseling sessions with colleagues and faculty.
3. Students will identify counseling theories that most closely approximate their personal beliefs and experiences, and be able to integrate these theories into their personal practice.
Textbooks:

Corey, G. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Seventh Edition. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Corey, G. (2005). Student Manual for theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy, Seventh Edition. Pacific Grove, Calif: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.


Course Meetings:

The course will meet online Thursdays from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. through Summer I and Summer II. In addition, students will

• perform other activities supervised by instructors as described in “Assignments” portion of this syllabus.
• post weekly on the course web site bulletin board. Posting constitutes approximately an hour of “contact time” weekly. See additional description is the “Assignments” portion of this syllabus.

Assignments:

Research indicates that counseling students learn counseling techniques best through observing, and then mimicking the skills they have observed. Each student will practice each of these counseling approaches during the last half of each class session. As students become more comfortable with these skills, they begin to integrate their own styles.

1. Examinations

This practice course focuses on a theoretical component that is important to the development of an acceptable counseling knowledge base. For this reason, both a midterm and a final examination will be given. Each examination will consist of a written component. The written portion of the examination will evaluate the student's knowledge of the theories discussed in the class presentations. Each examination will constitute 10% (10 points) of the total grade for the course.

2. Research Paper

Students are required to write a research paper that explores the counseling effectiveness of selected counseling theories to rehabilitation counseling situations. The paper is a process that includes several paper development assignments spread throughout the semester (see semester schedule). In order to receive full credit for the paper, the development assignments must be completed and turned in as scheduled. The paper should reference JOURNAL ARTICLES, NOT WEB SITES! In addition to the articles, students may also reference the text book. Papers should be no less than 10 pages, and no more than 12 pages. The paper assignment constitutes 20% (20 points) of the total grade for this course.

Paper development assignments

The course includes a sequence of assignments intended to help students get a foothold on the paper topic and paper topic development.

The Proposal should be about two pages long. It should list (1) the approach the student is interested in exploring, and (2) the population the student is interested in applying the approach to. Students should include a description of why they are interested in writing on this approach, and why they are interested in writing on this population. Finally, the student should briefly describe why the approach may be helpful with the population, and what limitation the approach may have in application to the population.

Paper Abstracts are abstracts of professional journal articles on the counseling approach, the population, or both. Abstracts can be obtained online from the USC library. If you have not accessed the journal databases before, be sure to start this process early enough to give yourself time to learn the process. Feel free to ask fellow students for instructions, or to offer fellow students instructions if you know how to access the journal databases.

The Outline is quite possibly the most difficult part of the writing process, if you do it properly. It is difficult because this is where you look at the information that you have obtained from your sources, and look at your thinking process, and determine how to organize it into a cogent paper. If you do this well, writing the paper is much easier, because the outline will provide a map of what you will write about, so that you are writing a series of short papers, rather than one long paper. Your outline should be specific, rather than generic. For example, an outline entry of “The Population” is generic. An outline entry of “Adults with persistent, severe mental illness” is specific.

The Paper is the culmination of all these preparatory efforts. Please include your outline when you turn in your paper.

Research paper instructions:

Students will choose ONE of the following paper descriptions, or may propose another paper with subtopics of their own interest that addresses application of a counseling theory to rehabilitation.

Option A. Students selecting this option will create a hypothetical client typical of a population of interest to the student and propose a paper based on a counseling approach and/or intervention with the “made-up” client. If based on a real client, be sure to change the names, places, and other factors that may identify the “client.” The paper should reflect rehabilitation counseling. The paper will be based on application of a specific counseling approach. The paper should:
• describe the approach in detail
o This portion of the paper should reference a minimum of 5 JOURNAL ARTICLES and/or academic books, NOT WEB SITES! Students may also reference the text book.
• describe the population by creating a hypothetical rehabilitation client. Describe the disability fully, along with any other factors that are pertinent, given the counseling approach you have chosen
• combine these two by discussing the application of the counseling approach to the hypothetical client. Again, what you write about should be well organized in your outline.

Option B. Students will compare and contrast two of the major counseling theories discussed during the course and the applicability of these theories to rehabilitation counseling. Papers should focus on:
• Papers should focus primarily on the application part of these theories but should provide enough background about each of the theories being discussed to demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the major tenets of each.
• This paper should reference a minimum of 5 JOURNAL ARTICLES or academic books, NOT WEB SITES! Students may also reference the text book.



3. Videotaping.

Students will videotape 6 practice sessions with student partners or simulated counseling clients. Each tape should be about 45-50 minutes long, but should in all cases be AT LEAST 30 minutes long. Tapes that are shorter for any reason will not be accepted and therefore must be redone. In the tapes, students will employ the basic listening skills acquired in RHAB 701, and will practice techniques from the counseling approaches gained in RHAB 711. Simulated partners (those not currently enrolled in RHAB 711) must sign a release form, found on the course web site in the Reference Room or available from the instructor upon request (either in-person or via email).

Students will submit a brief critique of tapes 1 & 2, and 4 & 5, following the format provided. Students will bring tapes 1, 2, & 3 to the first tape review, and tapes 4,5 & 6 to the second tape review.

Students will prepare tapes 3 & 6 for review and critique by the instructor and fellow students. Tapes should be cued to a particular place in the counseling session that the student wishes to discuss. These two review sessions MUST occur in-person. The review process is collaborative and strength-based; that is, the review is meant to be a positive learning experience for the student, to help the student understand both areas of strengths and areas to target for further development of counseling skill.

The review sessions focus on both the overall counseling skill demonstrated and the inclusion of identifiable counseling approaches. At the time of the review, each student will produce a brief (one paragraph for each point) written description that describes (1) the theory being demonstrated, (2) the goal and intent for the session, and (3) the rationale for the techniques chosen.

The two videotape reviews will be held on the dates designated in the syllabus. The entire group will participate in all the reviews. It is the responsibility of the student to prepare a videotape review session within the stated dates for each of the two tape reviews. All students are encouraged to arrange and tape the practice sessions and set up review meetings with the instructors as early as possible! Each videotape constitutes 20% (40% total) of the total grade for this course.

4. Attendance

All students are expected to attend class. As per USC attendance policies, missing classes may affect the overall course grade. See: http://www.sa.sc.edu/carolinacommunity/guide.htm#Attendance

5. Participation

All students are expected to actively participate in discussions, postings, and other activities as indicated by the instructors. Each absence will result in a reduction of points. Regular participation will constitute 10% (10 points) of the total grade for this course.


6. Weekly website posting

Each student will post weekly on the course web site bulletin board. Postings should cover your observations about course readings, responses to the observations of other students, and other pertinent posts. Posting is considered to be a portion of the interactive (e.g., classroom) class component, and is in addition to regular course reading and other course writing assignments.

• Posting should constitute approximately an hour of “contact time” weekly, in addition to course readings, other writing assignments, etc.

• Posts should be substantial. A post should (a) review a portion of the reading, then (b) provide the poster’s opinions, criticisms, etc

• Students should respond to other student’s posts each week, offering substantial contributions

These postings will constitute 10% (10 points) of the course grade. A portion of these points will be awarded weekly based on the number of weeks in the semester. Earning points is based on the frequency and quality of the student’s postings.



Assignments Percent of grade
Midterm examination 10%
Final examination 10%
Research paper 20%
Videotape #1-3 and review 20%
Videotape #4-6 and review 20%
Participation 10%
Posting on web site 10%
Total 100%

NOTE: All course assignments must be completed in order to receive a grade of A.



RHAB J711, Fall 2006

Topic Reading/Assignments
1 Aug 24 Orientation and review of syllabus and assignments;
Review of APA handouts

2 Aug 31 Psychoanalytic therapy Ch 4;

3 Sep 7 Adlerian therapy Ch 5;
Paper topic (proposal) due

4 Sep 14 Existential therapy Ch 6;
Tape 1 critique

5 Sep 21 Person-centered therapy Ch 7

6 Sep 28 Person-centered therapy (continued)
Review and practice Paper abstracts due;
Tape 2 critique

7 Oct 5 Gestalt therapy Ch 8

Fri-Sun
Oct 6-8 Distance Ed Weekend
Videotape #1 Review
Review video tape; Sign up for tape review #2

8 Oct 12 Behavioral therapy
(midpoint of semester) Ch 9;


Oct 19 Fall break, no class

9 Oct 26 Mid-term exam -
No class meeting
Mid-term examination due at 7:00 p.m.

10 Nov 2 Cognitive behavioral therapy Ch 10;
Tape 4 critique

11 Nov 9 Reality therapy Ch 11;
Tape 5 critique

12 Nov 16 SFBT pp. 388-396;
Research paper due

Nov 23 Thanksgiving break, no class

13 Nov 30 Special topics

Friday Dec 1 Videotape #2 Review

14 Dec 7 Mid-term exam -
No class meeting Final examination due at 7:00 p.m.


RHAB J711, Fall 2006

Topic Reading/Assignments
1 Aug 24 Orientation and review of syllabus and assignments

2 Aug 31 Psychoanalytic therapy Ch 4;

3 Sep 7 Adlerian therapy Ch 5;
Paper topic (proposal) due

4 Sep 14 Existential therapy Ch 6;
Tape 1 critique

5 Sep 21 Person-centered therapy Ch 7

6 Sep 28 Person-centered therapy (continued)
Review and practice Paper abstracts due;
Tape 2 critique

7 Oct 5 Gestalt therapy Ch 8

Fri-Sun
Oct 6-8 Distance Ed Weekend
Videotape #1 Review
Review video tape; Sign up for tape review #2

8 Oct 12 Behavioral therapy
(midpoint of semester) Ch 9;


Oct 19 Fall break, no class

9 Oct 26 Mid-term exam -
No class meeting
Mid-term examination due at 7:00 p.m.

10 Nov 2 Cognitive behavioral therapy Ch 10;
Tape 4 critique

11 Nov 9 Reality therapy Ch 11;
Tape 5 critique

12 Nov 16 SFBT pp. 388-396;
Research paper due

Nov 23 Thanksgiving break, no class

13 Nov 30 Special topics

Friday Dec 1 Videotape #2 Review

14 Dec 7 Mid-term exam -
No class meeting Final examination due at 7:00 p.m.