Careers Menu
University Personnel Preparation Programs
Careers
in Related Services
There is a famous African saying that “It takes a village to raise
a child.” This means that people beyond the immediate family share
responsibility for the healthy growth of all children. Almost 30 year
of experience in special education has taught that it takes a whole team
to effectively educate students with disabilities, especially students
with severe disabilities. Many of the students with whom you interact
require services from a variety of people beyond teachers. This page lets
you learn a bit about some of these other professions that operate in
your school. You should also note that many of these same professionals
also work with adults with disabilities in the community.
NICHY has developed
a 20-page newsletter providing an effective overview of related services.
Please access this publication, Related Services, and read at least “Part
II: A closer look at specific related services” (pages 5 –11).
Select four of these professions that either interest/intrigue you or
about which you know nothing and review the information provided in the
links below. Then write a paragraph about each of your selected professions.
Make sure that each paragraph has five facts about the profession and
your assessment of what it would be like to work in this profession.
Assistive Technology Practitioner. The role of the assistive
technology practitioner is summarized at http://www.csun.edu/~hfdss003/supplements/gph1.html.
The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North
America (RESNA) has a credentialing program for assistive technology practitioners
which is outlined at the following site: http://www.resna.org/NewCertPract/GettingCertificate.php
. Assistive technology is a newer field and formal programs for individuals who wish to obtain this certification are just developing. The program at the University of Pittsburgh is described through this link: http://www.iss.pitt.edu/attp/index.html.
Audiologist. An audiologist is a licensed health care
professional who diagnoses, evaluates, and treats hearing disorders and
communication problems. A licensed audiologist has to complete a minimum
of a Master's degree in audiology. For further information on this profession,
check the information on audiology-net at http://www.audiologynet.com/audiologist.html
or the site maintained by the American Academy of Audiology at http://www.audiology.org/index.php.
Nurse. Some nurses specialize in working with people
with developmental disabilities and their families to assist them in living
a full healthy life. This specialization is described at http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/dd.html.
The Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association, in collaboration with
the National League for Nursing, has established a specialty certification
for registered nurses who serve individuals with developmental disabilities.
"As nurses in the specialized field of Developmental Disabilities,
our mission is to continually develop our expertise in order to assure
the highest quality of life to the people we serve throughout their life
span." Their site is at http://www.ddna.org.
Occupational Therapist. School-based occupational therapy
(OT) is designed to enhance the student's ability to fully access and
be successful in the learning environment. This might include working
on handwriting or fine motor skills so the child can complete written
assignments, helping the child organize himself or herself in the environment
(including work space in and around the desk), and/or working with the
teacher to modify the classroom and/or adapt learning materials to facilitate
successful participation.
OT in the school is discussed at http://www.aota.org/featured/area6/links/link02x.asp.
The national organization of occupational therapists has a great deal
of information on its web site http://www.aota.org/index.asp.
There is a section designed for use by students at http://www.aota.org/featured/area2.
Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Movement is a building
block for learning. As a child explores his world and has physical contact
with it, learning takes place. Children with visual impairments typically
need encouragement to explore their surroundings. Orientation and mobility
training (O & M) helps blind or visually impaired children know where
they are in space and where they wants to go (orientation). O & M
specialist have traditionally focused almost exclusively on the needs
of people with visual impairments. Today the field is gradually expanding
to serve anyone who has trouble getting around in the environment. However,
there is still far too few of these professionals to meet the need. These
three website provide a lot of background information on O & M specialists.
Check them out:
* Orientation and Mobility Training: The Way to Go
at
http://www.tsbvi.edu/outreach/seehear/fall98/waytogo.htm
* Orientation and Mobility: Products, Services, and Information
Sources at http://millcreekmedia.com/sixfriends/subdir2/o_and_m.html
* Introduction to O & M at
http://isd.saginaw.k12.mi.us/~mobility/intrhome.htm
Physical Therapists. The physical therapy WWW pages strives
to provide information about physical therapy to the general public at
http://www.mindspring.com/~wbrock/pt.html.
The national organization of physical therapists has a great deal of information
on its web site http://www.apta.org
including information for prospective students http://www.apta.org/Education/prospectivestudentinfo.
Rehabilitation Counselor. Historically, rehabilitation
counselors primarily served working-age adults with disabilities. Today,
the need for rehabilitation counseling services extends to persons of
all age groups who have disabilities. Rehabilitation counselors also may
provide general and specialized counseling to people with disabilities
in public human service programs and private practice settings. Rehabilitation
counselors assist people with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities
to become or remain self-sufficient, productive citizens. The American
Medical Association (AMA) web site provides a good overview of this profession
at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/4408.html.
(Please note that the AMA site also provides a great deal of information
on many other professions—you may want to explore some of the links
on this page). The Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification
(CRCC) sets the standard for quality rehabilitation counseling services
in the U.S. and Canada. As an independent, not-for-profit organization,
CRCC has certified more than 30,000 counselors since its incorporation
in 1974. http://www.crccertification.com/index.html.
School Counselor. Parents, administrators, teachers and
students considering a career in school counseling often wonder just what
it is school counselors do on a daily basis. Why do we need school counselors
anyway? On a daily basis, school counselors are involved in character
education, violence prevention, career planning and much more. See what
the School Counselor web site has to say about this profession http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.cfm?L1=9.
School Psychologists. The mission of the National Association
of School Psychologists (NASP) is to promote educationally and psychologically
healthy environments for all children and youth by implementing research-based,
effective programs that prevent problems, enhance independence, and promote
optimal learning: http://www.nasponline.org/about_nasp/index.html.
This includes a summary description of what a school psychologist does:
http://www.nasponline.org/about_nasp/whatisa.html.
Some psychologists become specialists in dealing with challenging behavior.
They may work in schools or community settings as a Behavior Consultant.
You can find more about this specialization at http://www.scsis.org/behavioral_consultant.htm.
School Social Worker. The history of school social work
can be traced to the early 1900s. Building on this long tradition of service,
the School Social Work Association of America was formed as a national
organization of School Social Workers dedicated to the promotion of the
profession. The best school social work services are provided by School
Social Workers employed by local education agencies. Most provide direct
services to students and their families including casework, group work
and classroom presentations, as well as providing crisis intervention
and consultation and making referrals to community agencies: http://www.sswaa.org/about/publications/career.html.
The school social work students pages at this site is a resource for those
interested in finding out more about the profession of social work and
those students who have already chosen social work as a career. Filled
with educational resources from schools to scholarships, this site also
brings the student social work population together and guides them to
be active and informed about what is happening in the profession: http://www.socialworkers.org/students/default.asp.
Speech Therapist. The students information page from
the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association provides access to a
variety of information about a career as a speech therapist: http://professional.asha.org/academic.
Therapeutic Recreation Specialists. Therapeutic Recreation
is the provision of treatment and recreation services to persons with
illnesses or disabling conditions. Therapeutic recreation specialists,
often referred to as recreational therapists, work with individuals who
have mental, physical or emotional disabilities. A degree in Therapeutic
Recreation (or in Recreation with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation)
is required to be considered for jobs in clinical settings such as hospitals
or community mental health facilities. The national organization for this
profession provide a lot of information on its web site at http://www.atra-tr.org/careerinfo.htm.
Another source for a variety of information about therapeutic recreation
can be found at http://www.recreationtherapy.com/rt.htm.
Project TRIPS (Therapeutic Recreation in Public Schools)
is a forum for Therapeutic Recreation professionals (CTRS's), parents
of children with disabilities, special educators and school administrators
to better understand therapeutic recreation. Information provided by this
Web page has been contributed by many individuals who are involved in
training Therapeutic Recreation professionals to better understand the
opportunities they have in working in the public schools: http://perth.uwlax.edu/trschools.