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University Personnel Preparation
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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 years 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 adult with disabilities in the community. What follows is a comprehensive list of a variety of careers related to special education: 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 this site: http://www.resna.org/certify. Assistive technology is a newer field and formal programs for individuals who wish this certification are just developing. The program at the University of Pittsburgh is described through this link: http://www.rst.pitt.edu/ATTP/attp.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 Nurses. 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 also 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 want to go (orientation). O & M specialists have traditionally
focused almost exclusively on the needs of people with visual impairment
but 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: Physical Therapists. The physical therapy WWW pages strive 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 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.
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 provides a lot of information on its web site
at http://www.atra-tr.org/careerinfo.htm.
NICHY: http://www.nichcy.org has developed a 20-page newsletter providing an effective overview of numerous related services.
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