Creative strategies for school problems

About this book

Intended for school psychologists, counselors, and social workers, teachers, and therapists who work with school systems, this book presents both a philosophy and numerous practical strategies for handling behavioral problems presented by students. Ideas from various brief therapies provide a framework that offers school personnel creative and efficient ways to deal with those situations in which they often get "stuck." While students' behavioral or emotional difficulties may be related to family or personality factors, teachers or counselors can do little about those. Whatever the "cause" of students' behavior, school personnel must deal with, or modify, behavior that disrupts the educational routine. Consequently, this book focuses on what to do, rather than what caused. After sharing some thoughts about typical assumptions brought to contacts with students, Michael Durrant demonstrates strategies for assessment, setting goals, intervening in problem behaviors, highlighting change, and shifting the focus from present problems to future solutions. The strategies described can be used in formal counseling, in classrooms, in consultation to teachers, and in helping the school system as a whole respond differently to students. In fact, once counselors and teachers make the attitudinal shift toward looking for competence, solutions are likely to reverberate through the system. Forms, certificates, and ways of harnessing school routines are included. Throughout there are numerous examples of this competency-based approach at work in real school settings.