Becoming a School Consultant

Most consultation courses in school psychology focus heavily on theoretical models of consultation and associated intervention procedures. Little time is devoted to developing communication and process skills. Yet these process skills are key to properly identifying student problems and selecting appropriate interventions. Without skillfully conducted consultations, implementation and evaluation of an intervention can be minimal. This casebook is designed to help students develop the process skills needed to become effective school consultants in both consultee-centered and instructional consultation models. The cases address specific skills and issues faced by novice consultants and documents how they worked through a particular issue.

All the cases have been completed by students in a consultation course and are presented in the students voice. Each one addresses specific skills and issues faced by novice consultants and documents the skills they used to worked through the issues. An introduction to each case, written by the volume editor, includes questions that frame the case.