This small presentation includes relevance of Counseling in Special Schools.

1. Counseling in Special Schools
MD AAQUIB SAHRWARDI

2. Counseling
• Counseling is the means by which one person helps another through
purposeful conversation.
• Counseling is a method of identifying practical solution to an
identified problem.
• Counselling is when we meet with someone who is a qualified
counsellor trained in listening and talking. In counselling we can talk
about things that might be worrying us or about changes we might
want to make in our life. This is done in a structured way.
• Counselling can be helpful for people with mental health problems. It
is also helpful for people looking for ways of managing better in their
lives.

3. Special Schools
• A special school is a school catering for students who have special
educational needs due to severe learning difficulties, physical
disabilities or behavioural problems. Special schools may be
specifically designed, staffed and resourced to provide appropriate
special education for children with additional needs. Students
attending special schools generally do not attend any classes in
mainstream schools. Special schools provide individualised education,
addressing specific needs. Student to teacher ratios are kept low,
often 6:1 or lower depending upon the needs of the children.

4. History of Special School
• One of the first special schools in the world was the Institut National
des Jeunes Aveugles in Paris, which was founded in 1784. It was the
first school in the world to teach blind students. The first school in
U.K, for the Deaf was established 1760 in Edinburgh by Thomas
Braidwood, with education for visually impaired people beginning in
the Edinburgh and Bristol in 1765. In the 19th Century, people with
disabilities and the inhumane conditions where they were supposedly
housed and educated were addressed in the literature of Charles
Dickens. Dickens characterized people with severe disabilities as
having the same, if not more, compassion and insight in Bleak House
and Little Dorrit.

5. Cont…
Students with disabilites were housed with people with mental
illnesses, and they were not educated much, if at all. With the
Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997, school
districts in the United States began to slowly integrate students with
moderate and severe special needs into regular school systems.

6. Problems of Children with special needs
• At-risk students (those with educational needs that are not associated
with a disability) are often placed in classes with students who have
disabilities. Critics assert that placing at-risk students in the same
classes as students with disabilities may impede the educational
progress of people with disabilities. Some special education classes
have been criticized for a watered-down curriculum.

7. Counseling in Special School
Guidance and counseling is a very important program in our schools.It
is the process by which students are given advice on how to deal with
emotional conflicts and personal problems both in school and how to
incorporate the same in their daily life. Some sessions involve career
guidance where students are advised on which courses to do and
which jobs to expect when one does a particular course.

8. The following are some of the benefits of
guidance and counseling
1.Students are given solutions on how to deal with psychological problems
which might affect their studies. Through this, the students are able to
develop problem solving skills which to an extent helps them deal with
particular issues surrounding their lives.
2. Students are advised on how to cope with different situations facing them
in their school life. For instance, on how to relate with their peers.
3. It helps to shape a student's behavior and instill discipline in students.
Students who are guided and counselled in a right way tend to know what to
do and how to do such things.
4. Students get to learn how to live in harmony with others in the school
community. In so doing, they also learn to appreciate the people around the
and come to harmony with their environment.

9. 5. It bridges the gap between the students and the school
administration,since can channel their problems through guidance and
counseling office.
6. Students get comprehensive pieces of advice on careers,courses and
jobs which enables them to have an informed choice on what to do
after school.
It allows students to talk about various things which they feel
uncomfortable talking about with their parents which include things
like drug abuse. It also allows the students to become better people
because they are taught by the counselors about how to behave in a
proper manner.

10. Counseling dealing with different settings
In the school setting, school counsellors, like all school staff, have a set
of professional responsibilities that define their scope of activities
addressing the needs of:
• Students
• Parents/guardians
• Colleagues and professional associates
• School and community

11. Conclusion
As we all know that Counseling is an umbrella term which can not be
defined completely but when we talk about the Special school then
counseling plays a broad role in dealing with different problems of
children with special needs. The term "counseling" has many confusing
meanings and there are many wide applications to it as well. To go by
the dictionary meaning, the term counseling means "the provision of
professional assistance and guidance in resolving personal or
psychological problems." Many of us might have found ourselves in the
role of a counselor at times and also many of us might have used
counseling and guidance of others in our life. But the actual meaning of
counseling, the role of a counselor and its importance are quite unclear
concepts to many of us.

12. References
• http://b-u.ac.in/download/careertools/Counselor%20skills.pdf
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy
• http://psychcentral.com/lib/about-interpersonal-therapy/000679
• http://psychcentral.com/lib/psychodynamic-therapy/000119
• http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/family
therapy/basics/definition/prc-20014423
• http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/person-centred-
therapy.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_education