Program Director:  Cheryl Wu,  Psy.D.
Fowler Hall (FH)  107

TTY: 202-651-5515
Voice: 202-651-5515

The School Counseling program prepares school counselors for placement in educational settings serving deaf and hard of hearing children and deaf children with additional special needs. The program gives a mental health emphasis to the training of school counselors. The age range of deaf students with whom trainees work varies from preschool through postsecondary. The master's degree consists of a minimum of 65 credit hours and requires two academic years to complete, including the summer between the first and second year of study.

The Gallaudet University master's degree program in school counseling is the only professional preparation program of its kind in the world. The program strives to train school counselors to work with deaf, hard-of-hearing students, and deaf special needs students, minority deaf, and hard-of-hearing students, their families, the educational systems of which they are a part, and the communities in which they live.

Program Mission

The School Counseling Programs (full-time and summers only) prepare graduates to be multiculturally competent professional school counselors with the self-awareness, sensitivity, knowledge, and skills essential to becoming effective and ethical practitioners, leaders, and advocates for quality comprehensive counseling services and/or programs for all deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students in a variety of educational settings.

Program Objectives

The School Counseling Programs prepares professionals who:

1. work effectively with students individually, in groups, and in classroom settings.
2. work effectively in cooperation and collaboration with relevant personnel and systems in and outside of the school setting (e.g. parent/guardians, families, teachers, administrators, social worker, school psychologist, speech and language pathologists, community service providers, etc.)
3. are able to develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive, developmental K-12 counseling program that includes personal/social, academic, and career development components consistent with state and national standards and directly relevant to the unique educational needs and issues of current deaf/hard of hearing student populations (multiculturally diverse backgrounds, additional special needs, etc.)
4. have the cultural self/other- awareness, knowledge, and skills to effectively counsel culturally and linguistically diverse deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students in educational settings, and also work effectively with their families.
5. conceptualize the situations, concerns and issues of students and their families from a developmental and cultural perspective and can employ developmentally/ culturally appropriate prevention and intervention strategies and techniques.
6. develop and implement developmentally and culturally appropriate IEP/ITP counseling goals and action plans, and can effectively manage multiple client loads.
7. network and effectively engage in, and build alliances with a variety of human service delivery systems external to the school setting (for and non-profit community based service agencies, city and county programs, etc.)
8. develop and apply multiple theoretical perspectives in conceptualizing a student/family's situation, or primary issues.
9. are sensitive, genuine, and demonstrate positive regard and respect for others across human differences.
10. are able to recognize and take responsibility for their own limitations, personal biases, assumptions and prejudices that can interfere in the counseling process and prevent effective multicultural relationship building.
11. are committed to on-going personal as well as professional growth and development.
12. demonstrate competency in effective cross cultural communication and interpersonal skills.
13. accurately interpret counseling and school-related research and apply it to practice where relevant.
14. practice legal and ethical behavior and demonstrate ability to consider and appropriately integrate multicultural ethical considerations and a social justice framework in decision making and problem solving approaches.
15. assume leadership and advocacy roles as professional school counselors to effect systemic changes school wide as well as on the individual and group levels.

The program of study is accredited by the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs (NCATE) and the Council on Accreditation of Counseling-Related Education Programs (CACREP). In addition to the Graduate School requirements, the school counseling and guidance program requires undergraduate or graduate courses in child or human development and abnormal psychology, and one additional course in psychology (nine hours total).

For the program of study and requirements for the M.A. in School Counseling and Guidance, click the link "Program of Study" in the right-side menu.