Ways to refer:
- A child may refer themselves.
- A teacher may refer a student.
- A parent may refer his/her child.
- A staff person on campus can refer a student.
For a parent/ counselor meeting:
- Call the school counselor to set up an appointment
- Send a note or an email to the counselor requesting contact
Reasons for a referral:
- You have concerns with your child's attitude toward school.
- You have concerns with your child's academic growth.
- You have concerns with your child's relationships with peers at school.
- You have concerns with your child's personal development.
- You have concerns with your child's reactions to changes within the family that may be effecting his/her learning at school.
Why should it be done:
- Provides students with more one on one help, support, and intervention
- Increases specificity of interventions and supports and tailors them to the student
- Increases privacy for the student
- Removes the student from the situation or circumstance to discuss solutions to it
- Reduces anxiety and pressure on student
- Provides the student with the full attention of an adult
- Makes student feel secure
- Allows an adult to give a student undivided attention
- Frees the teacher up to continue teaching the rest of the class without having to stop to speak or counsel a student in the hall or away from the class
When should it be done:
- When students are over emotional and cannot calm down in an appropriate and brief amount of time
- When a student’s needs are greater than those the teacher can provide in the classroom setting
- When a student requires more support and attention to address or solve a problem, issues, etc
- When students need more specific and individualized help, solutions, and plans to address issues
- When a student needs more privacy than a teacher can provide in the classroom
How should it be done:
- Counselor referrals may be planned or spontaneous
- For planned referrals, have the student set up a day or days and times to meet with the counselor ahead of time and provide the student with reminders
- For spontaneous referrals where an incident happens and the student unexpectedly requires counselor support, send the student down to the counselor with a note briefly explaining what happened, or send the student down and call and explain to the counselor the issue.
- You may walk the student down or send another student to walk down with the student to the counselor
- The counselor may also come to the room to retrieve the student
