Do your children have a counselor at school?

[Kindra178]

The school I work at has a relationship with a local counseling group. We give parents the information, but it’s up to parent to initiate the contact. We do have counseling for children in foster care or open case with DFS.

In my experience, the school administration wants an evaluation for special education. I get told “just to rule it out”, but I feel they’re hoping the child qualifies so then special education is involved and it’s no longer general education only.

It’s a real shame students don’t get the support from qualified mental health professionals. I’ve had a few cases where child has had traumatic background, family situation is unstable, child did not have a disability to qualify for special education but admin had pushed for ANY eligibility as they said they couldn’t deal with the child in general education. There is behavior support unit who will consult, but it’s not the same as having someone there on staff.


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This is crazy!! Here, you can see the school social worker 4 times before requiring some sort of parent involvement. I can't believe there isn't any mental health support. There are so many kids here who have an IEP for anxiety but are otherwise in the gen ed program for education.

To answer the initial question, school social worker full time for one elementary school with 350 kids. There's a psychologist too, full time, but I think she does more testing and IEP meetings. The middle school has several school social workers, approximately 650 kids.

[okinawama]

Technically yes, but in all schools we've been a part of (3 different states), unfortunately, the school counselor/guidance counselor has a majority of their time scheduled for standardized testing, IEP meetings, and remedial help. The districts keep the job title the same, but VERY little counseling happens.

[carolinacool]

I’m in North Carolina. We do have a counselor at our elementary school. When DS was in kindergarten, he had some transition issues coming back from Christmas break. She helped him for about a week. I was surprised because when I was growing up, I don’t have a counselor until high school. And even then, I remember her being more of a college counselor.

I do think our counselor spends a lot of time dealing with IEP‘s and 504‘s. I believe our county has social workers, but our school doesn’t have a permanent one. Maybe they float.

[anonomom]

I’m in North Carolina. We do have a counselor at our elementary school. When DS was in kindergarten, he had some transition issues coming back from Christmas break. She helped him for about a week. I was surprised because when I was growing up, I don’t have a counselor until high school. And even then, I remember her being more of a college counselor.

I do think our counselor spends a lot of time dealing with IEP‘s and 504‘s. I believe our county has social workers, but our school doesn’t have a permanent one. Maybe they float.

Not sure which county you're in, but mine (Wake) does definitely have social workers, though it's not clear to me how many schools each one covers.

I am really grateful that we have school counselors, social workers and psychologists. Some years ago, a child we knew had made a few statements to me that indicated that there might be abuse and/or neglect going on at home. I was able to contact the school counselor about it, and was relieved to know that she was already aware of the issue and working to support that child. Just the idea that the kids in our schools know they have someone to whom they can turn is incredibly helpful.

[niccig]

This is crazy!! Here, you can see the school social worker 4 times before requiring some sort of parent involvement. I can't believe there isn't any mental health support. There are so many kids here who have an IEP for anxiety but are otherwise in the gen ed program for education.

To answer the initial question, school social worker full time for one elementary school with 350 kids. There's a psychologist too, full time, but I think she does more testing and IEP meetings. The middle school has several school social workers, approximately 650 kids.

It is not a priority. My school is very low SES and there’s a whole range of issues the kids have that they shouldn’t be dealing with at their age. We need the mental health support, but it’s not there and it’s up to teachers to do the best they can. I get several evaluations a year where the issues are behaviors that don’t have underlying disability so don’t qualify for special education services, but there’s no one to help the child in general ed.


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[KpbS]

None at the small, private schools we have attended in the past.

I had one at my HS, but she was a pretty spacey lady in her 70s who was fairly clueless.

[mmsmom]

I replied earlier about my DC’s amazing elementary school counselor but I just remembered how a school counselor helped me in 8th grade in the mid 80’s... I was fighting with my mom about a boy I liked that she forbid me to see... I went to the counselor who really helped me and my mom navigate the situation. There were 3 counselors at this school (7th-8th) and it makes me sad to know there are students at any level that do not have that resource.

[magnoliaparadise]

Wow, I'm amazed that schools don't have counselors in this day and age. I didn't know. All my kids' schools have had counselors.

That being said, in their old schools, the counselors were overwhelmed - needed more help - really didn't do much.

In our new school, there are two counselors and they are all over the kids. They are great.

[speo]

In CA here. Our elementary school of almost 600 shares a counselor with several other elementary schools. I think their primary role must be IEPs. In our middle school of 1100, we have 2 "counselors." I really feel for these women. They are in charge of the class scheduling and IEPs. I *think* there might be a true counselor at the high school. Counselors certainly are not in the budget. This is a high performing and high income district. For reference, our PTA has to pay for yard supervisors.

[arivecchi]

All of our district schools in IL have school psychologists.


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