Counseling for Communication Disorders

Course COMD 6348 001

Professor Karen Prager
Term Spring, 2007 January 12 – April 20
Meetings Fridays 1:30 – 4:15; CR 1.212

Professor’s Contact Information

Office Phone 972-883-2353
Other Phone 972-618-3886; 214-724-3616 for emergencies
Office Location GR. 2.214
Email Address kprager@utdallas.edu 2nd best way to contact me
Tuesdays, 1:00-2:00 p.m.; Fridays, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Best
Office Hours
way to contact me
Other Information You can email me also via WEB-CT

General Course Information

Pre-requisites,
Co-requisites, & Graduate student status
other restrictions
Students will learn basic counseling and problem-solving skills to
use as an adjunct to the clinical roles of communication disorders
professionals. The emphasis is on helping students to gain comfort
Course
and skill; to structure therapy sessions effectively; to deal
Description constructively with their client’s emotions, especially their grief
reactions; to work effectively with family members; and to
understand the psychological aspects of communication disorders.

After completing the course, students should be able to:

1) Describe and apply counseling strategy, process, skills and

ethics as they pertain to effectively assessing and intervening
Learning
with individuals with hearing and speech disorders and their
Outcomes families.
2) Recognize and demonstrate the ability to appropriately
address psychological concomitants of communication
disorders for individual patients and their families.

1) 1Brammer, L.M., & MacDonald, G. (2003). The helping

Required Texts &
relationship: Process and skills (8th Ed.). Boston, MA:
 Materials Allyn and Bacon.
2) Shames, G. H. (2006). Counseling the communicatively
disabled and their families. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
3) Readings packet on WEBCT
4) Articles handed out in class.
Luterman, D.M. (2001). Counseling persons with
Recommended
communication disorders and their families (4th Ed.). Austin,
Text TX: Pro-Ed.

Assignments & Academic Calendar

Dates for discussing topics and readings are approximate.
January 12 Introduction to the Course
Topic: Introduction to Role Playing & Giving Feedback
Counseling in the Context of the Communication Professional’s Work
January 19
Read in Shames, Chapters 1-3
Read in Readings packet pp. 1-15
Topics:
1 Characteristics of effective helpers: Exercise in self-awareness
2. Introduction to Basic Counseling Skills
January 26 3. Practice in attending and opening
Read in Brammer & MacDonald, Chapter 2
Read in Shames, Chapter 4 & 6
Read in Readings Packet pp. 16-18.
Topics:
1. Indirect leading – selecting a direction with open-ended
questions and paraphrasing
February 2
2. Basic counseling skills: Tracking content and summarizing
Read in Brammer & MacDonald, Chapter 3
Read in Readings Packet pp. 19-20
Topics:
1. Helping process and helping skills – Road blocks
2. Structuring and boundary setting
February 9
Read in Brammer & MacDonald, Chapter 4
Read in Shames, Chapter 11
Read in Readings packet, pp. 21-34
Topics:
1. Role plays: Structuring, negotiating, and making referrals
2. Counseling and emotions
February 16
3. Class exercise: Appraising client affect
Read in Readings Packet pp. 35-49
Read in Shames, Appendix B
Topic: Reflecting feelings and permitting silence
February 23
Read in Shames, Chapters 7 & 9
Topic: Following through with reflection: clarifying and reassuring
March 2
Read in Readings packet: 50-51
 March 9 Spring Break
Topic: Handling crises
Read in Readings packet: 53-56
March 16
Read in Brammer & MacDonald Chapter 5
Read Shames, Chapter 12
Optional: Turn in Papers, Part 1
Topics:
1. Making an appraisal
March 23 2. Counseling people experiencing grief and loss
3. Helping suicidal clients – counseling & referral
Recommended Reading: Luterman, “Emotions of Communication
Disorders”
Topic: Working with Families
Read articles: Toner & Shadden, “Working with Older Clients, ” Birth
March 30 of a Sick or Handicapped Infant,” and “Counseling Families of
Children with Communication Disorders”
Recommended Read in Luterman, “Working with Families”
Topics:
April 6 Problem-solving & action planning
Read in Brammer & McDonald, Chapter 6
JOURNALS & FINAL PAPERS DUE
April 13 Topic:
Practice: Interviewing Couples/Parents
April 20 (Time built in for student presentations)

Course Policies
Grading Grade will be based on the following:
60% Final paper
(credit)
25% Group presentation
Criteria 15% Journals, class participation, & attendance
Much of what you learn in the class will come through the activities
we do in class. It is especially important, for this class, that you
attend every session and stay for the whole session. Since some
Attendance absences are unavoidable, let me know in advance, if possible,
when you are unable to attend or stay for the whole class. Please
try to limit such times to one or two for the semester.
You will have the opportunity to inform your classmates about
a subject that is important for them to learn as counselors. You and
your classmates will be broken down into small groups and asked to
Assignments: give a 40-45 minute group presentation.
The Class The topics below have been very helpful to students in this
Presentation class in the past,and you are welcome to select a group presentation
topic from the list. You are not limited to the topics on list, however.
Let me know if you have ideas of topics you want to present that are
not on the list.
 Sample topic list:
(1) Depression: what is it? When and how the communication disorders
professional should encounter and handle it
(2) Parenting: What kinds of skills, attitudes, and approaches are
involved in competent parenting? How can these be used in helping
parents to assist their children with their communication disorder?
(3) The effects of communication disorders on self-esteem
(4) Communication disorders and the marital relationship: impact and
source of support
(5) Multi-cultural issues in counseling for communication disorders
(6) Siblings: impact on and coping with a communication disorder in
the family
(7) Perspectives on communication disorders in old age
(8) Anxiety and anxiety disorders
(9) Individual & family psychological issues particular to any group of
disorders commonly treated by communication or early childhood
professionals (e.g., stuttering, swallowing disorders, deafness, stroke,
traumatic brain injury, autism, etc.)
You will have some class time initially to break into your small
groups and discuss your presentations. Most of the work of the group
should be done outside of class, however.
A good presentation should have some or all of the following
characteristics:
1) Its objectives are clearly stated.
2) It is well-organized. For example, your fellow students are
told what they will hear, then they hear it, then they are told what they
just heard.
3) Your fellow students (and your instructor) receive a handout
or two (with an outline, perhaps), and a bibliography.
4) Each member of the group contributes part of the
presentation. However, the presentation must be clearly a group effort:
four unrelated presentations, or presentations that overlap with one
another, show poor teamwork.
5) There will be a 10 minute question and answer period
following each presentation. Group members must be sufficiently
informed about the subject to answer (some or most) questions.
6) Presentations do not have to be solely in lecture format.
They can combine different formats, including demonstrations, skits, or
roleplays, guided discussions with the class, demonstrative artwork,
videos, etc. Let me know if you will need special equipment for your
presentation.
GRADE: Approximately 25% of final grade. The presentation will
receive a single grade, given to each of the four or five people
involved.
Your journals are a confidential record of your experiences,
Assignments: impressions, and analyses of yourself, your fellow students, and your
 The Journal clients in your placements in counseling-type situations. Keep a
weekly journal including your experiences in class and in your
placement(s) of counseling-related experiences. Journal entries should
be as detailed as possible because you will use them as data when
writing your final paper. Include whom you (or a classmate) interacted
with, when, where, under what circumstances, what was said & not
said, and how you feel and think about it. Be as detailed as possible
without revealing names of clients (to protect their confidentiality).
You may also write about your experiences in class, particularly during
roleplays and/or group discussions. Write about fellow students as
well, and how you reacted to their efforts in roleplays or class
discussions. Your journals will be graded only YES/NO (you either
turned it in & got credit or you didn't), so feel free to speculate wildly
on counseling process, on your own reactions, on why you think a
particular encounter worked well or did not. Your journals are not the
place to worry about presenting yourself in a socially desirable light.
They are for you to explore, in writing, what you are learning and
experiencing as a counselor and as a person in counseling situations
during the semester. Remember that what you learn about yourself is
as important or more important than skills and techniques.
GRADE: Your journals are not graded for content. You are given
credit for turning it in. Reasonably active class participation and
consistent attendance merit an A for 15% of your grade (and I expect
everyone to make an A here).

Purpose
The purpose of the final paper is to integrate the material from
your journal with the concepts in your readings, class discussions, role
plays, group presentations, and handouts.
Length
The paper should be 9-12 pages long, and have two parts
(longer is not necessarily better).
Structure
PART I:
A. In the first part, talk about your own growth as a professional
Assignments: and a counselor. For example, you may:
The Paper **discuss what you have learned about yourself and how your
own behavior/skills have been changed or enhanced.
**discuss what you have learned about how you come across to
others and about your strengths and vulnerabilities in a helping
relationship.
**discuss when you are most effective, and when you are likely
to be less effective
B. Show how one or more of the topics we discussed in class
can help you and your reader make sense out of you and any changes
you have experienced or new things you have learned. I suggest (but
do not insist) that you draw on one or more of the following topics:
 **Brammer & MacDonald’s model of change through the
helping process
**Any of the counseling skills we practice and their impact on
personal growth or relationships
**Our discussion of affect and why it is important to respond to
it constructively
**Our discussion of structuring and boundary setting and their
importance in relationships, personal & professional
**Brammer’s and MacDonald’s model of crisis intervention
and problem-solving
**Stages of loss and grief
**Our discussion of families and their important role in shaping
individual coping efforts
**and so forth, including any other issue or topic that comes up
that strikes a note for you.
PART II:
A. In the second part, discuss one or two of your clients, fellow
students, friends, or family members and describe their growth and
change. Use the same format as above, discuss some way that you
have learned to understand that person or observed their growth and
change that is derived from one of the topics discussed in class (listed
above).
B. Example questions to consider when writing this part:
What was going on with that person, and how did a counseling
(or similar healing) process assist them?
What was effective or helpful or not?
If a fellow student, how was that person effective? How could
she/he have been more effective? How did s/he grow personally or
professionally over the course of the semester?
The paper may be turned in 2 parts during the semester or all at
once on the due date (depending on when you want feedback).
Be sure and sum up the main points of your paper at the end
(you’ll do this twice if you turn it in in two parts).
GRADE: Approximately 60% of final grade.
The syllabus, course goals and objectives, and all handouts and
study aids will be available through WEBCT. You can access WEBCT
with this URL: http://webct.utdallas.edu. Use your NETID and
password to get access; when you first log on, you will see a list of
your courses. Click on the hyperlink for Counseling for COMD and
WEB-CT you are there. Check your WEBCT email weekly as I periodically
Resources send messages to the class or to individual students. You may also
email me with questions and feedback about the course or questions
about assignments.
Turning in your papers via WEBCT. You will be turning in
your papers through WEBCT this semester. There is an icon on your
homepage for turning in your paper and your journal. Click on it and
you will be taken through a series of steps for turning them in. You
will receive a notification with a time stamp on it once each is turned
in. The deadline for turning in your paper corresponds to the deadline
on WEBCT.
Formatting your paper for WEBCT. The following are the
formatting requirements for your paper.
1. Doubled-spaced
2. One inch margins all around
3. 12 point or elite font.
4. In one of the following word processing formats:
a. Microsoft Word .doc
b. Word Perfect .wpd
c. Rich Text .rtf
d. ASCII (plain) text .txt
Not acceptable:
Microsoft Works – .wps – or any other document type (I cannot open
them).
If you’re unsure of the format of your document, check the file
extension.
Field Trip Policies This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the
identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the transmitted
Off-campus Instruction and Course Activities information. UTD furnishes each student with a free email account that is
to be used in all communication with university personnel. The Department
of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method for students to
Off-campus, out-of-state, and foreign instruction and
have their U.T. Dallas mail forwarded to other accounts.
activities are subject to state law and University policies
and procedures regarding travel and risk-related
Withdrawal from Class
activities. Information regarding these rules and
The administration of this institution has set deadlines for withdrawal of any
regulations may be found at the website address
college-level courses. These dates and times are published in that
http://www.utdallas.edu/BusinessAffairs/Travel_Risk_Activities
semester's course catalog. Administration procedures must be followed. It
.htm. Additional information is available from the office of
is the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements from any
the school dean. Below is a description of any travel
class. In other words, I cannot drop or withdraw any student. You must do
and/or risk-related activity associated with this course.
the proper paperwork to ensure that you will not receive a final grade of "F"
in a course if you choose not to attend the class once you are enrolled.
Student Conduct & Discipline
Student Grievance Procedures
The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas
Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student
have rules and regulations for the orderly and efficient conduct of their
Services and Activities, of the university’s Handbook of Operating
business. It is the responsibility of each student and each student
Procedures.
organization to be knowledgeable about the rules and regulations which
govern student conduct and activities. General information on student
In attempting to resolve any student grievance regarding grades,
conduct and discipline is contained in the UTD publication, A to Z Guide,
evaluations, or other fulfillments of academic responsibility, it is the
which is provided to all registered students each academic year.
obligation of the student first to make a serious effort to resolve the matter
with the instructor, supervisor, administrator, or committee with whom the
The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the
grievance originates (hereafter called “the respondent”). Individual faculty
procedures of recognized and established due process. Procedures are
members retain primary responsibility for assigning grades and
defined and described in the Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents,
evaluations. If the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the grievance
The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3, and in Title
must be submitted in writing to the respondent with a copy of the
V, Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of
respondent’s School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written
Operating Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are available
response provided by the respondent, the student may submit a written
to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are
appeal to the School Dean. If the grievance is not resolved by the School
available to assist students in interpreting the rules and regulations (SU
Dean’s decision, the student may make a written appeal to the Dean of
1.602, 972/883-6391).
Graduate or Undergraduate Education, and the deal will appoint and
convene an Academic Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic
A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the
Appeals Panel is final. The results of the academic appeals process will
responsibilities of citizenship. He or she is expected to obey federal, state,
be distributed to all involved parties.
and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules, university regulations, and
administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating the
Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office
standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus,
of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist
or whether civil or criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.
students in interpreting the rules and regulations.
Academic Integrity
Incomplete Grade Policy
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and
As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work
academic honesty. Because the value of an academic degree depends
unavoidably missed at the semester’s end and only if 70% of the course
upon the absolute integrity of the work done by the student for that degree,
work has been completed. An incomplete grade must be resolved within
it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual
eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the
honor in his or her scholastic work.
required work to complete the course and to remove the incomplete grade
is not submitted by the specified deadline, the incomplete grade is
Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or
changed automatically to a grade of F.
omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of a degree,
and/or the submission as one’s own work or material that is not one’s own.
Disability Services
As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the following acts:
The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities
cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records.
educational opportunities equal to those of their non-disabled peers.
Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary
Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the Student Union. Office
proceedings.
hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other
classes, and from any other source is unacceptable and will be dealt with
The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:
under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see general catalog for details).
The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the web
PO Box 830688
for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.
Richardson, Texas 75083-0688
(972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)
Email Use
The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of
Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those
communication between faculty/staff and students through electronic mail.
reasonable adjustments necessary to eliminate discrimination on the basis
At the same time, email raises some issues concerning security and the
of disability. For example, it may be necessary to remove classroom
identity of each individual in an email exchange. The university
prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides)
encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a
for students who are blind. Occasionally an assignment requirement may
student’s U.T. Dallas email address and that faculty and staff consider
be substituted (for example, a research paper versus an oral presentation
email from students official only if it originates from a UTD student account.
for a student who is hearing impaired). Classes enrolled students with
mobility impairments may have to be rescheduled in accessible facilities.
The college or university may need to provide special services such as
registration, note-taking, or mobility assistance.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need

for such an accommodation. Disability Services provides students with
letters to present to faculty members to verify that the student has a
disability and needs accommodations. Individuals requiring special
accommodation should contact the professor after class or during office
hours.

Religious Holy Days

The University of Texas at Dallas will excuse a student from class or other
required activities for the travel to and observance of a religious holy day
for a religion whose places of worship are exempt from property tax under
Section 11.20, Tax Code, Texas Code Annotated.

The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as

soon as possible regarding the absence, preferably in advance of the
assignment. The student, so excused, will be allowed to take the exam or
complete the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a
period equal to the length of the absence, up to a maximum of one week. A
student who notifies the instructor and completes any missed exam or
assignment may not be penalized for the absence. A student who fails to
complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed period may receive
a failing grade for that exam or assignment.
If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e.,
for the purpose of observing a religious holy day] or if there is similar
disagreement about whether the student has been given a reasonable time
to complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the student or
the instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer of the
institution, or his or her designee. The chief executive officer or designee
must take into account the legislative intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the
student and instructor will abide by the decision of the chief executive
officer or designee.