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Kathryn Bodinson School Counselor |
The Role of the Early Childhood Counselor
PISD supports counselors throughout your child’s school experience Pre-K through 12th grade. As part of your child’s early childhood experience, the counselor will play a vital role in his/her social and educational development. Below is a description of some of the many services that will be offered. We are looking forward to working with your child in order to help him/her have a happy and successful school year.
Classroom guidance gives the counselor an opportunity to meet and get to know all children in the early childhood school. Lessons are developmentally based guided by the PISD Early Childhood curriculum in order to meet the needs of the students.
On occasion some children may need additional assistance from the school counselor. In these cases, individual and small groups may be available depending upon the needs of the children. Typically children will attend counseling for up to 5 sessions. If more assistance is needed appropriate referrals will be made to community agencies or private therapists.
Counseling Through Play can focus on immediate issues and feelings of the child and help build a positive self-image while improving social skills. The counselor will consult with the teacher as well as observe the child in the classroom and other settings. The counselor focuses on developing a warm, caring and accepting relationship with the child. In the playroom, children are given a chance to do for themselves, make mistakes and learn their strengths. Play in the playroom with a counselor can provide for emotional release, help to reduce aggressive tendencies and provide a safe place to express feelings in order to make better choices. The counselor sets limits to facilitate development of the child’s decision-making skills, self-control and self-responsibility.
| Read a short story about visiting the counselor. |
Parent Education Programs will be presented on a variety of topics throughout the year. The counselor or other community members such as Practical Parent Education will present these programs. Surveys will be available to parents at the beginning of the year in order to meet the needs of our school community.
Your school counselor is always available to meet with you for individual
conferences. Please contact the school counselor to discuss any concerns
regarding your child.
"Children"
A short story about visiting the counselor
Being a kid isn’t always easy. There are lots of feelings and moods to figure out.
Sometimes you might feel happy or silly or sad, worried,
angry, or scared.
You might have one feeling or a whole bunch of feelings at the same
time!
These feelings might make you want to laugh, cry, or yell
really loud!
Or you might be mixed up and not know what to do.
Sometimes things happen that can be hard for boys and girls to understand by themselves. Kids might need a special grown up to help them with their feelings.
Kids come to the playroom for special play time with a grown up. This grown up knows a lot about kids and can help them with their worries or scary feelings. Some people call this person a counselor. You can call her by her name.
What happens in the playroom?
In this room you get to choose what to do. You can play with the toys
in most of the ways you would like. The grown up will make sure you
are safe.
It can be hard to use your words to tell a story or share your feelings. You can use the toys to help.
You can play, talk, laugh, cry, or yell. Doing these things with the special grown up sometimes helps kids feel better.
After a while you may not have as many worries, or maybe they won’t feel so big. Even if you still have some worries, play with the special grown up can help you feel better.
After a while it will be time to stop coming to the playroom. If you need to come back that’s OK, you can tell your teacher or your mom or dad.
You are a very special person, and I’m glad you’ve come to play!
Adapted from The Special Playroom
by Jeanie Gilfix and Naomi Heller Kahn