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ess of questions that could be raised concerning how he might have done ithout a teacher, the use of a different instructional approach, and even he possible impact of a different teacher. In counseling, however, there are Lo specific subjects to be "taught" to all clients; counseling "content" does ot remain the same from year to year with a curriculum that can be evised and updated periodically; there are no reliable and valid "behavior chievement tests" that yield meaningful achievement scores that the ounselor and administrator can point to with pride and use to justify addiional funding for more counselors, counseling materials, and counseling

'ooms.

Instead, the counseling interview is conducted in privacy; teachers and administrators cannot visit the counseling office and view the counseling process in action. It is no small wonder that others may question the value of the work of the counselor who has clients with tremendously different problems and needs, because they do not know what it is the counselor does and what happens as a result of his efforts.

To make matters worse, many counselors attempt to explain their work in terms they know and appreciate, but which no one else may understand. For example, the concepts of self-understanding and selfacceptance are commonly understood among counselors, but this understanding is not always shared by the busy administrator or teacher who wants to see the student cease his disruptive behavior. Then, too, some counselors may be so concerned with maintaining confidentiality they refuse to say anything to others. While this may protect the counselor-client relationship, it does not contribute to the acceptance and support of the counselor's work by other staff members.

The counselor with deaf people will encounter these problems, which are shared by counselors with other clients. It is important that he understand why these problems exist and do as much as he can to help other staff members understand his work and how it contributes to their mutual goal of helping the individual student toward the fulfillment of his potentials.

Conclusion

It is quite clear that we do not know as much as we should at this time about counseling deaf people. Yet, a growing commitment to this vital force in the lives of deaf people will ensure that our knowledge will increase rapidly in the future. Only as the field of counseling the deaf evaluates itself can it grow and expand in a meaningful manner. And only as the coun

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selor becomes a valued member of the team-whether it be in education or in rehabilitation can he make his maximum contribution.

Summary

This chapter began with a discussion of the nature of counseling. Some common misconceptions of counseling were pointed out, followed by a definition of counseling in terms of general characteristics, and in terms of more specific characteristics, including those which differentiate counseling from the relationships such as interviewing. The core conditions that must be offered by a counselor include a deep respect for the client, empathic understanding, and genuineness.

The implementation of these conditions by the counselor in the counseling relationship was discussed, and the client's major responsibility and activity in the counseling relationship, the process of self-exploration, was pointed out.

This was followed by a consideration of the application of basic principles in counseling with deaf people. Some general principles of this application were noted, including assumptions of the counselor about deaf clients. Characteristics of deaf clients that are obstacles to counseling were noted. These include language limitations, conceptual limitations, communication deficiencies, and developmental and experiential limitations. Some common issues in counseling with deaf clients were noted, such as client expectations, situational barriers, the use of tests, information-giving. confidentiality and privacy, applicability of different counseling methods. and administrative support of counseling as related to desirable counseling

outcomes.

CHAPTER IV

Role and Function of the Counselor

RICHARD W. THORESON
NORMAN L. TULLY

Introduction

The counseling profession has made little inroad into the area of deafness-in contrast to counseling with other client groups. The authors of this chapter will outline the professionalization of the counselor, delineating role and function and extrapolating to the specifics of counseling with the deaf person. It is divided into two sections. Section one will deal with the role and functions of the counselor covering general principles of counseling that are applicable to all professional counselors. It refers to rehabilitation counseling for illustrations of paradoxes and problems in the emergence of the professional counselor and his role and functions. Section two will translate the general principles of counseling into the specifics of counseling with deaf persons. Both authors affirm the applicability of general counseling to counseling the deaf person. Both recognize the complexity of the problem of counseling the deaf and the urgency of initiating a broad base of professional concern and action to develop effective programs of professional counseling services for the deaf person.

The Counselor's Role and Function

The profession of counseling is reality bound. The humanistic philosophy that undergirds democracy in America has been translated into concrete expressions of caring for the dignity of man through a wide array of private, public, local, state, and federal programs of counseling. These programs have focused upon facilitating and maximizing human resources.

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Programs of counseling services may be found in public and private rehabilitation agencies, elementary, secondary, and higher institutions of education, divisions of mental health, institutions for the mentally retarded, and a variety of other community agencies. The ultimate goal of such programs of counseling services is to foster the optimal adaptation of the person in significant areas of living-the catalyzing of his human development. Since counseling services are provided to a client within the framework of ongoing programs of educational, vocational, medical, social, and psychological services, one must first look at some of the realities of human service E programs to understand counselor role and function.

There has been a swelling tide of federal legislation that has designated for counseling a broadened and fundamental role in meeting human needs and solving problems of persons in a variety of life situations.

A basic tenet of such programs is that helping people progress in education and engage in productive work requires the service of a professional counselor. Specific federal legislation creating a demand for counseling services includes: the Manpower Development and Training Act, the Economic Opportunity Act, the Vocational Education Act, amendments to the National Defense Education Act, amendments to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and Manpower legislation. The counseling profession is turned to as the appropriate deliverer of a unique kind of person-services to ameliorate social problems.

The chronology of vocational rehabilitation in its programs of services to persons with physicial and mental handicaps toward employment documents the development of the counseling profession and the forces that have influenced counselor role and functions. Counseling services in embryonic form were seen in vocational rehabilitation service program with the passage of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act for civilians in 1920. Legislation during the 1930s, early 1940s, post-World War II, and in the mid-1950s progressively extended the field of vocational rehabilitation, eventuating in the present-day large-scale state-federal program in vocational rehabilitation. The 1954 Vocational Rehabilitation amendments, (Public Law 565), which authorized professional training of counselors, led to concern about training and practice. These relate to the professionalization of rehabilitation counseling. Specification of these standards for training and practice and job tasks was asked of the counseling profession.

Without guidelines, the first rehabilitation counselors were overseers of the rehabilitation process-intelligent, educated persons of good appearance and character who liked working in people programs. Such rehabilita

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tion counselors were the first coordinators of rehabilitation services. But with the authorization for training of rehabilitation counselors came guidelines and professional standards for rehabilitation counseling.

Graduate training programs in rehabilitation counseling sponsored by the Rehabilitation Services Administration are now predicated upon these professional standards for training as requisites for entry into the practice of rehabilitation counseling.

Emergence of Professional Counseling

Rehabilitation counseling literature in the 1950s documents the development of counseling in rehabilitation agencies. A number of authors described the lack of clarity in role and functions of counselors. These articles provided theoretical speculation on such topics as: "Counselor versus coordinator"; "Counselor as jack-of-all-trades"; "Counselor as team captain"; "Counselor as psychologist", etc.

While the functions of the rehabilitation counselor are all geared to meet the needs of the handicapped client, delineation of his basic duties is complicated by the variety of task functions in rehabilitation agencies. This exemplifies the age-old conflict between professional training standards and practical demands in the field. Nonetheless, such delineation is essential in order to supply adequately trained professional counselors in numbers sufficient for the counseling needs of rehabilitation clients. And the differentiation and specification of role and functions is necessary to delineate the area of professional counseling practice from that of allied professional or "support" personnel now coming into wide use in vocational rehabilitation.

The conflicting roles and the variety of functions demanded of the rehabilitation counselor make delineation of role functions a delicate task.

In discussing the role conceptualization of rehabilitation counseling, Patterson (1957) saw four possible alternatives to the choice of counselor or coordinator: To consider the counselor primarily as a coordinator and train him for this function; to train an individual for both functions; to concentrate on the training of competent counselors in the available time; and to think of counselors and coordinators, not counselor or coordinators.

McGowan (1960, 1967) in two training manuals for the orientation and in-service training of rehabilitation counselors describes the necessary skills, knowledge, and duties of the rehabilitation counselor. A summary of these is still a demanding list.

Included are skills ranging from the ability to establish and maintain a counseling relationship to utilizing community resources and functioning in a public-relations role. Basic knowledge required includes a spectrum