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Rehabilitation, Disability Studies, & Counseling

Specializations

Clinical Experience

One of the prerequisites of practicum and internship placement is the demonstration of adequate knowledge, skills, competencies, and appropriate manners and behaviors conducive to dealing with people with significant disabilities from culturally diverse backgrounds. The master’s degree curriculum includes completing 3 hours of practicum (100 clock hours in the summer) and 6 hours of internship (300 clock hours in the fall and 300 clock hours in the spring). The student will be eligible to embark on this uniquely insightful practical experience upon the completion of RDCO 501 Introduction to Rehabilitation Counseling, RDCO 510 Theories and Process of Counseling, RDCO 564 Rehabilitation Assessment and Evaluation, RDCO 570 Occupational Information and Vocational Analysis, RDCO 580 Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of Disability I, and RDCO 581 Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of Disability II.

This year-long supervised clinical experience is designed to acquaint the student with the practical application of didactic knowledge and skills learned in the classroom, building counselor-client relationships, practical techniques of decision-making, ways of integrating community resources to optimize the quality and level of services provided, and methods of developing professionalism and networking skills within the rehabilitation community. Most of the time will be spent providing services to rehabilitation consumers, especially those from underserved/underserved populations.

To select an appropriate site, the student must write a rationale describing his/her expectations from the clinical experience, the preferred population, the type of agency, and goals for future career enhancement. Based on this rationale, the student and the faculty supervisor will select an approved site.

During this one year, the student must enroll in RDCO 590 Practicum, RDCO 591 Internship I, and RDCO 592 Internship II. The student will receive supervision from an on-site professional and a faculty member in charge of the course. He/she will meet with the agency supervisor for at least one to two hours per week and with the faculty supervisor for at least one hour per week. Supervision sessions will be designed to discuss the progress made and address any concerns. Both supervisors should be Certified Rehabilitation Counselors (CRCs). The student will be required to maintain a daily log of activities and write reports about the experience.

Both supervisors will evaluate the student twice a semester. However, the faculty supervisor will make the final decision about the grade. At the end of the semester, the student will have an opportunity to evaluate the agency and suggest ways of improving the quality of clinical experience. The student must demonstrate professional and ethical behaviors during the clinical experience. If he/she fails this, he/she will be withdrawn from the agency and may be dismissed from the program. Please refer to the Practicum and Internship Manuals for further details about practicum and internships.