Kira Thomas

New York Institute of Technology

Professor: Cinotti

Social Justice Action Plan 

May 9, 2021
Problem Description 

As school counselors we know that our job is to advocate for the student on a daily basis

and that our first priority is the student. We cannot take lightly the social justice factor of a child

who does not feel accepted and who is looked down on because of their disabilities. Students

state that the teachers focus on their disability instead of their individuality, the students that I

interviewed had a major problem with the fact that they were a limitation of what they can do.

Teachers seem to always mention their disability instead of them being pushed to try new things.

Students said that the advocacy level of the counselors are weak and because of their disability

and being in an inclusive classroom they are not looked on to complete assignments or to

participate in sports.

According to the American School Counseling Association (ASCA), advocacy is a broad

and multifaceted process. The ASCA National Model states, “Advocating for the academic

success of every student is a key role of school counselors and places them as leaders in

promoting school reform” (ASCA, 2003). School counselors should look beyond a student’s

disability and find ways to include them in and out of school. The school counselor should

motivate the students and implement a strategy that would assist the students in accomplishing

their goals. A system of advocacy is vital for a school counselor’s role in an educational

institution. For the students that I interviewed the counselor can insist for a modification or

innovation of a strategy. For example students with a behavioral problem school counselors can

advocate for a behavioral intervention plan to be implemented for the students during the day for

extra support or for the student that I interviewed the school counselor can advocate for the

student to be included in specific school activities of their choice. Students should feel a sense of

belonging meaning that counselors can have workshops for teachers and parents to inform them
about ways a student may feel if they are not included or if the first thing that is seen is their

disability. School counselors can urge family members to take an interest in their students’

academic process and progress. Consulting and collaborating with staff and families to recognize

the special needs population of the school and communities, and being able to comprehend the

modifications and the improvement of assignments required to help the student is essential.

According to ASCA, one of a school counselors' career functions is to assist the child, parents

and family of a student who has a mental disability. A school counselor should be

knowledgeable about their students’ abilities and be able to appropriately inform stakeholders of

their abilities, thus eliminating the biases and misconception of the special needs population

within academic institutions. It is significant for a school counselor to suspend judgment about

students with special needs and their capabilities. Counselors need to identify the personal

resilience of children with developmental disabilities and be familiar with the wide spread battles

encountered not only by the special needs population, but also the struggles undergone by their

familial support (The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs

2012).  Students’ needs support from staff members to help them feel included and to help them

understand their disability does not make them lack individuality. 

Target Audience

Collaboration has always been significant within the educational community. School

counselors cannot be the only one advocating and putting the needs of the student first. The

school counselors have to work together with stakeholders, parents, teachers and the school

community to set goals to help students. Creating a truly inclusive community will require all

hands on deck. Efforts must be made in school by stakeholders, administration, and teachers as

well as out of school by parents and stakeholders. 

 School counselors can create workshops to educate stakeholders on the student's

capabilities of all students. Additionally, administration can implement direct support by

utilizing staff members and supporting students in a 1; 1 setting. Teachers together with

paraprofessionals will work to assist students by adhering to the students’ needs and wants.

Students can advocate for themselves and speak up when they feel helpless and simply

misunderstood. It takes an army to raise a child and it takes constant communication,

professional development, and community awareness to help a student. Classroom teacher’s

assistants can work with students individually so students can have one to one support. Other

Support staff such as the front office, custodial, cafeteria, can talk to students and help to

encourage students in activities, include them in games and in conversation. The School

Improvement Team can work together to evaluate students’ needs and wants and collaborate

with the stakeholders to determine the needs and concerns affecting the student and everyone

involved. “A collaborative relationship between the administration and school counselor has the

potential to greatly enhance the effective use of data, and is an important component in fostering

the success of every student” (Lashley & Stikl, 2016). It is also important for the staff who has

direct contact with students to help implement these strategies for instance student organizations

such as clubs and teams would help boost student self-esteem and support them in fitting in.

Parents include students in fun activities at home so they will have the confidence.

Supporting parents stay in contact with parents to assist with additional support. This creates a

sense of community for the parents who may be feeling isolated. Collaboration with

stakeholders, teachers, and school counselors provides parents an additional support system and

may direct the parents to outside resources including outpatient services that in turn will help the

student outside of school. These supports would help the student not only to feel like an
individual but it would also allow them to utilize self-determination. The correlation between

school support, self-determination, and school engagement are all constructive and substantial.

Self –determination and self-advocacy are the most powerful advocates for school engagement

for students with special needs (Yang et al., 2020).

For the interviewed self-awareness guided their decisions regarding their desires and

informed the results of their teacher’s actions. It is very important for a student to know what

they want and how they feel about specific situations. It is also important that students set goals

and follow every step to acquire those goals. The students interviewed felt limitations that

impacted their self-determination and success.  Self-determination is a skill in which teachers

and stakeholders should encourage their students to develop the abilities and proficiency that

encourage children to evolve into self-determining individuals (Murawski & Wilshinsky, 2005).

A parent/guardians role in encouraging self –determination after the school day is

important and must be acknowledged. School counselors should appreciate all the hard work of

the parents as parents are likely the main and most credible experts on their children. This article

also states how important it is for schools to support open communication and encouragement of

self-advocacy and leadership.

Research Based InterventionsIntervention/s

 Many strategies are accessible to assist in the education of a special education student

with a learning disability in an inclusion classroom. These strategies include but are not limited

to a paraprofessional/teachers assistance, 1:1 support, changing of class instructions and peer-

mediation instruction and intervention. Inclusion can transpire with or without a person with the

head teacher title. In the absence of a special education or head teacher, a paraprofessional and

teacher’s assistant can assume the role and responsibilities providing additional support to the
student.  By working together the special education teacher and the 1:1 and teachers assistant can

adequately assist students with special needs increasing their ability to become independent

(Solis et al., 2012).

Altering class instruction can assist students with specialized learning requirements.

Utilizing various educational techniques and equipment that corresponds to student needs is a

great way to include students of different learning styles and abilities in the general classroom

instruction (Scruggs et al., 2012).  The special education teacher lessons should keep in mind the

capability of the student, it should also be created in a way that all support staff can manipulate it

so it can correlate to the lessons taught in class and the implementation of the curriculum that is

established by the student needs (Obiakor et al., 2012). Changing classroom lessons to fit the

needs of the students provides additional opportunity for stakeholders, teachers, school

counselors, and support staff to be included in the classroom instruction. Differentiated lessons

successfully assist students with developmental disabilities. With differentiated lessons all

students are expected to complete all assignments because additional support is provided to

ensure success.  Conversely, some students, as expressed by an interviewee, consider altered

lessons as further supporting the stigma of incapability as the lessons may be perceived as less

demanding curriculum (Scruggs et al., 2012). It is imperative that the instructors are creating

tailored lessons that are both achievable and challenging for all students.  Additional training

may be needed for staff to acquire competence in appropriate differentiated lesson planning.

Peer –mediation instruction and intervention (PMII) were developed based on the

standards of behaviorism and social learning theory. PMII are alternative educational techniques

that utilize students as teachers for their peers. Students are taught methods to engage and assist

their peers with developmental disorders. PMII develops new social skills, improves social
alternatives in realistic settings, and builds leadership and advocacy skills (Katz & Girolametto,

2015). When PMII is implemented the teacher becomes a mentor, instead of the primary

instructor. Students build relationships sometimes with students they would not normally engage

with, and this bond encourages empathy, and advocacy for both student groups. Additionally,

PMII offer students the opportunity to gain valuable transferable skills that are beneficial in the

workforce including punctuality, accountability, and interpersonal skills. PMII is a great way to

engage the entire classroom in inclusion.

Evaluation of Interventions

Inclusion is social justice (Ford, 2013).  Resources for special education students are

often limited.  Parents and caregivers must advocate for individualized specific services to avoid

being categorized by misconception and judgmental analysis. Implementing intervention

strategies is imperative but not the cure all. Interventions cannot be the sole result for students

who need help. School counselors must be assertive advocates, applying their education, skills

and passion into advocating for equity. Challenges like the lack of availability of student

teachers, the sometimes incongruent relationship between the various departments in the school

should not prevent success.  Students are often left to advocate for themselves without any allies,

in a world where they are misunderstood, dismissed, and lack independence and experience.

According to the National Education Association today “Social justice is about distributing

resources fairly and treating all students equitably so that they feel safe and secure-physically

and psychologically (Álvarez, 2019). 

While I am a school counselor in training, many of the books and activities we did were

mainly on how we can use what we have learned to guide our decision making and for us to

establish a great counseling program for the school I would be fortunate enough to work for.
School counselors should be social justice ambassadors sharing what they have learned with

administrators, stakeholders and the student body to ensure all students are treated equally,

without bias or stigmatization. School counselors should focus on the area of change and work in

order to establish an optimistic climate for all students, especially those marginalized like

students with developmental disability. In collaboration with stakeholders school counselors can

work to assist in editing school policies to convey appreciation for student uniqueness. School

counselors can reinforce the significance of continued skills improvement for all school faculty

in connection to working with a diverse student population.  School counselors can educate

others using various methods including indirect or direct services. School counselors can

facilitate a lesson on self-advocacy while collaborating with teachers and other support staff.

School counselors can assist students in organizing diversity week for students with disabilities,

or diverse experiences, teaching others how to apply techniques, preferably without offensive

interaction with others. Effective, continual communication will increase the delivery of

appropriate services and secure success for the school community. School counselors can

encourage students to self-advocate and to comprehend to others that their disabilities should

never get in the way of them reaching their highest potential.

 Personal Analysis

Process

As District 75 students, the students I interviewed were in inclusion classrooms as the

students have special needs. I was aware of this prior to interviewing. In preparing for my

interview, I was a bit nervous. I knew I wanted the students to feel comfortable opening up to

me, and wondered how they would feel about being isolated for an interview. While interviewing

the students, I was sure to maintain realistic goals. I did not want the students to feel that the

interview was pointless, or that it would result in sweeping changes in the school, or school

district. While interviewing the students I realized that for some of the students' the concerns

were not new, in fact the concerns were present for a very long time. I realized that the students

were eager to express themselves and self- advocate.   

As a future school counselor, I wondered what my students would say my shortcomings

are. Would my students think I failed them, I assisted them above and beyond all others, will I be

considered mediocre? These students informed me that the educational system has made it hard

for them to access a way out of special education. The students stated that the school does not

work with them to get the assistance that should be available for them. Furthermore, the students

shared that the school counselor supported them in many ways but additional support was

needed. It was clear that the students wanted to succeed similar to their counterparts and be able

to manage their behavior. One student stated that teachers together with the school counselor

focus on their disability instead of their individuality. Whereas another student said that the

school counselor collaborated with the teachers and referred him to outside resources for him to

get better help. Another student stated that the school counselor and stakeholders work together
to manipulate class lessons for them to be able to get their class work done and for them to be a

part of the class. The 3 students I interviewed was very specific in what needs to be modified for

them to feel included. Another view they all along with their parents was insufficient availability

of resources to improve academic success. It was a relief to know that the system although

flawed did provide some success for the students. Everything was not wrong, but some things

could use improvements.

Content 

When initially entering a school, I observe in an attempt to understand the population and

culture so I can determine what is working and what is not. Following an observation, I assess to

understand what supports are needed to reach the target goal.  I’ve learned that everyone can

learn something new, build and improve their skill set even in a professional community. It is

especially important for school counselors to continue to build their portfolio of interventions

and techniques. My research was based on the ways in which teachers can bypass a student

capability and focus on their disability and what they cannot do. Many research has stated that by

administration and stakeholders working together to implement a 1:1 paraprofessional or a

teachers assistance support for students the student feels a sense of belonging. This in turn would

add an additional support needed. Research also states that co-teaching has also been proven

very successful in creating equality and addressing social justice in school. Research suggested

that changing lesson instruction to correlate to a student need can be implemented for the

inclusion students. I have also found that asking uncomfortable questions can improve one’s

ability to meet the needs of the population one serve’s. It may be uncomfortable to ask, what can

I do better, what am I not doing well enough for you. However with open honest and productive

communication, school counselors can determine through the input of their students areas for
improvement that are specific to the student instead of the overall community. Uncomfortable

questions are the responsibility of the school counselor as an advocate for their students and as a

liaison. I must be comfortable in being uncomfortable or making others professionally

uncomfortable. 

Application

Action plans are imperative and essential to the success of students. Action plans provide

invaluable insight to what works and does not work for a specific student. It provides school

counselors, teachers and stakeholders a blueprint for the success of the individual student. In

order to implement the action plan, collaboration is key. For me, collaboration is the most

effective tool for success. As a school counselor having a plan and setting goals for our students

is very important. School counselors are in a unique position to assist students with setting

objectives and formulating strategies. The students articulated feeling a lack of support from

school staff therefore,  I would attempt to collaborate with members of the community,

stakeholders in school and  parents to identify a suitable remedy, that would improve self-

esteem, self-efficacy and self-advocacy in order to help the students feel accepted and

appreciated for who they are and not classified by their disabilities.  School counselors should

continue to advocate for the students' needs and to help the student to advocate for themselves. I

would consult with team members such as teachers, administration and paraprofessional so that

we can try to come up with a plan that would not only benefit the student short term but also

when he leaves school and moves on to college or a vocational learning setting. As school

counselors advocating for students and learning different strategies to provide meaningful

resources for them is essential. As a school counselor, I will look for opportunities to regularly

improve my professional development. As a school counselor I will advocate for appropriate

updated action plans. Disabilities are not one size fits all, students are individuals. I will utilize

my resources to develop workshops that highlight  a variety of techniques that can be utilized by 

varied educational backgrounds, and professions. I will reinforce that the lesson has to be

manipulated. There are ways to create lessons that are both rewarding and challenging for a

diverse group of learners.

 References

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%20about%20distributing,treatment%20don't%20always%20happen. 

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