Consultation Case Study

Bette Amir-Brownstein

Donna Ford Attallah School of Education, Chapman University

640: School-Based Consultation and Collaboration Course Outline

Dr. Lee Chhen Stewart

December 17, 2023

Background Information: In this section, include relevant background information of your
case such as records, interviews, biophysical, ecological, and health and social development.
Use the ecological model to guide you and the information you provide.

1. Student or class context (age, grade, demographics, cultural, and environmental

considerations).
The student is a 16-year-old, sophomore, female. She is a SPED student and has an IEP
for Specific Learning Disorder (SLD). The student’s IEP goals around conflict
resolution, attendance, and math. The student is White and Hispanic/Latino and speaks
English. She lives with her mother, 21-year-old older sister, and 15-year-old younger
sister. The student is from the same racial background as the consultee, but not the same
as the consultant.

Prior Meetings
The consultee met with the student three times prior to establishing that she would be
the focus of this case study. At first, the structure of the counselor's meetings made it
challenging to build rapport. The counselor and two interns sit in a small office, so
when the student came in, it was three adults looking at her. After the first meeting, the
consultant pointed out that she seemed a little nervous, and that it might be because of
the intimidating set-up. Once the consultant became the point person for the student, the
counselor agreed to have the other intern out of the room and to look in a different
direction when the student was in the room. The student actually said she “thought it
was funny” the way he jokingly turned the other way and said, “I am not here,” so it
helped warm her up to our meetings. In the following meetings, she was much more
open from the start.
2. Adult consultee(s) information: (who, years of experience, demographics, cultural
and environmental considerations)
The main consultee for this case is the student’s Spanish teacher, who has been teaching
for 19 years. Her family is from Mexico. She lives with her husband and two kids and
says that family is very important to her. She says she values education, giving back to
her community, and passing those values to her kids. The consultee is from the same
racial background as the student, but not the same as the consultant.

Secondary consultant:
The student’s case carrier was added to the consultation list after an initial meeting with
the main consultee. The case carrier has been in the role for 1.5 years and has formed a
relationship with the student since starting in May 2022. The case carrier is also the
teacher for the student’s Academic Support class. The case carrier is the same racial
background as the student and consultee as well.
3. Consultant information (you): (who, years of experience, demographics, power
dynamics, cultural and environmental considerations)
The consultant is a second-year school counseling student who has completed a
semester of practicum and two months of internship in a high school setting. Prior to
this, she had five years of experience working as a director of a youth non-profit
working with children and their parents to support their success in their youth programs.
The consultant identifies as a person of color coming from a predominantly white
community. The consultant is from a different racial background than the consultee and
the student. Due to the consultant being an intern, the consultee, as a staff member,
holds power over the intern, who is primarily in the role of learning, by being a staff
member.
 4. Data: Quantitative and qualitative sources (patterns from earlier years)
Quantitative
Credits earned: 105 (should be at 180)
Credits attempted: 160
Transcript Information in the table below

Grade Science Social Lang Arts Math PE Span

Studies
Fall/Spring F S F S F S F S F S F S
6th Grade D F F D D D D D B B
7th Grade F C F C F B D C C C
8th Grade D F D F D F D F F F
9th Grade B B X X D C D F B C C C
10th Grade F F F F F F F F F F
11th (9/25) X C D F F

Classes Re-taken in summer/Spring

English 9- D
World History- A
Algebra 1- C
Spanish 2-B

Electives:
Marching Band/Concert Band- As/Bs

Yearly Attendance Data

Grade Days present Days with Unexcused Excused
Truancies
9th Fall 80/81 (98.7%) 4 1 0
9th Spring 74/99 (74.7%) 18 2 23
10th Fall 65/86 (75.5%) 10 0 21
10th Spring 75/94 (79.7%) 60 11 8
11th (9/25) 28/31 (90.3%) 23 0 3

Attendance in past years from last week of October to the first week of December**
 9th Grade Present Week Days Present

Week of 10/25 2/5 days Week of 10/24 1/5 date

Week of 11/1 2/4 days Weel of 10/31 0/4

Week of 11/8 4/4 Week of 11/07 1/4

Week of 11/15 2/5 Week of 11/14 0/5

Week of 11/29 4/5 Week of 11/28 2/5

Week of 12/06 1/5 Week of 12/05 2/5

Qualitative
Below is a summary of the interventions and discipline in the students academic records from
6th to 10th grade. These records help tell the student’s story and reveal patterns that occur year
to year.

Overall Themes: Throughout middle school and the first two years of high school each year
has included recurring patterns that can be narrowed down into a few themes. Those themes
that reoccur each year are that there is bidirectional contact with her mother, some requests for
changing classes because of teachers, issues with peers, and excessive truancy/tardy letters
home.

6th Grade
- Issue with the teacher making insensitive comments, mother was involved, situation
resolved.
- Issues with student name calling from other students and being slapped from a dare
and mother had called concerned.
- Student had more issues with peers not getting along throughout the year.
- Student reported that she didn’t like one of her teachers throughout the year.
- Student started taking summer school for the first time this year.
th
7 Grade
- Student questioned about an altercation when she pushed another student.
- Student participated in restorative circle mediations and circles for about 2 months.
- Student received excessive tardy and truancy letters.
th
8 Grade
- A month into school, the student wanted to switch out of 3 classes because of the
teachers.
 - Student didn’t want to come to classes because she wasn’t feeling motivated or
welcomed by teachers.
- The student’s mother called and reported feeling “exhausted” by the student not
wanting to attend school. She asked for the counselors to help.
- The student has an issue with a friend.
- Had some kind of restorative practice check-ins via phone to students and later t with
parent involvement.
th
9 Grade
- First week of school, the student came to the counselor to discuss issues with a peer.
- The first month of school, the student came in having other issues with peers about
social media and rude behavior.
- A peer reported getting threats from the student, and the counselor had a meeting with
the student and her mom. At the meeting student reported that people have been mean
to her.
- Truancy/attendance letters sent home.
th
10 Grade
- Student was having phone taken away in class because she was texting her mother. The
mother responded by saying that her IEP says that she gets to be with her phone. The
mother is afraid that the student will run off, and if she has no phone, she won’t be able
to find her.
- The student reported an issue with a peer being mean. She was also caught taking
something from another student but refused to be searched until her mother came to
search.
- Absence and Truancy letters sent home.
- Student came to counseling because she was concerned a peer who she had issues with
was bothering her sister.
- The student had a few discussions about grades with the counselor.
- In May of this year, the student and parent agreed on continuation school for summer.
 5. Context of student and problem (Initial understanding of environmental info and
other relevant information)
The student has a hard time in school both socially and academically. Her sophomore
year showed the most significant drop in grades resulting in 100% failing of academic
courses. She currently has just two failing grades, but she is on a downward trajectory in
many of her classes. According to her attendance data, the dramatic drop in her grades
occurred when her attendance also dramatically decreased. In addition to that, in her 9th
grade year, her attendance started to drop around the third week of October. According
to the qualitative information, she has had challenges with getting along with her peers
and has struggled to feel comfortable with teachers. Her mother has been involved
throughout the various counseling interventions on her record and is willing to meet
with counselors when requested. One of the classes she is currently struggling in is her
Spanish class. A few reasons her Spanish teacher was selected to be the main consultee
are because the student mentioned her Spanish teacher as one of the teachers she is
comfortable with, this is one of the classes she is currently receiving an F grade in, and
this is a class subject she previously passed, receiving Cs. Through consulting with her
Spanish teacher and other significant adults, we can hopefully collaborate to come up
with ideas to support the student in the areas that impact her environment and, therefore,
her academic success.

Stage 1: Relationship Building and Problem Identification- How can we develop a positive
working relationship and collaboratively define the problem?
1. Before beginning interviews and the formal problem-solving process, it is necessary
to take steps to build collaborative relationships with your consultees. Describe the
process of building a relationship with your consultees.
My supervisor helped me craft an email to the Spanish teacher to introduce myself and
let her know that I’d like to meet with her to discuss the student we had chosen for the
project. When responding, the teacher asked that I start by coming to observe one of her
classes. During my observation, I got to see first-hand the kind of environment the
teacher creates in her classroom. During the class work time, the teacher approached me
and talked to me about why she wanted me to see the class. The teacher described that
she wanted me to see how she taught before telling her how to change. I made sure to
explain to the teacher that I was really happy that she invited me to observe, that I
wanted to explore her perceptions about the student and collaborate using her expertise,
and I also mentioned that the student had named her as one of the teachers she felt
comfortable around. After saying these things, I immediately felt that the teacher was
more comfortable and excited to collaborate with me. After this, we set up a meeting to
follow up in order to go through the problem identification process.

2. Using the Conjoint Problem Identification Interview (CPII), or a similar process,

provide a summary of the following information gathered from the initial
meeting(s). make sure to identify how you gathered the data and who you
interviewed:

a. Goal specification e.g., ABCs of the behavior (Antecedent, Behavior, and

Consequence), identify the severity of the problem, identify broad goals for
consultation-AKA-expected outcomes
There are two sets of ABC’s written below, each number corresponds to each of the
ABC’s.
Antecedent-
1. The student doesn’t feel comfortable in a class. This could be for many reasons
that are still being identified. Some of the reasons have been that she has a
challenge with peers or with a teacher.
2. The student falls behind, doesn’t complete work in class, and doesn’t know
what to focus on during academic support class.
Behavior
1. The student stops wanting to come to school, and attendance begins to drop.
2. The student doesn’t get work done in class or during her academic support class.
Consequence
1. The student is absent enough to get truancy letters home and misses vital class
time.
2. The student continues to fall more and more behind in her classes.
 b. Performance Assessment (Collaboratively select measures to assess progress.
What data will be gathered? Who will collect it? How will it be recorded? On what
schedule? How will you support this process?)
The following are the three measures that will be used to assess progress:
a. Attendance- This is gathered through Aries, is updated daily, and will be
collected and recorded weekly.
b. Assignments in Spanish class- This is gathered through Aries, is updated
weekly, and will be collected and recorded weekly.
c. Overall grades- This is gathered through Aries, is updated daily, and will be
collected and recorded weekly. Grades will be recorded in percentages.

c. Procedural objectives (Schedule a day and time for the next interview (PAI) within
approximately 1-2 weeks; Arrange to contact the consultee to monitor the integrity of
baseline data collection; Ensure that the definitions of the problem behavior are
written in objective, operational terms; Summarize the important points of the meeting
and check for a consensus and shared understanding of the problem)
After the first class observation and first meeting the consultant and consultee set the
second meeting for 9 days later. Before then, the consultant will email the consultee with
their shared understanding of the problem, the main points that were discussed in the first
meeting, and the data that will be collected and monitored. Although they set preliminary
goals (see below), they will need to monitor closely to come up with interventions to
support the student in turning in assignments. In addition to this, it was decided it would
make sense for the consultant to meet with the student’s case carrier and her academic
support teacher. The case carrier, who is also the student’s academic support teacher, is
someone who needs to be looped in when interventions are implemented for the student.
The academic support teacher is going to be an important person to consult with because
she supervises a class where the student should be getting assignments completed. It is
likely that some of the interventions we decide on will carry over to the academic support
class.

3. Steps to take before Stage 2:

● Using an agreed upon system, collect baseline data on the target behaviors
(i.e., problem behavior, academic concern, and goal behavior.
Main Baseline Data

Missing Span. Current Tardies Unexcused Excused

Assignments Span. Grade up to Absences up Absences up
9/25 to 9/25 to 9/25
Baseline 10 F- 49.2% 7 0 3

Secondary Baseline Data (added because consultee/case manager agreed all teachers
should be looped in and all classes monitored)

Marching Band PE US History English11 Geometry

Baseline 10 F- C D F
6% 71% 63.4% 38.2%

Look for the discrepancy between baseline performance and expected level of
performance based on developed goals).
Through conversations with the consultant and based on data from prior years, by the
end of the semester, the student will have 0 missing assignments, which will bring her
grade to a D or higher**. Although attendance isn’t the primary goal in the
consultation case with her Spanish teacher, our hope is that we will see a correlation
between successes in some of her classes and her attendance in comparison to previous
years. Prior to stage two, the consultant will review data and create goals for
attendance that are achievable based on her attendance at this time last fall. In return,
hopefully, there will be a correlation between overall attendance and completing
missing assignments for Spanish, as well as success in other classes.

Use CPII to gather some information from the parent. Integrate this information
into this section by clearly labeling it as parent input. Discuss any differences in
problem conceptualizations between school and home.
The mother seemed to feel positive about the idea of the consultant collaborating with
one of her daughter’s teachers about her performance in school. Although the
consultant had gathered a lot of information from the student’s file prior to meeting
with her, it was helpful hearing directly from her mother and understanding the ways
she supports her daughter. The biggest message her mom gave was how much she has
tried to advocate for her daughter when she is struggling in school. She said she knows
that she has challenges with others and wishes it wasn’t so hard for her. Her mother
gave us reasons that her daughter starts to not want to go to school as each year begins.
She described her daughter as very sensitive, so when she feels like she is doing a bad
 ** In later discussions, the consultant and consultees made a change to the goal to have 0
missing assignments. They changed this from 0 to maintaining 10 missing assignments. This
change was due to the fact that it seemed more important for the student to submit assignments
moving forward than to spend a lot of time rectifying previous missing assignments. However,
the goal to bring the grade to a D remains the same.
Stage 2: Problem Solving and Analysis - What conditions (ecological or personal) led to
the problem and currently support it? What should we do about it?
An intervention developed through problem-solving consultation will focus on changing the
conditions surrounding the target behavior, teaching the consultee the skills required to
produce the target behavior or both. In the analysis phase, the consultant and consultee must
decide what ecological conditions and skills should be targeted for change.
1. Using the Conjoint Problem Analysis Interview (CPAI), collect relevant data, and
summarize the following information:

1. Problem validation (Is baseline data sufficient and informative? Is there a

meaningful discrepancy between the student’s present performance and the
desired performance? Is there agreement between the consultant and
consultee that the problem is a problem?)
The baseline data, in this case, is both sufficient and informative. The student's
academic records, attendance, and qualitative information provide a
comprehensive picture of her performance and point to many areas of
improvement. For example, her academic records reveal low achievement in
grades including a sharp decline in grades during her sophomore year, resulting
in many missing credits. The attendance data clearly show a correlation between
declining attendance and deteriorating academic performance. The qualitative
information underscores her social and emotional challenges, including issues
with peers and teacher-student relationships. There is a clear discrepancy
between present and desired performance, and the main consultee and other
collaborative parties agree that this is a problem. All parties believe in the
student’s protentional to succeed and are open to working on the identified
problem together.

2. Analysis Determine conditions or skills needed for goal attainment. Search for
information regarding evidence-based interventions used for these specific
skills and deficits
IEP Accommodations considered:
- 1:1 or Small Group Support: The student already receives 1:1 support
from an aide in her Spanish class. She will continue to do this with a
focus on assignment completion during class. At times, this might be
done in small groups as well. The goal will be to provide individualized
assistance, address her specific challenges, and help build another
positive relationship with an adult on campus. The small group setting
will also help teach positive peer interactions and conflict resolutions
along with positive adult relationships. All parties agree that the student
does well when in an environment where she can receive more
individualized support.
- Behavioral support class: The structure of this class is that students
have open work time, and the case manager typically checks in with
students as needed. The case manager has agreed that the student will
begin the period by writing down the assignments she needs to
 complete, and the case manager will review them with her. This
addresses the issue that the student doesn’t seem to know what to work
on during this class.
- Progress monitoring: Although this is in the IEP, it isn’t currently
being done in an individualized way that works for the student. All
parties agree that the student needs more effective progress on a weekly
basis.
- Parent communication: The student’s mother is very involved with the
student and can support all intervention plans. Therefore,
communication with the parent needs to be a priority. The mother asked
for an update every couple of weeks and agreed to communicate with
the consultant if she had questions or comments. This helps reinforce
that communication can be two-way, both to the parent and from the
parent. Collaborative conversations between the mother and the
consultee will help reinforce what is happening.
Relationship Building
- This area is vital because, according to previous interventions,
relationships with teachers have made an impact on students' motivation
in the past. Due to this, the evidence-based program
Check-in/Check-out (CICO) will be implemented to help build at least
one strong relationship; in this case, it will be with the consultee.
During the check-ins, the student will engage in discussions that aim to
build positive relationships.
- The weekly progress monitoring will also reinforce positive relationship
building.
- Communication with the other teachers about the student's goals and
intervention plans will be known to the student. This is one way to alert
other teachers that there is a plan in place and to ask for their support in
helping for positive relationships with the student.
- The implementation of the plan needs to be done with fidelity to help
the students build trust with school staff. All parties agree that if a time
needs to be changed, they need to communicate it with the student and
parent.
Positive Reinforcement
- The importance of completing assignments and small increases in grade
percentages need to be constantly reinforced, rather than just overall
grades.**
- Every progress monitoring period should be a time where several
positives in which the student can feel praised, can be found.
 3. Plan design (Establish plan strategies that will be used to address the problem;
Establish plan tactics that will serve as the procedures, materials, personnel,
and conditions of the intervention; Establish performance assessment
procedures to monitor progress towards goals and skill development throughout
implementation.

What Frequency Who is responsible

Working with Aid 3x a week Aide
CICO Daily Spanish Teacher
Progress Monitoring 1x a week Counseling intern
Parent communication 1x every 2 weeks Counseling intern

Communication to 1x every 3 weeks Counseling intern

other teachers

Artifact: Click here for a link to weekly progress monitoring sheet

CICO morning question:

1. How are you feeling about being at school today?
2. What is a goal you want to set for yourself today?
3. On a scale from 1 to 5, how confident are you feeling right now about that goal (5 is
the most confident)
4. Is there anything on your mind that you'd like to talk about or share with someone?
CICO afternoon
1. How did your goals from this morning go?
2. Is there anything from today that you found challenging or would like to talk about?
3. Can you share one positive experience or success you had today?

Artifact: Click here for a link to consultant CICO tracker

4. Procedures and process of implementing the plan.

Set a date for the Treatment Evaluation Interview, allowing no more than a few
weeks to elapse between the start of implementation and evaluation; Establish
procedures for communicating the initial implementation to address questions or
concerns from those implementing the intervention.

Timeline:
 10/19: Meeting with Consultee & Case Carrier, followed by a phone call with
the parent.
10/26: Begin Intervention Plan
10/31: Counseling Intern check-in with consultee about first few CICOs
11/9: Treatment Evaluation Interview
12/06: Final week of intervention plan

5. Establish procedures for professional development for the consultee, if

general training is required for successful implementation
The consultant provided the main consultee with information about how to
conduct a Check-in/Check-out from resources that were provided to her during
an MTSS class in her graduate program. Aside from that, there is no other
training needed for implementation.

**There were no external reinforcers included in the initial plan, but at the
midpoint, the mother said her daughter was beginning to seem nervous about her
continued progress, so the consultant suggested they plan an external reward. The
mother and consultant brainstormed, and in the end, she decided that quality time
between them was something her daughter really enjoyed, so she would give her an
option for an activity they could do together every two weeks after she reached her
goal. She said these options would be going to lunch, going to the movies, or getting
a manicure.
Stage 3: Treatment Implementation- How well is the treatment plan working? What
adjustments need to be made for the plan to be effective?

This stage focuses on formative evaluation and adjustments that need to be made to the plan for
it to work better

A formal interview is not conducted in the treatment implementation stage, yet there should be
ongoing communication regarding (a) skill development, (b) implementation monitoring, and
(c) plan revisions. In this section, you will describe your activities and progress across these
objective areas.

Note: Because there is no formal interview associated with the treatment implementation stage,
the consultant guides the consultation process in ways other than formal meetings.

● Brief Contacts – Brief contact with the consultee should take only a few minutes, and
allow the consultant to monitor implementation and discuss plan revisions, client
progress, and future meetings with the consultee.
● Observation – Direct observation can also be a way to monitor intervention
implementation.
● Provide Access to Resources: These can Serve to develop the consultee’s skills
-
1. Consultee Skill Development- Determine the consultee’s implementation skills
and whether or not they need training or resources. If the consultees have sufficient
skills, describe how you determined this and if they do not, describe how you will
provide support.
The consultee's main two roles in implementing the chosen intervention were
coordinating the teacher-aide to support the student in 1:1 or small group settings in
assignment completion, as well as providing the check-in/check-out (CICO) with
the student each day. The coordination with the student aide did not need any
training or resources. The consultee said she was familiar with CICO, but that she
didn’t know much about how to implement it. The consultant provided the consultee
with the following resources about check-in/check-out.

1. Video: This video was provided to the consultant in a grad school level course
about multi-tiered systems of support:
- Video about check-in/check-out- General
2. Article: This article summarizes CICO and was provided to the teacher.
- Article summarizing process and impacts of CICO
3. Further consultation: The consultant offered to meet with the consultee to
discuss any questions she had about the process.
- In a brief discussion, the consultant and consultee talked about the
teacher implementing CICO. Specifically, in the resources, the
intervention is being implemented as a Tier 2 or Tier 1 intervention,
whereas, this case will be a Tier 3 intervention since it is part of an
individualized plan.

2. Implementation Monitoring -Determine if data collection and implementation

is occurring according to plan and with integrity. Describe how the plan is
progressing at this point.
At the midpoint of the intervention, implementation, and data collection have been
occurring for about three weeks. Each part of the intervention is occurring, and after
some initial discussion and support, the plan is operating.
 3. Plan Revision -Identify if and when there is a need to change the plan, which
would occur in two situations, when there is: (a) a lack of agreement between
implementation and the implementation plan, or (b) a lack of behavior change in the
client. Make a revision plan, if necessary. Describe here.

There has not been any need to revise the overall plan. The student has been
agreeable, and there have been changes in behaviors seen by the first 3 weeks of
data collection, as well as reports from the consultant. At this point of the
intervention, in terms of agreeability, the student stays for her morning check-in
after her Spanish class each day and then returns after school for the afternoon
check-in, which indicates the student is at least willing to participate in the
intervention. For behavior, there has been a noticeable increase in attendance
compared to previous years. The student’s mother and consultant agree that just
knowing people are watching out for her might be giving her motivation to come.
The consultant has relayed that the student’s confidence in her goal has increased
form mostly 2’s to 3s and 4s. Lastly, she reports that the student has been starting
her classwork without being approached individually. Small changes to timing
throughout the day, including when CICO occurs as well as the check-in date with
the consultee, were altered. However, the overall intervention plan has stayed the
same.

Stage 4: Treatment Evaluation- Did the intervention work, and what should happen next?

This stage focuses on the summative evaluation of the plan. In the end, how well did this
intervention work?

Following a suitable period of intervention implementation in Stage 3, the treatment evaluation

stage of consultation concerns the evaluation of goal attainment, effectiveness, and treatment
acceptability of the intervention. Consideration of post-implementation planning is the last step
in Stage 4.

Use the Conjoint Treatment Evaluation Interview (CTEI) This interview will help determine
whether the goals of consultation have been achieved if it is necessary to return to problem
identification or analysis, and what type of post-implementation plan should be established.
Using the CTEI, describe the following objectives:

1. Goal Attainment- Establish the extent to which all goals are met by (a) comparing
the goals defined during the CPII to the summarized data from the treatment
implementation stage and (b) asking the consultee for their judgment on the extent of
goal attainment
There was an improvement in attendance during the time period where the student
usually drops in attendance. In these 6 weeks, during her freshman year, the student
was only present 15 days; in tenth grade, she was only present 6 times in these weeks.
So far, during this span, she has already been present 17 times, and that is without the
final data point. Figure 1.1 shows the attendance data. The student’s attendance was
starting to drop prior to the intervention, and her mom reported that the student was
beginning to say she didn’t want to come to school, so both the consultant and the
student’s mom think this helped increase attendance before it “got out of hand.” The
student’s mother talked about how October is usually when they start fighting a lot
about going to school, and this year, there was less of an issue. Lastly, the student said
she has been enjoying coming to school more now than she was at the beginning of the
school year.

The student’s missing assignment data showed some progress as well. The class
typically has three assignments per week. In the first week, and according to the
consultee, in most weeks, she either completed 0 assignments or 1 assignment. After
the first week of the intervention, the most assignments she missed in a week was 1,
and she had a few weeks where she did them all. Figure 1.2 shows this data. The
consultee has been a little more lenient with grading the assignments but says the
student has been working with the aide more effectively now. When talking to the aide,
she agreed, there was a change in the student getting her work done. She specifically
said the student would be ready with an assignment out, rather than needing to be
asked what assignments she needs to complete. In addition to their reports, in the
consultant’s observation of the student during the 4th week, she noticed that the student
seemed much more engaged, indicated by her taking out her assignments right away
and working on them during class, without being individually approached.

Although the student’s overall grade didn’t show an increase, her percentage of the F
grade did increase. This reaffirmed that it is important to record the grade percentage,
rather than just looking at the total grade. The consultee said that she is very impressed
that the student has been turning in more assignments. The consultee said if she keeps
up this trend for the next couple of weeks, she will reach a D grade in the class. In
 addition, I showed the student the percentage graph, and she seemed very excited
about it. Since the graph is in small percentage point increments, it looks like a very
positive trend, even with the grade still standing at an F. All parties on the team agree
that this is a great improvement, regardless of the letter grade increasing.

Figure 1.1
Attendance Data from intervention weeks across 3 years

Figure 1.2
Assignments missed and completed throughout intervention weeks

Figure 1.3
Overall percentage in Spanish class throughout intervention weeks
2. Consultation Guidance -Using the information provided in the goal attainment
evaluation section (describe above), determine the next steps (i.e., a continuation of
the intervention, modification of the intervention or measurement system, or Tier 2 or
3 supports) and describe.
The consultant had a conversation with the student’s mother, followed by a meeting
with the consultee and case carrier to discuss the next steps. All parties agreed that the
student was showing some success and overall had a better attitude about being in
school. They agreed that the additional support greatly benefited her and that it would
be important to continue to implement the intervention, but with modifications to make
it more sustainable. They decided the parts that could continue as is, were the weekly
check-ins with the counseling intern (consultant) and the work with the aid until the
end of the school year. The CICO is going to move to just the morning time each day,
and in two weeks, as long as there is no decrease in progress, it will go down to 3 times
a week. The case carrier is going to continue checking in with the student during the
academic support class. Lastly, the mom will not be contacted every two weeks but
knows that there is an open line of communication. This will continue until the end of
the semester.

3. Post-implementation Planning - Select a post-implementation plan alternative (i.e.,

How will the intervention be maintained and eventually faded?). Make provisions for
post-implementation data recording. Establish procedures that specify what to do in
the event of problem recurrence. How will you make sure the student/class continues
to receive support post consultation? Describe your mutual plan here.
 In the new semester, all three parties agreed that the student would benefit from a
check-in every two weeks with the counselor, to monitor progress and see how things
are going. In the new semester, the aid will still be working with the student, and the
case carrier will continue to monitor and praise assignment completion. If progress
continues, then they will stop the counselor check-ins. The consultee will do an
informal check-in with the student after her class, at least one day a week. However, all
parties agree that if the consultant sees that the student's attendance or assignment
completion falls below what they have been for more than two weeks, they should
continue the check-ins again and come up with creative ideas, with mom’s support
about ways to make the progress sustainable. Although the counselor will be
monitoring progress every two weeks, the consultant sees the student every day and,
therefore might realize progress has stopped prior to the counselor. In this case, she
will reach out to the counselor so they can implement parts of the intervention again.

4. Procedural Objectives - Schedule additional consultation meetings if one or more

goals of consultation have not been achieved. End consultation if all goals have been
achieved.
Since the consultant will be leaving the school three weeks after the intervention, she
has taken steps to ensure there will be follow-up, if needed with this team. Throughout
the process, she has informed her supervisor of the details so that if it is needed, he can
take on the consultant role. The counselor attended the final meeting, where it was
decided what the intervention would look like moving forward, and it was agreed that
it would be important to monitor so that the second semester could start off strong.

Stage 5: Reflections on the consultation process

1. How effective do you feel your consultation was, and why?

I thought my consultation was effective, both because we saw improvement in the
goals, and there was a clear increase in trust between both the consultee and the parent,
in the counseling team at the school. First of all, after a couple of weeks of starting the
intervention, my supervisor received an email from the consultee that there is a student
they are having challenges and would like support. My supervisor told me this was the
first time she was asking for support with a student in their long time of being at the
school. Also, at the end of the process, I had a final meeting with the consultee to talk
 about the progress, and she spoke very highly of the progress the student was making
and seemed motivated to collaborate in the future
I also received positive feedback from the student’s mother about her daughter's
willingness to go to school. She said she was grateful that there were people who were
helping her advocate for her daughter and support her. Lastly, the student seemed to
grow in confidence, both based on her CICO answers, my observation of her in class,
and her demeanor in our weekly check-ins. When she started, she seemed very nervous
to be in the counseling office, and by the end, of the intervention, she was much more
comfortable and seemed proud of herself for her progress.

2. Do you feel that you adequately considered cultural and environmental contexts
within your consultation process? How do you think you were able to do this, and
how might you have improved in this area?
For the most part, I feel that I adequately considered the cultural and environmental
contests. The framework I like to follow is Broffenbrenner's ecological model, that
helps look at the person as a whole and all the different systems that center around
them and make them who they are. First, with the student, I understood that there were
cultural and environmental factors that I needed to be aware of. This included the
importance family systems play for the student and how important education is to her
mother. One conversation with the student’s mom toward the middle of the process
highlighted this. I had said to the mother that I appreciate how much she advocates for
her daughter, and she responded by saying that she thinks school staff look down upon
her because she doesn’t always have time to come to all the meetings and doesn’t
always get back to them right away, but she is grateful that our team was seeing the
work she was putting in to try and get her daughter to school.

I also was very aware that the consultee and the student shared a cultural background
and ensured they both knew that I valued this and saw it as a strength. When speaking
to the consultant about the CICO intervention, I talked about how this might be a
helpful time for the students to see some of their cultural similarities. In this case, it
helped the student understand that her teacher values education, similarly to how her
mother does. Although sharing a culture doesn’t always mean shared values, it is
definitely an area that might help a student feel connected, if it is used as a strength and
a value, as we did here.

One important cultural and environmental part of this case that I didn’t look into
understanding enough was the client’s family history with her father. I asked about her
current living situation and culture, but once I learned more basic elements of her
current life and how it is impacted, I didn’t ask further. Although I knew she lived with
 a single mother, I only found out at the very end that she had a traumatic incident with
her father when she was little and that he is now in jail for an unrelated incident. To
me, knowing her father's relationship with her seems like an obvious question to ask
when gathering background information, but I didn’t think about this. In the future, I
will make it a priority in the beginning stages to get a full picture of the student.

3. What challenges did you face in this consultation process? How did you deal with
these?
The challenges I faced were much more prominent at the beginning of the process
when I was setting up the case. Consulting and collaborating with teachers and parents
in the depth and consistency required by this project is not typical at my school site. It
took a while to help my supervisor and the consultee understand the level of depth and
see how this method might seem to like it take too much time, but in the end, it is more
efficient than randomly trying to help this student after things get too out of hand. The
way I dealt with this was by setting up a time to observe the teacher’s class and explain
that I was on the same team as her. For the counselor, I explained why this could end
up taking less time overall if implemented correctly. I also utilized the fact that I am a
student and had a project to complete to help get sympathy from them and allow me to
conduct the project. In the future, as an actual counselor, I will have a stronger role, but
using this was helpful to get my foot in the door. In the end, the consultee was open to
doing this process with more students and seemed much more open to working with all
the school counselors, according to what she shared, as well as what some of the other
counselors noticed.

Another challenge had to do with figuring out what data to track and which goals made
the most sense to focus on. Of all the goals, tracking assignments was the most
challenging, because oftentimes in classes, the number of assignments each week is
inconsistent, and the total number of missing assignments can be misleading because
although the number might stay the same or increase, there could still be progress.
Realizing this once I had already started the intervention and data collection proved to
be stressful, but I was still able to represent the data. Also, I realized there were so
many areas that we were focusing on, that it became overwhelming at times to track so
many different data points. I ended up realizing I needed to narrow the focus for the
purpose of the project and remember that they can always add goals and interventions
in another process.

4. If you observed a significant positive change, discuss what factors you believe led
to a successful outcome. Even if you did not observe a positive change or saw a
regression, explain what you think led to this outcome.
 Although we didn’t accomplish her overall goal, I would attribute the positive changes
I did see to the student's feeling of support from the adults on campus. The student had
a history of mistrust of school staff and peers, so I think the added accountability and
positive attention from the consultant, the teacher aide, the case carrier/academic
support teacher, and the counselor all helped. Not only was she more productive when
working with the teacher aide and the case carrier/academic support teacher, but she
also seemed much more focused and willing to do work during class, according to my
mid-way observation and the consultant’s report. I also think, that having the student
look at her progress in the final weeks of the intervention helped her motivation
because she could see a visual representation of her progress.

What did this case teach you about:

● Consultation on this type of concern

This project taught me a lot about consulting with teachers about students who might
be having similar issues to this student. One thing I learned is how important it is to
consult with the teacher about the student’s issues. This case highlighted that the
teacher is the person who sees the student the most often and can usually give the most
up-to-date and real-time assessment of the student’s progress. Of course, it is important
to check for teacher bias, but this reminded me that most of the time, teachers are
working toward student success, just like we are. Another thing I learned was how
helpful it can be to have an intervention plan that uses some kind of tracking sheet so
that the students can see their progress themselves. There have been many times that I
conduct academic check-ins just by utilizing the student data base and talking with the
student about it. However, I think it was a really important addition to have a tracking
sheet that the student and counselor fill out together, so the student has more buy-in
and understanding of their own progress. I also learned that it is important to monitor
progress in grades through percentages rather than the letter grade. At first, I thought
we would just record the grade each week, but after speaking with a colleague, I
realized it would be important to show changes in the students’ class percentages, so
they can see small successes instead of looking solely at just the grade changing.
Lastly, this case helped me see ways that there are interventions for attendance that can
be useful. Prior to this, I have noticed counselors seem to distance themselves from
attendance issues, because it is a very challenging one to tackle. At first, I thought this
was going to be a purely academic case, but realized quickly how connected her
attendance and her success in class was.

● Consultation in general:
In addition to the lessons about the case specifically, I learned how much of a
difference it can have to get more people involved, than just the counselor. In most of
 my practicum and internship experiences, there have been limited times when a teacher
or parent gets involved. However, this case showed me how important it can be for the
student’s success to have them be on a team with the counselor to help support the
student. In addition, initiating the consultation process helps create more efficiency
overall. In this case, both the consultant and the student’s mother shared that they were
trying different ways to support the students that weren’t working very well. All agreed
that when we came together to create an intervention plan, everyone had a role and
knew it was part of a greater strategy for the student’s success. By using best practices
and evidence-based methods, there was more of a structure and purpose to the
interventions, rather than one-off supportive acts by each person involved. It can be
intimidating and feel too time-consuming to initiate such a long process, but I really
think in the long run it is less time because we are actually creating more sustainable
change and results when we implement interventions in more intentional and strategic
ways.

● Yourself as a consultant. How will you continue to develop your consultation skills
after this class?
Consultation is a skill I plan to continue refining and working on in my future as a
school counselor. It is an area I am passionate about because I believe that there is so
much support that is done in a school day, by all staff. However, it is often done in
individual spaces and is therefore inefficient. I think the greatest tool a consultant has is
the ability to get everyone involved on the same page and everyone working toward the
same goal. They are able to bring in individuals who are important to students who
people might not have thought are important to collaborate with. I am excited to be in a
position where students, teachers, and parents might come to me as a consultant, and to
be able to practice this process. As discussed in class, a lot of the consultation process
is trial and error. For me, as long as I remain aware of the cultural and environmental
factors of those I work with as well as the ability to remain flexible and try new
methods, I will continue developing my consultation skills.

● What would you do differently in the future (e.g., alternative models, different
decisions, more attention to one stage, etc.)?
In the future, there are a few major things I would do differently:

Focus on 1-2 goals at a time: I think it will be better to focus on 1-2 goals at a time,
have just a couple of data collection points, and once there is progress, leave the option
open to add on more goals. In this case, the group got excited and kept adding
elements, and in retrospect, looking at attendance, assignments, and grades, along with
collecting CICO data and recording grades from other classes, might have been too
much. I would start with attendance and assignments, and then move on to grades in
the future. At times, I also felt that there was so much data, that it was a bit
overwhelming for the student as well as for myself, so having just one or two to work
toward and get praise for might have helped that.

Understanding more family background at the beginning: One important cultural

and environmental part of this case that I wrote about earlier, is that I didn’t look into
understanding enough was the client’s family history. I asked about her current living
situation but, once I learned more basic elements, I didn’t ask any further than that.
Although I knew she lived with a single mother, I only found out at the very end, that
she had a traumatic incident with her father when she was little, and that he was in jail
due to an unrelated incident. To me, knowing her father's or other parents' role is an
obvious question to ask when gathering background information, but I didn’t think
about this. In the future, I will make sure to ask about this.

Use of technology: In the future, I would use a live document application like Google
Drive to track all data, rather than printing it in forms. It is easy to go with what I am
used to, which is using paper copies. However, students are much more used to using
technology, and there are some benefits of tracking that way. First of all, it can allow
all parties to see progress, if a shared folder is being used. Secondly, it can allow me to
put the data into graphs as it is added, so the student can visualize their progress earlier
on, and as the data comes in.