ECC-Elementary School Guidance Program Overview

The elementary school and early childhood center counseling and guidance program aims at fostering students’ social, emotional and personal growth at each stage of their development along with essential learning in school. It is achieved by providing individual consultation and counseling, classroom guidance, assessment and crisis intervention and by coordinating student services and providing support for both faculty members and parents. There are two counselors in the ECC/ES and one school psychologist working as a team. Consuelo Hurtado, the school psychologist is responsible for students in preschool-K1. Carey Harris is responsible for students in grades K2-2 and Stephanie Passamonte works with students in grades 3-5.

The role of the ECC/ES counselors and school psychologist varies at Nido

Working with students:
Over the course of the school year counselors interact with students in a variety of settings. The main focus of the counselor is to support the social, emotional and behavioral needs of children in collaboration with parents, teacher and other related professionals. Counselors are involved in individual counseling and or student observations aimed at assisting students with problems arising from academic, peer, personal or family conflicts. Small group, classroom and individual sessions intend to help students gain insight into behaviors, understand attitudes, interest and capabilities and learn how to make positive decisions. The Elementary Counselors and Psychologist are also members of the Student Study Team, which works to assist students with special learning needs and their teachers.

Working with parents:
Counselors support parents by offering individual consultation and counseling, by leading Parenting groups (STEP: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting), and other parent education seminars. Counselors maintain an open-door policy and encourage parents to make an appointment with their respective counselor via the guidance secretary.

Working with teachers:
The counselors and school psychologist work with faculty members through individual consultation, planning of classroom-based intervention, case management, and collaboration and also by serving as a resource in such areas as student discipline, classroom management and creative problem-solving. Training is also provided to faculty and staff on topics related to the social-emotional needs of students and other ECC/ES school related initiatives.

Assessment:
The members of the guidance team use informal observation and formal instruments -standardized tests, interviews, behavioral evaluations- to assess students in a number of different areas. Psychological and psycho-educational assessments include the areas of personal-social adjustment, intelligence, scholastic aptitude, adaptive behavior, language and communication skills and academic achievement.

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