Faculty Contact Information:
| e-mail: tsommerfield@faculty.ed.umuc.edu | |
Consultation:
Office Hours: Before and after class on Saturdays and Sundays
Home phone (please call before 2000, I have sleepy kids...)
07251-69998 (in Germany) | |
Required Texts and Readings:
Golden, L.B. (2002) Case Studies in Child and Adolescent Counseling. Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall.
Wagner, W.G. (2002) Counseling, Psychology, and Children: A Muiltidimensional Approach to Intervention. Prentice Hall. | |
Supplementary Readings:
| All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
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Course Description:
| This course addresses the specific developmental stages, needs, and problems of children and adolescents. Techniques for counseling these groups will be illustrated through demonstrations and personal growth and development activities. | |
Course Goals:
| This course is designed to enable students to become familiar with the major theories of counseling as they apply to children and adolescents. It will assist students in preparing for the comprehensive exam and will prepare them for professional practice. | |
Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of the course, the student will be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of the development of problem behavior in children and adolescents and the theoretical, societal, cultural, ethnic, family, and other factors involved.
2. Develop an understanding of the importance of societal, spiritual, cultural, and ethnic sensitivity in working with this population and with parents.
3. Acquire knowledge and skills in the use of methods and techniques of enhancing self-esteem in children and adolescents, individually and in their peer groups.
4. Identify problems that have potential for precipitating a family crisis and to develop skills in counseling with school staff and others on strategies to ameliorate problems.
5. Identify facilities and programs both traditional and non-traditional, including technological advances developed to meet the needs of children and adolescents.
6. Develop skills and techniques for counseling children and adolescents, both individually and in groups.
7. Demonstrate knowledge of the organizations, legal and ethical standards, and legal and ethical issues in dealing with children and adolescents. | |
Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 90%
B 80 – 89%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog. Hard copies of the catalog are available in your local Education Center. | |
Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society. In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
Participate in classroom discussions 10%
Write a graduate level paper 30%
Orally/visually present prepared material 30%
Complete one or more written examination(s) 30% | |
Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions (10% of final grade): You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours of additional for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class. Students will be graded on the quality and not the quantity of their participation in class discussions.
Write a graduate level paper (30% of final grade): You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment. Plan on committing approximately 150 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables. The topic must be approved by the instructor. Should be APA style format. The body should be 8-10 pages in length at a minimum not including title page, abstract, and reference pages.
Oral presentation (worth 30% of final grade). Students will be assigned a case topic from ‘Case Studies in Child & Adolescent Counseling’ (Golden, 2002) and will be required to present the case to the class, facilitate discussion about the treatment approach of the therapist, what did or did not work well, and what would the student change – why or why not. The most important aspect is to understand the case and the treatment approach given in the text and facilitate a fruitful discussion with fellow classmates.
One cumulative exam (30% of the final grade). The final exam will cover the material in the primary text (Wagner, 2002). The exam is designed to assess students understanding of and ability to apply the material. | |
Course Schedule:
The following is an outline to the content of the course and suggested readings in the primary textbooks. It is subject to slight modification. The primary text ‘Counseling, Psychology, and Children’ (Wagner, 2002) will be the primary text with reading assignments below unless otherwise specified.
Saturday, 29 January 2005
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Orientation to subject
Chapter 1 A Multidimensional Approach to Intervention with Children
Chapter 2 Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues
Chapter 3 Contemporary Issues: Managed Mental Health Care, Brief Therapies, and Empirically Supported Theories for Children.
Sunday, 30 January 2005
Chapter 4 Assessment: The First Step
Chapter 5 Interventions with Children
Chapter 6 Psychodynamic Theory
Chapter 7 Psychodynamic Interventions
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Saturday, 12 February 2005
Chapter 8 Child-Centered Theory
Chapter 9 Child-Centered Interventions
Chapter 10 Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral Theory
Sunday, 13 February 2005
Chapter 11 Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions
Film & Discussion: A Good Smack
Chapter 14 Consultations
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Saturday, 26 February 2005
Chapter 12 Family Systems Theory
Chapter 13 Family Systems Interventions
Sunday, 27 February 2005
Film & Discussion: Listening to Children-A Moral Journey with Robert Coles
Chapter 15 Psychopharmacotherapy and Other Interventions for Children
Chapter 16 Integrated Approaches to Intervention
Final Exam review
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Saturday, 12 March 2005
Morning Final Exam
Begin Oral presentations.
Sunday, 13 March 2005
Finish Oral presentations
Course evaluation
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Academic Policies:
Note: Any written assignment in this course may be submitted to TurnItIn.Com. This statement constitutes prior notice.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
Dr. Tom Sommerfield earned his A.A. in General Studies, a B.S. in Psychology, and a M.Ed. in Counseling & Personnel Services all through University of Maryland programs. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology with a specialization in Family Psychology with Capella University. His primary interests are with parenting styles/issues, divorce issues, the power of role modeling, and children’s exposure to violence.
Dr. Sommerfield has lived in the Heidelberg, Germany area for about 16 years since leaving high school and joining the U.S. Army. After four successful years as a soldier, he has been working as a "civilian" in the Heidelberg military community since 1990. He is married and has a beautiful little family. His son Jerome Thomas is five and his daughter Sydney Joy is three.
When not teaching, he has "another side of life" while drumming in a very successful music project in the Heidelberg/Karlsruhe area. If interested in surprising him at a show, please visit their site to check the "termine" or schedule at: www.sammy-goes-nuts.de
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