The current interest in using non-professional therapists to work with chronic schizophrenics is usually focused on the effect on the patients. Relatively little attention has been paid to the effect this particularly intransigent patient population may have on clinically unsophisticated students, especially students who are planning a career as…

This publication is concerned with two major questions: What does the paraprofessional do? and How should a paraprofessional be trained? The duties of the paraprofessional are described as clerical, monitorial, and reinforcing of instruction, and these tasks may be either non-interacting (performed with things rather than persons), or interacting…

Monthly progress reports were written with and without microcomputer assistance by six professional and 20 nonprofessional staff in a state facility for the mentally retarded. Ratings by persons blind to the conditions indicated that use of the computer resulted in higher quality reports. (Author)

There is little or no reason to believe that administrators and school boards are involved in a conspiracy to allow paraprofessionals to replace teachers. (Author/JN)

This manual describes an assertive training group model which is an integration of current theories on assertiveness, facilitator experience and client feedback. Assertive training is defined as the facilitation of a set of skills designed to improve an individual's appropriate expression of his feelings, maintenance of personal rights and meeting…

Studied frequency of occurrence of four different types of physical contact (touching, holding hands, sitting-on-lap, and hugging) in school-based helping interactions between nonprofessional child aides and young referred children. Frequency of contact behaviors did not relate either to adjustment status at referral or to intervention outcomes.…

The effect of supervision on the learning of basic clinical interviewing skills within the microcounseling format was studied. Subjects were 12 paraprofessional counselors. Analysis revealed only one significant effect indicating more frequent use of microcounseling than opposite skills. No significant differences were found between training…

This document evaluates six three-week inservice training sessions provided for Kentucky public assistance workers. The training was conducted with 15 trainees participating in each session. Trainees were state employees who were employed to determine eligibility for food stamps, medical assistance, SSA unemployment insurance, etc. Their formal…

In 1972, the Student Counseling Center at Illinois State University initiated a paraprofessional program to assist students of the university in meeting their needs. This paper discusses the role, selection process, training, and supervision of the 72 undergraduate students currently employed in the program. The general role of these…

Chaired by Bernard G. Guerney, Jr., this program on the development and evaluation of helping skills training included the following presentations: (1) "The Development of a Helping Skills Program" (Steven Danish); (2) "Paraprofessionals Assess the Training Program" (Barbara Wakshul); (3) "Research Conducted on the Training of Basic Helping…

In training nonprofessionals for a mental health project leadership role, directors attempted to find methods which were responsive to the needs of trainees. General appraisal of training and training techniques are presented. )Author/BY(

It was hypothesized that structured training would cause an increase in the ability to discriminate helpful counseling conditions and a shift toward the internality dimension of locus of control. Results indicate that changes in counseling skill and personality orientation may be effected in very brief but structured training programs. (Author/PC)

Two aides operating a kindergarten-style program for four to eight institutionalized mental retardates (6-to-11 years-old) were trained, using observer feedback, to apply generalized correct social contingencies to 10 defined classes of appropriate and inappropriate child behaviors. (Author)