Educational Psychology
| EPY 500 Human Growth and Development | 3 SH |
This course places emphasis on the study of the characteristics of human growth at each stage of development. This course is designed to increase understanding of how knowledge of developmental issues could help them to be a more informed, developmentally sensitive professional counselor. This course addresses 2016 CACRAEP standards 2.F.3.a-i.
| EPY 501 Counseling Skills and Helping Relationships | 3 SH |
This course covers general theories, principles and basic skills necessary to be an effective counselor in a multicultural society. This course is the first half of the individual counseling skills coursework. This course addresses 2016 CACRAEP standards 2.F, 5.a-b, f-j, l. Prerequisites: ED 585 or EPY 618, ED 586 and Admission to the Counselor Education Program.
| EPY 502 Career Readiness Planning | 3 SH |
This basic course
| EPY 503 School Counseling Frameworks | 3 SH |
Curriculum, Instruction & Intervention in the School Counseling Program takes and in-depth look at the ASCA National Model and the CT state frameworks for school counseling programs and how to implement them in a school. Strategies for teaching developmental guidance classroom lessons, counseling curriculum development and alignment, peer interventions, and behavior management will also be covered. This course addresses 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) core standards 2.F.3.b, &h, 2.F.4.f, 2.F.8.c-e and CACREP specialty area standards 5.G.1.b-c, 5.G.3.a-e, h-j, and m for school counseling.
| EPY 504 School Counselors as Change Agents | 3 SH |
School counselors are in a unique position to lead the way for social-emotional health, academic achievement, and career readiness. Students need school counselors to be effective educational leaders who can effect systemic change in their schools. This course examines how school counselors combine leadership skills, collaboration and the use data to select evidence based programming to close achievement gaps and effect systemic change. This course addresses 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) core standards 2.F.8.b & e and CACREP specialty area standards 5.G.2.a,d,f,j & 5.G.3.d,i,k, n-o for school counseling.
| EPY 505 Measurement and Evaluation | 3 SH |
This basic course in educational measurement includes consideration of such measures as reliability, validity, and norms and an overview of techniques of appraising aptitude, achievement, and personality. Attention is given to the selection and use of standardized tests. Prerequisite: PSY 100 or its equivalent.
| EPY 507Advanced Counseling Skills for School Counselors | 3 SH |
The Advanced Counseling and Helping Relationships course is the second half of the individual counseling skills coursework and addresses counseling skills specific to working in a school setting. Advanced Counseling and Helping Relationships will focus on learning and practicing skills to move school aged children and adolescents toward making positive change, planning and monitoring interventions, consultation, and termination of services. The course will culminate with a key assessment designed to evaluate the candidate’s ability to facilitate and document a counseling relationship following using 5 stage model in an ethically and culturally competent manner with school aged children and adolescents. This course addresses 2016 CACREP standards 2.F.5.a, c-k, n and specialty area standards 5.G.1.d, 5.G.2.b,g-i, k,n and 5.G.3.f for school counseling.
| EPY 508 Advanced Counseling Skills for Clinical Mental Health Counselors | 3 SH |
The Advanced Counseling and Helping Relationships course is the second half of the individual counseling skills coursework, and addresses the longer term counseling relationship. Advanced Counseling and Helping Relationships will focus on learning and practicing skills to move clients toward making change, treatment planning, consultation, and termination of services. The course will culminate with a key assessment designed to evaluate the candidate’s ability to facilitate and document a counseling relationship following using 5 stage model in an ethically and culturally competent manner. This course addresses 2016 CACRAEP standards 2.F.5.a-k, n.
| EPY 509 Exceptional Learners: Children and Adolescents | 3 SH |
This course helps teachers understand exceptional students and their educational issues by focusing on managing their problems in the regular classroom. This course includes methodologies for differentiating instruction for exceptional students, including special education and talented and gifted. Prerequisite: admission to the Master of Arts in Teaching program or permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Educational Psychology.
| EPY 600 Assessment for Counselors | 3 SH |
This course focuses on the development, administration, scoring, and interpretation of assessment measures. Emphasis is on commercial tests and inventories widely used in public schools, private industry, and clinical settings and issues of cultural bias in testing. Prerequisite: ED 585, ED 586, and admission to the counselor education program.
| EPY 601 Fundamentals of Statistics and Research Design | 3 SH |
Emphasis is placed on three related aspects of research: theoretical and practical consideration of experimental and non-experimental research designs, hypothesis testing, sampling methods and observation and measurement principles; practical aspects of research implementation in applied and/or laboratory settings; and statistical treatment of data. Research studies are analyzed and interpreted with regard to these criteria. Prerequisites: EPY 604 and EPY 605
| EPY 602 Interviewing and Consultation Across the Life Span: Principles and Techniques | 3 SH |
This course covers theories, principles, and techniques of counseling and consultation with emphasis on application of social, emotional, educational, and vocational adjustment of individuals in a diverse society. Prerequisites: ED 585 and ED 586 and admission to the counselor education program.
| EPY 603 Group Work Foundation: Theory and Practice | 3 SH |
This laboratory course allows students to explore and experience the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Students will analyze their group interactions and enhance their knowledge of development in diverse groups. Prerequisite: EPY 602.
| EPY 604 Individual Counseling in the Schools: Clinical Skills | 3 SH |
This course offers class and laboratory experience with primary emphasis on developmental counseling techniques using case studies, role playing, and discussion and practice interviewing as basic learning vehicles to enhance communication. Emphasis will be on developmental counseling in a diverse society. Pre-practicum preparation will begin. Prerequisite: EPY 602.
| EPY 605 Clinical Mental Health Counseling Skills | 3 SH |
This course will provide clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) students with experiential training focused on individual counseling and consultation for application in clinical mental health and agency settings. Primary emphasis will be on development of individual counseling skills relating to assessment, intervention, and termination with case studies, role playing, and supervision. Counselor, consultant, and client characteristics and behaviors, which influence the helping process-including, age, gender, and ethnic and cultural differences-will be considered in counseling applications. Students who are preparing to work as clinical mental health counselors will demonstrate the professional knowledge, skills, and practices necessary to address a wide variety of circumstances within the clinical mental health counseling context. This course is designed to meet the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009 CACREP standards for professional practice. Prerequisite: admittance into the counselor education program-option in CMHC, or completion of EPY 602 or permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Education Psychology.
| EPY 606 Advanced Group Work: Theory and Practice | 3 SH |
An advanced self-placement experience where students facilitate small groups (45 clock-hours for counseling specialization and 30 for psychoeducational specialization), this course is designed to move the student closer to a professional level of competence as a leader/facilitator in a developmental context with knowledge of group processes in a diverse society. Pre-practicum preparations are finalized. Prerequisite: EPY 603.
| EPY 607 Pupil Personnel Services: Philosophy and Organization | 3 SH |
This course will investigate the organizational patterns and relationships of pupil services to the total school program and the community. Emphasis will be on the role of the counselor in developmental guidance within the pupil-personnel organizational structure. Focus will be on the school counselor as coordinator, consultant, manager, teacher, and counselor to facilitate the personal, social, career, and academic development of all students. Prerequisite: admittance to the counselor education program or field experience. This course is offered online only in the fall.
| EPY 608 Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Management, Delivery and Consultation | 3 SH |
This course is designed to provide clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) students with an advanced understanding of how human-service CMHC programs are organized, as well as the role and function of CMHC in human-service and CMHC agencies. Particular emphasis will be given to a specific understanding of program development, delivery of services, and consultation to meet the needs of our changing society. Students who are preparing to work as clinical mental health counselors will demonstrate the professional knowledge, skills, and practices necessary to address a wide variety of circumstances within CMHC settings. This course is designed to meet the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009 CACREP standards for professional practice. Prerequisite: admittance into the counselor education program-option in CMHC or permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Educational Psychology.
EPY 609 Counseling People with Physical Disabilities 3 SH
This course focuses on helping counselors understand theories of adjustment, adaptation, and coping with disability and apply these concepts to both congenital and acquired disability experiences. Candidates will learn counseling strategies and interventions directed toward assisting individuals with disabilities and their families cope and adapt as well as ethical issues and responsibilities. Candidates will explore the psychosocial aspects of disability including societal attitudes, legislation, cultural perspectives, and issues related to education, medication, personal relationships. Community resources and the counselor’s role in special education and 504 planning will be discussed. This course addresses 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) core standards 2.F.1.a &j, 2.F.h, 2.F.5.a, j-k, 2.F.7.m and specialty area standard 5.G.2.b & h, 5.G.3.h &l for school counseling and specialty areas 5.C.2g &j for Clinical Mental Health.
| EPY 610 Practicum in School Counseling | 3 SH |
This course requires students to complete a minimum of 100 hours of supervised practicum experiences in a school setting. This practicum provides for the development of individual counseling and group work skills in a diverse society. Selection of the site must be approved by the faculty supervisor. Students will meet weekly, both in groups and individually, with peer supervision and with their faculty supervisors to discuss their common purposes, varying problems, and methods of approach. Prerequisite: completion of all core counseling courses.
| EPY 611 Practicum in Clinical Mental Health Counseling | 3 SH |
This course requires students to complete a minimum of 100 hours of supervised practicum experience. This practicum provides for the development of individual counseling and group work skills. Selection of site must be approved by the department supervisor. Students will meet weekly with their supervisors to discuss their common purposes, varying problems, and methods of approach. This practicum in clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) is designed to meet the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009 CACREP standards for professional practice. Prerequisite: Students must have successfully completed the following courses: EPY 618, ED 586, EPY 600, EPY 602, ED 587, EPY 605, and EPY 630, or permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Educational Psychology.
| EPY 612/613 Internship in School Counseling | 6 SH |
Students must complete a 600-hour supervised counseling internship in a school setting. This internship is a two semester full-time commitment for those students who do not hold a Connecticut professional educator certificate but hold, or are eligible for, an initial educator certificate and wish to be certified as school counselors. Includes weekly seminars on campus for purposes of peer supervision and three site visits for nonteaching semester. All others may complete the internship in one or two semesters. Prerequisite: completion of EPY 610.
| EPY 614/615 Internship in Clinical Mental Health Counseling | 6 SH |
Following the successful completion of the practicum in clinical mental health counseling (CMHC), students must complete a counseling internship in a CMHC setting. This internship will be completed in a minimum of one academic semester, two semesters, or until student completes required direct and indirect client contact hours required. This CMHC internship is designed to meet the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009 CACREP standards for professional practice. Prerequisite: students must have successfully completed their practicum in CMHC or have permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Educational Psychology.
| EPY 618 Introduction to Clinical Mental Health Counseling | 3 SH |
This introductory course is designed to prepare students to understand the knowledge, skills, and competencies required of clinical mental health counselors, as defined within the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009 CACREP standards for professional practice. Prerequisite: admittance into the counselor education program-option in CMHC or permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Educational Psychology.
| EPY 619 Crisis Counseling in the Community and School |
3 SH |
This course is designed to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies to understand the impact of crises, disasters, and other trauma-causing events, and also to demonstrate the ability to use procedures for assessing and managing suicide risk. Prerequisites: admittance into the counselor education program-school counseling or CMHC options, and completion of EPY 640/EPY 605, or permission of the chair of the Department of Education and Educational Psychology.
| EPY 620 Marriage and Family Counseling | 3 SH |
This course examines marriage and families counseling’s historical antecedents, stages of family development, philosophical assumption and major approaches to marriage and family counseling. Ethical issues and current alternative techniques will be investigated. Prerequisite: nine semester hours in psychology.
| EPY 621 Drug and Alcohol Counseling | 3 SH |
This course provides students with empirical information and counseling procedures regarding substance abuse. The course will focus on readings on substance abuse, investigation of theoretical treatment models, classroom simulation of such models, and contact with drug and alcohol programs. Prerequisite: nine semester hours in psychology.
| EPY 624 Legal and Ethical Issues in Public Schools | 3 SH |
This course will review the legal and ethical issues, conflicts, and demands currently placed on teachers, counselors, and other working professionals and consultants in public schools. Case presentation, lectures, activities, guest speakers, and Supreme Court decisions will be used to review school violence, school district liability, counselor liability, confidentiality, religion, freedom of expression, special education, and family issues. This course also will review legal and ethical issues within a wide range of development (preschool to age 21) for both typical and special-needs students. Special attention regarding the legal requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will be given to the transition of special-needs students after high school graduation.
| EPY 625 School-Based Family Counseling | 3 SH |
The course will present major theoretical approaches to family counseling and their application to the school setting. Emphasis will be placed on family systems theory and structural family therapy as developed by Salvador Minuchin. The processes and steps required to create a paradigm shift in approaching student problems in their academic, social, and emotional development will be presented through the application of school-based family counseling and collaborative approaches. School and community counselors will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to work effectively with teachers, administrators, specialists, community agencies, and medical facilities in developing ecological assessments and interventions within the home-school-community environment.
| EPY 626 Sexuality Counseling with Children and Families | 3 SH |
This course will provide school and community counselors with the knowledge, skills, techniques, and competence to assess and address the sexuality/gender concerns affecting their clients. Topics include childhood sexual development; dynamics of abuse, victimization, and perpetration; gender/sexual identity issues; sexual abuse prevention and sexual education programs; couples counseling, and sexual dysfunction.
| EPY 627 Consultation Theory and Practice | 3 SH |
This course is designed to provide school counselors and mental health workers with knowledge about theoretical approaches to consultation and help them develop skills necessary for consultation, particularly within educational organizations.
| EPY 628 Working with Grieving Families and Children in Schools | 3 SH |
This course is designed for teachers, school counselors, and mental health professionals. The course will provide participants with a working knowledge of the grieving process for families and children from a developmental perspective. The cognitive theories of Jean Piaget and David Elkind and the psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson will be applied to the grief stages as developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Teachers and counselors will acquire the knowledge and skills needed for working with students and families who have experienced a loss in their family.
| EPY 630 Introduction to Psychopathology |
3 SH |
This course introduces students to basic issues related to diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology frequently encountered in clinical practice in schools and community agencies. The behavioral, cognitive, and affective consequences of major mental disorders will be explored with the goal of developing effective counseling interventions and treatment plans. Emphasis will be on use of the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Prerequisites: M.S. in Counseling, enrollment in the counselor education program, or permission of the instructor.
| EPY 640 Introduction to Play Therapy |
3 SH |
This course is designed to increase the counselor’s understanding of the world of children ages 3-12 as perceived by the child, and the relationship between the children’s world with their behavior. The major theories of play therapy, and the utilization of play media to facilitate the child’s self-exploration, self-expression, self-understanding, and personal growth will be explored. Prerequisite: Admission to the Graduate Counselor Education program or permission of the Department Chair.
| EPY 650 Advanced Play Therapy |
3 SH |
This course is designed to provide students with advanced instruction in the counseling method and techniques of play therapy. It will include didactic, hands-on play therapy techniques, and in-depth review of play therapy counseling sessions (video, audio or detailed process notes) supplied by the students. Format will also include training through professionally produced videotapes and small group discussion. Limit setting, counter-transference, and other critical issues and situations that arise within sessions will be discussed. Credits obtained from this course are applicable towards the designation of Registered Play Therapist.
| EPY 651 Assistive Technology in Applied Behavior Analysis |
3 SH |
This course examines how behavior analysts are leveraging technology to optimize research and practice, disseminate behavior analysis, and extend the reach of behavioral services.
| EPY 652 Grant Writing in Applied Behavior Analysis |
2 SH |
This course will provide candidates with the basic skills, principles, and techniques of successful grant writing. Candidates will learn how to identify a funding source, and prepare and submit a competitive proposal to help meet the learning and life skills needs of clients with aberrant behavior.
| EPY 653 Capstone in Applied Behavior Analysis |
3 SH |
The purpose of the Capstone course is to provide a culminating experience for students. The Capstone course consists of a review and final evaluation of the learning objectives throughout the program. This provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge they have obtained throughout the program. Students must score 80% or above on the comprehensive exam in order to receive a passing grade for the course.
| EPY 655 Introduction to Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis |
3 SH |
Examines and applies basic concepts and principles of behaviors including response classes, stimuli, stimulus classes, respondent conditioning, operant conditioning, positive and negative reinforcement contingencies, schedules of reinforcement, examples of positive and negative punishment contingencies, and automatic and socially mediated contingencies. Examines and applies concepts of unconditioned, conditioned, generalized reinforcers punishers, extinction, stimulus control, discrimination, generalization, maintenance, motivating operations, rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior, the verbal operants and derived stimulus relations.
| EPY 656 Behavior Assessment |
4 SH |
Examines factors related to behavioral assessment including those related to review of records and available data, the need for behavior-analytic services, and methods to identify and prioritize socially significant behavior-change goals. Identifies methods of assessment of relevant skill strengths and deficit and preference. Explores methods of functional assessment including descriptive assessment and functional analysis in addition to examination of functional assessment data. Explores methods to train personnel to competently perform assessment and intervention procedures, topics related to performance monitoring, feedback, and reinforcement systems, and use a functional assessment approach to identify variables affecting personnel performance.
| EPY 657 Behavior Change Procedures |
4 SH |
Examines principles and processes related to behavioral change. Explores positive and negative reinforcement procedures to strengthen behavior, use of interventions based on motivating operations and discriminative stimuli, methods to establish and use conditioned reinforcers, methods to use stimulus and response prompts and fading. Explores use of modeling and imitation training, instructions and rules, shaping, chaining, discrete-trial, free-operant, and naturalistic teaching arrangements, and teaching simple and conditional discriminations. Explores use of Skinner’s analysis to teach verbal behavior, equivalence-based instruction, the high-probability instructional sequence, reinforcement procedures to weaken behavior, extinction, positive and negative punishment, token economies, group contingencies, contingency contracting, self-management strategies, procedures to promote stimulus and response generalization, and procedures to promote maintenance. Examines methods to state intervention goals in observable and measurable terms, identify potential interventions based on assessment results, recommend intervention goals and strategies based on such factors as client preferences, supporting environments, risks, constraints, and social validity. Examines selection of acceptable alternative behavior to be established or increased and how to plan for possible unwanted effects when using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures.
| EPY 658 Advanced Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis |
4 SH |
Identifies the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control) and explains the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism). Examines behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism. Examines the distinctions among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis. Examines the dimensions of applied behavior analysis (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968). Identifies the reasons for behavior analytic supervision. Examines the reasons for using behavior analytic supervision, selection of supervision goals, establishing performance expectations, training personnel, using relevant systems, using a functional assessment approach to identify variables affecting personnel performance, using function based strategies to improve performance, and evaluation of the effects of supervision.
| EPY 659 Methods and Measurements in Applied Behavior Analysis |
4 SH |
Examines methods and measurement in applied behavior analysis including operational definitions of behavior, distinguishing among measures of behavior, occurrence measurement, measurement of temporal dimensions of behavior, form and strength measurement, measurement of trials to criterion and sampling procedures (i.e., interval recording, time sampling). Examines evaluation related to the validity and reliability of measurement procedures. Considers methods for selection of a measurement system and methods to graph data, and interpret graphed data. Examines dependent variables, independent variables, internal validity, and external validity. Examines the defining features of single-subject experimental designs including advantages and use. Examines rationales for conducting comparative, component, and parametric analyses
| EPY 660 Ethics and Professional Issues |
3 SH |
Identifies topics related to the responsible conduct of behavior analyst, behavior analysts’ responsibility to clients, assessing behavior, the behavior-change program, and factors related to behavior analysts as supervisors. Examines Behavior analysts’ ethical responsibility to the profession of behavior analysis, to colleagues, and to the BACB. Examines ethics of public statements and research. Examines the rationales for using behavior-analytic supervision, potential risks of ineffective supervision, and methods to establish clear performance expectation, selection of supervision goals, and methods to train personnel. Examines use of performance monitoring, feedback, and reinforcement systems. Examines use a functional assessment approach to identify variables affecting personnel performance, use function-based strategies to improve personnel performance and methods to evaluate the effects of supervision.
| EPY 661 Telemental Health in Counseling 3 SH |
This course will address the benefits and risks of telemental health services according to current and salient research in the field. This course is designed to provide students with detailed skills in choosing appropriate technological platforms where security standards conform with ethical and legal requirements. Specific competency about legal and ethical issues in health information exchanges will be also offered. The future of various technologies that are impacting the mental field will be also discussed. Special focus will be placed on innovative technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how It works for specific pathologies such as depression or Autism Spectrum disorder as well as the use of AI for diagnosis and assessment. Students will learn how to implement telemental health interventions, understand their challenges, and optimize new technology facilities.