The Teacher as Therapist

By Ray Petty and David Nazro

The growing recognition of students with special needs is a double-edged sword for schools. It has permitted us to identify and assist these students, but at the same time it has created a group of education specialists who often leave the regular classroom teacher feeling ill-prepared for that task.

This is especially true when inclusion involves students with severe emotional or behavioral needs. Mention the word "therapy" and the regular classroom teacher quickly retreats: "Therapy is for the specialists; I teach math."

Nothing could be further from the truth. Teachers can be, and often are, very effective therapists. Yet, most of them resist that role or are threatened by it. They imagine therapy as a task performed with an office couch by a Freud-like presence with psychological degrees and a highly specialized body of knowledge. If the mystique of the term were stripped away, most teachers would understand that, in its broadest sense, therapy for the behaviorally disordered student simply does this: It sets limits, helps the student internalize behavioral controls, and instills a...