Counseling And Learning Resources
Counseling Program
Terry Meyers, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist and director of Aurora School's Counseling Program. After having consulted with Aurora School staff regarding a few children, and social and emotional situations for a number of years, Terry was invited to create a counseling program at Aurora beginning in the Fall 2007. The goal was to provide support for the social/emotional growth of the children through counseling services such as social skills groups, friendship groups, drop-in sessions, observations of students, individual counseling, assessment, and consultations and support for staff. She and her staff have reached these goals, helping to support Aurora's commitment to providing an environment for emotional health so that children can learn and thrive.
As a volunteer clinical supervisor at Crisis Support Services of Alameda County (CSS), Terry has been able to invite interns to work some of their hours at Aurora School. These counselors are mental health interns who are in training toward professional licensure. They work 4 -5 hours a week at Aurora providing individual counseling sessions to students and facilitating friendship groups.
Learning Resources Program
Joyce Kelley has been Aurora School's Learning Specialist for the past nine years, and is an important part of the team that is entrusted with the care and nurturing of the Aurora students. She supports Aurora teachers and parents by providing them with information about how to best support children's different learning styles.
The most rewarding part of her job, she says, is working directly with students to offer them additional exposure to academic concepts in order to enhance their success in the classrooms. Joyce feels that "many children simply need a boost and be shown multiple ways of connecting concepts with content"
Joyce often coaches students on how to best use visualization and mnemonics to aid in memory retrieval, and uses research based strategies, and a game-like approach on tasks that require repetition for mastery. There is no stigma attached to working with Joyce. Students enjoy and understand the benefit of working with her on their reading, writing or processing skills. At Aurora, extra support from Joyce is a positive and fun experience.