Core Skills Analysis
English
The child listened to explanations about counseling and took part in a role-play scenario as the counselor. In the role-play, the child practiced communicating in a helping conversation and responding to a counseling situation. The activity offered practice with speaking clearly, listening, and considering how word choice can support respectful communication.
History
The child learned about the education and preparation required to become a licensed professional counselor. This introduced how professional roles are shaped by formal training and licensure, connecting present-day counseling work with the development of specialized careers. The child also heard about salary and the advantages and challenges associated with the profession.
Math
The child discussed the salary associated with being a licensed professional counselor, connecting the visit to real-world financial information. Considering salary alongside the schooling required and the pros and cons of the work helped the child compare factors involved in a career decision. This provided a practical context for thinking about income and the costs or commitments of education.
Social Studies
The child toured a licensed professional counselor’s office and learned what an LPC does in the community. By discussing the profession’s responsibilities and participating in a counseling role-play, the child explored how people and professional services can support others. The conversation about career advantages, challenges, schooling, and salary also encouraged reflection on work, education, and community roles.
Tips
Tips Extend the visit by having the child create a simple career pathway map showing the schooling and licensure steps discussed, then compare the benefits and challenges of counseling in a balanced pros-and-cons chart. Invite the child to write a fictional, age-appropriate counseling role-play and practice active listening with a family member, focusing on empathy and respectful questions rather than trying to solve a real person’s problems. For a real-world connection, research current LPC salary information from a reliable source and compare figures by location, noting where the data came from. Finish with a reflection about how counseling services contribute to a community and what professional boundaries help keep such services safe.
Book Recommendations
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb: A widely read account by a therapist that offers insight into therapy and the work of helping professionals; best suited for older teens and adults, so review it before sharing with a 13-year-old.
- The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook by Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz: Stories that introduce how caring professionals seek to understand children’s experiences; its serious subject matter makes parent or teacher guidance advisable.
- What Do You Do with a Problem? by Kobi Yamada: An accessible illustrated story about facing a problem with courage, offering a gentle starting point for discussing supportive conversations and problem-solving.
Learning Standards
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1: The tour discussion and counseling role-play supported collaborative discussion, listening, and responding to ideas.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.4: Taking the counselor’s role provided practice presenting ideas and communicating in a scenario.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.3: Discussing salary created a real-world context for interpreting and comparing numerical quantities; this connection is strongest if the child later compares salary figures.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.1: The child gathered information about an LPC’s work, preparation, and compensation from the office visit and discussion.
Try This Next
- Career pathway worksheet: organize the schooling and licensure requirements discussed during the visit.
- Pros-and-cons chart: sort the career advantages and challenges the child heard about.
- Role-play reflection: write three respectful questions a counselor might ask in a fictional scenario and explain how each shows listening.
- Community-services sketch: draw the counselor’s office and label details the child observed during the tour.