Counseling at The Norman Howard School empowers students by helping them develop skills they need to succeed academically and socially, and to manage life transitions. Individual and  Group counseling service is available to assist students with academic support, social-emotional skills training, and crisis management. Counselors can also work with outside providers and provide referrals as needed. Counselors work closely with teachers to help students progress.

The Norman Howard School embraces the Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) framework, which emphasizes prevention and explicit skill instruction for positive coping strategies.  “Skills for Life” is the anchor for our Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program. 

Counseling and teaching staff work with students on five skill areas: 

1. Self-management

2. Self-awareness

3. Social awareness

4. Decision making

5. Healthy relationships 

In addition, regularly scheduled Transition Classes, at the high school level, focus on identifying areas of student interest regarding careers and vocational programs, and students practice the essential social-emotional skills that are required in a post-secondary or work place environment.  In weekly grade level team meetings the Transition Counselor and Counselors collaborate and consult with faculty regarding students’ social-emotional growth and development.    

To help establish a "common language" and approaches to learning, The Norman Howard School integrates key school-wide strategies for the organization of concepts and information, and for written expression.

Thinking Maps consist of eight different visual representations that correspond with fundamental thinking processes. These 8 maps are explicitly taught to students and create a “common visual language” that teachers and students can use to organize their thinking and frame how information is related.  The maps can be used at all grade levels and across all content areas.

The EmPOWER writing strategy, integrated school-wide, helps students approach writing tasks in a systematic, step-wise manner. Students are explicitly taught the steps and sub-routines of the strategy so they can break down the writing process into a  manageable process. 

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The Norman Howard School's two Speech-Language Pathologists link communication skills with academic success, Speech-Language goals are interrelated with the goals of the classroom and academic curriculum is the "content" of therapy. 

Services are provided in a collaborative framework between the Speech Language Pathologist and classroom teachers, parents, and other related services.  Services are delivered individually or in groups, depending upon the needs of each student.  In addition, our Speech Language Pathologists can often be found in the classroom setting teaching all students test-taking strategies, memory strategies, or supporting vocabulary development. 

Assuring our students graduate from school college and career ready, and prepared for successful lives is a priority at The Norman Howard School. Our multi-disciplinary Transition Planning Committee, led by our Transition Counselor, is dedicated to identifying and creating opportunities for students to explore college and career options. Our students are well supported to build independent living skills and to make informed decision that lead to successful and fulfilling lives after high school.

The Health Office is a welcoming environment where our priority is optimal  health and well-being for all students. Students are provided onsite medication administration, first aid, triage of illness and injuries, health screenings, and health teaching. Health guidelines are determined and followed based on each student’s IEP. All services are provided by our Registered Nurse.