Book Review: Career Counseling for People with Disabilities: A Practical Guide to Finding Employment

Abstract

Career Counseling for People with Disabilities: A Practical Guide to Finding Employment, Second Edition, by Karen Wolffe, Published by PRO-ED, 2012, 243 pp,, $38, As an academic, I generally compare an older editions of a textbook I use against its most recent edition to see what remains of the old and what's changed in the new. It helps me to decide if the new content justifies using the revised text in lieu of another for a class I am teaching. In reviewing Karen Wolffe's second edition of Career Counseling for People with Disabilities, I can say that the second edition is a very credible update and one that the target audience should seriously consider purchasing. Not only has Dr. Wolffe fine-tuned formats, but she's also brought content up to date and added a supplemental CDROM to aid students as they move through their counseling careers. From the beginning of the publication, Dr. Wolffe clearly describes her text as one that can be used as a primary introduction to the topic of counseling, a resource for current professionals, and one that consumers and their families can use as a guide. Although I will not touch on every chapter in this book review, I do want to highlight a few that make this book an excellent addition to your professional library. In Chapter One, Dr. Wolffe expands upon her earlier categorization of clients by their degree of intervention needs: informational, instructional, and advocacy. Although her descriptions of both informational and advocacy clients remains largely identical to those in her earlier edition, she further develops the concept of the by describing clients in relation to varying levels of instructional need. The first level includes the need for six months to a year of assistance to see how well the client demonstrates a willingness to look for work, the second involves one to three years of assistance to develop the necessary skills for work, and the third level recommends three to five years of assistance when long-term intervention may be necessary. Chapter Three expands on current rehabilitation initiatives such as the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. Dr. Wolffe brings the efficacy of this program into focus by reporting outcomes data published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel. The findings she reveals may surprise you. Chapter Five covers client self-awareness and how knowledge affects and life planning through exploring interests, abilities, values, work personality, and vocational liabilities. Dr. Wolffe wholly recommends that clients be active participants throughout the process of counseling by engaging in homework assignments designed to provide both the client and counselor with valuable information about how the client expresses himself or herself and whether or not the client follows instructions, responds appropriately, and turns in assignments on time. One last item she touches upon is using these assignments as evidence of accomplishments in a career portfolio, which, incidentally, has become an important tool in higher education. In the chapter entitled Career Exploration and Vocational Selection, Dr. …