School Counselors’ Experiences With Empowerment and Students on the Autism Spectrum: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The American Counseling Association’s (ACA) consensus definition of counseling represented a landmark moment, uniting the counseling profession with a common voice. A key component of which was the concept of empowerment and how it affects the counseling relationship. School counselors working with special needs populations, particularly the surging numbers of students identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), may utilize empowerment practices as a means of achieving goals as outlined by the programmatic requirements of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) for working with special needs populations. The researchers in this qualitative phenomenological study sought to better understand the experiences of school counseling professionals working with students with ASD and how they empower students. Four themes emerged in this study: empowerment in action, importance of advocacy, working through obstacles, and counselor responsibilities.