OISE Courses

A series of seminars dealing with the definition of the term ''play'' and its relation to both psychological and educational processes in the young child. The history of play will be examined in relationship to various theories that have been advanced concerning the need children have to play, the functions of play, and their relationship to psychological, social, cognitive, emotional, and physical development.

This course will focus on current knowledge of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from preschool through to adolescence. We will discuss the biological and psychological factors playing a role in the etiology and consider interventions for treatment and education of those with ASD. The emphasis will be on using well-founded research to inform instructional practices and decision making.

A course designed to permit the study (in a formal class setting) of a specific area of counselling psychology not already covered in the courses listed for the current year. The topics will be announced each spring in the Winter Session and Summer Session timetables.

This course seeks to define, redefine and locate Indigenous knowledges in the context of International mental health care. In particular, the course will examine cultural and traditional healing within the broader economic, social and political practices of psychology worldwide. While the focus is in counselling psychology and psychotherapy, it also provides a critical site to highlight challenges and transformations within mental healthcare. The course seeks to draw attention to the use of Indigenous knowledges in mental health care generally. Explorations of the currents issues and debates in the contemporary practices of Indigenous healing in psychology will be a key features of the course, for example, cultural respect and appropriation, ethics and confidentiality, competence of practitioners, and systemic and social issues. Through an in-depth analysis of International Indigenous helping and healing practices, with particular focus on Indigenous knowledges perspectives from countries around the world, the course will undertake to raise questions regarding the theory, practice, and research of Indigenous traditional healing perspectives on mental health and healing in psychology and its relationship to education of practitioners. As part of the exploration of Indigenous traditional healing knowledges, the course will also focus on how peoples from non-dominant cultures construct illness perceptions and the types of treatments they expect to use to solve mental health problems; in this respect, the course is also intended to contribute to community development and community health promotion.

This course covers current theory and principles of cognitive therapy in the treatment of anxiety and depression. Special applications such as grief counselling, bereavement and post-traumatic stress disorders will be examined.

This course examines evidenced based efforts to prevent problems that place children and youth at risk. Focus will be on ways of reducing risk and increasing protective factors. Coverage includes interventions that effectively deal with health, social, and educational issues impacting well being and life chances. Poverty, chronic illness, and intentional and unintentional injury are some of the areas surveyed.

This is a graduate level seminar that will address fundamental questions regarding symbolic development and media-based learning in young children. We will explore recent findings in relation to questions such as the following: (1) What does symbolic understanding entail? (2) What is the developmental trajectory with respect to symbolic understanding? (3) What social-cognitive processes underlie symbolic development? (4) What can young children learn from media? (5) How well can young children learn from media? (6) What features of the media affect learning? (7) How can we facilitate children's symbolic learning? We will explore these questions by examining children's learning from a variety of symbolic media: pictures, scale-models, maps, TV, and electronic games.

Students will be introduced to the various special education exceptionalities in Ontario schools and will be provided with opportunities to analyze and reflect upon key issues in special education such as inclusion and universal design for learning. They will have the opportunity to gain skills and evidence-based knowledge regarding the identification, instruction, and progress monitoring of students with special education needs. The emphasis will be on using well-founded research to inform instructional practices and decision making. Given that students with exceptionalities are often at risk for mental health difficulties, we will discuss the intersection between mental health and learning as well as the intersection between special education and diversity.

This introductory course is designed to engage students in a critical understanding of the mental illness, mental health and well-being issues facing globalization, mental health practices and counselling psychology. The course will facilitate a critical reflection of the research and wellness practices that places a priority on improving equality of mental health and well-being for all people worldwide. The course seeks to define and locate critical counselling psychology within the broader historical, economic, social and political contexts of global mental health (GMH) care. Through a critical examination of the various ways in which Western mental health is practiced globally, students would establish a critical understanding of the economic and political engagements that underpin clinical practice globally. A critical examination of the various ways in which Western models of diagnosis and treatment - DSM5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed., and the ICD 10 International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO) - students will get an appreciation of how Western models dominate an determine Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) mental health trajectory of care. Western narratives about mental illness, mental health and well-being tend to dominate over local LMIC traditional and indigenous healing practices. The course will focus on diagnosis and culture, transcultural psychiatry, cross-cultural counseling psychology, and the political economy of global mental health and well-being. An in-depth analysis of a number of individual country vignettes using a critical lens will be undertaken. Key concepts such as: globalization of mental health, cultural representation and presentation of mental illness and health, cross-cultural counselling and psychotherapy; Indigenous knowledges and traditional healing; political-economy of mental health and wellbeing will be critically understood and appreciated. This course will offer students an opportunity to learn about essential GMH current issues, discuss innovative cross-cultural counselling psychology collaborations, and critically examine strategic Indigenous initiatives aimed at reducing the burden of mental illness around the globe.

This course introduces students to the skills, theory, and practice of counselling interventions in persons experiencing mental health problems, as well as in mental health settings. It aims to develop peer-counselling skills and deepen self-awareness and interpersonal communication competencies. Basic counselling interventions such as empathic responding, exploration of client's affect and cognitions, and problem solving will be explored. The course emphasizes the therapeutic relationship as well as the importance of ethical and legal issues in the provision of therapy. The course will use a combination of video-based counselling techniques, to assist students in developing basic counselling skills and increase their conceptual understanding of theoretical perspectives of counselling through practice, including counselling processes and case conceptualizations. The instructor will also present cases, including using video-taped counselling sessions, in addition to extensive counselling simulation. Unique to this program, is a cohort model of learning, where participants build trust with one another and build on their in-class relationships and discussions. Through presentations, experiential learning, class discussion, group exercises, counselling practice and videotaping, participants will:

• gain personal awareness of their own values and views and how they impact on the counselling experience
• gain a broad understanding of counselling theories
• learn to assist clients to develop their personal potential for growth and change
• practice basic counselling, problem-solving, decision-making and communication skills, and
• learn communication and conflict resolution approaches.

In addition, there will be a 250-hour placement in an approved field setting.

Psychological and educational characteristics of children and adolescents with learning disabilities and ADHD with an emphasis on the constitutional and environmental factors that contribute to these disabilities and enable optimal functioning. Emphasis is placed on the concept of learning disability and on the educational implications of the research literature in the field.

The course will provide the student with a better understanding of current theoretical and applied issues in language and reading development. It will target primarily first language learning but will cover second language learning whenever appropriate. A cognitive-developmental approach will be used to examine topics such as: the development of basic language reading skills including speech perception and phonological awareness, morphological awareness, orthographic processing and their respective contributions to reading, lexical learning and vocabulary development, the role of vocabulary in reading comprehension, comprehension strategies, reading disability, cross-language transfer of language and reading skills between first and second language in bilingual children, and cognitive effects of bilingualism. Implications of theories on instruction will be discussed whenever relevant. Students will be encouraged to develop their own research and/or applied projects. The course will be conducted in a seminar format. A different topic will be discussed in each session. Key issues pertaining to research methodology and data analysis will be addressed as needed.

Survey sampling, experimental design, and power analysis; analysis of variance for one-way and multi-way data with fixed, mixed, and random effects models; linear and multiple regression; multiple correlation; analysis of covariance.

Multistage, stratified sampling, multi-factor experimental designs, and multivariate statistical procedures, including multiple regression analysis, multivariate significance tests, factor analysis, discriminant analysis, canonical analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, logistic regression and log-linear analysis are discussed with application to research design and data analysis.

This course seeks to define, redefine and locate Indigenous and traditional healing in the context of Euro-North American counseling and psychotherapy. In particular, the course will examine cultural and traditional healing within the broader economic, social and political practices of mental health care and in Canada. While the focus is in counseling psychology and psychoeducation (pedagogy), it also provides a critical site to highlight challenges and transformations within health care, thus the course will draw attention to the use of traditional healing in mental health care and counselor education. Explorations of the currents issues and debates concerned with the contemporary practices of Indigenous healing will be a key features of the course, for example, cultural respect and appropriation, ethics and confidentiality, competence of Indigenous healers and their qualifications and training. Through an in-depth analysis of international Indigenous helping and healing practices, with particular focus on Canadian Indigenous perspectives, the course will undertake to raise questions regarding the theory, practice, and research of Indigenous mental health and healing in psychology and education. As part of the exploration of Indigenous healers and healing, the course will also focus on how peoples from non-dominant cultures construct illness perceptions and the kinds of treatments they expect to use to solve mental health problems through individual and community psychology interventions. In this respect the course is also intended to contribute to community development and community health promotion.

This course will explore the role of the counsellor/counselling psychologist in the field of addictive behaviours. Through lectures, interactive discussions, video demonstrations, group presentations, and experiential exercises, students will become familiar with various theoretical models of addiction, approaches to assessment, and common intervention methods and techniques. Several intervention approaches will be examined, including behavioural, cognitive-behavioural and motivational interventions, relapse prevention, and self-help approaches. Although the primary emphasis will be on substance use issues, other addictive behaviours will be covered (e.g. gambling).

Introduction to the theory and practice of educational and psychological measurement. Topics include test development, classical test theory and item response theory, with applications to norm-referenced and criterion-referenced standardized achievement tests, group intelligence and aptitude tests, attitude and self-report scales, personality tests, performance assessments, questionnaires, and interview protocols.

This seminar is intended primarily for doctoral students. There are two main activities. One is the cooperative critiquing and development of research designs and data analysis plans based on ongoing work of the students in the course. The second is discussion of selected topics in research design and data analysis, e.g. balanced incomplete block experimental designs, replicated survey designs, exploratory analysis, general linear models, optimal and multidimensional scaling, data visualization, and computerized research design, data analysis, and graphical methods and tools.

This course examines psychological theories of play and has a focus on the role of technology in play across the life span (e.g., Vygotsky, Huizinga, Brown) in relation to the role of technology in play (e.g., Resnick, Gee, Squires) from both human developmental and educational perspectives. Topics addressing play include: gamification, trust, collaboration and passion to learn. In addition, we will address the growing role of technology in 'eduplay' and emerging social implications (e.g., concerns of addiction to gaming, social media, and networked-connectedness).

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by both vulnerability and opportunity. This course will examine research and theory on the development of mental health and well-being in adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 18-25 years), and examine common mental health concerns in adolescence. In addition to examining contributing developmental factors to adolescent mental health (e.g., physical, social, emotional changes and transitions in adolescence), this course will also explore risk and protective factors across various contexts (e.g., family, peers, schools, media) that influence adolescent risk and resiliency.

With increasing globalization and mobility across countries, student populations in urban schools include various groups of language learners, including immigrant children, indigenous language-speaking students, and second- or third-generation children who enter the school with fluent oral proficiency but with limited literacy skills in a language used as the medium of instruction at school. This course is designed for graduate students who wish to develop competencies in assessing additional language learners' language proficiency in K-12 curriculum learning contexts. The use of assessment is the central theme. We will consider theoretical bases and empirical evidence that educators and teachers should know in using assessment of school-aged language learners. Various cognitive and non-cognitive factors that influence students' language proficiency development will be examined. We will examine validity, reliability, and fairness issues arising from the use of standardized tests as well as classroom assessment.

Recent research suggests that one out of every five school-aged children suffers from a mental health issue (e.g., anxiety, depression), and that children who experience mental health issues are at increased risk for poor academic outcomes in schools. Educators are uniquely positioned to assist in the early identification of students struggling with mental health problems in the classroom. By learning about the signs of mental health problems, and understanding how to refer students to appropriate services, educators can facilitate children and youth's timely access to effective assessment and intervention. This course will provide an overview of the conceptualization, prevalence, and course of commonly occurring mental health disorders among school-aged children and youth, and explore risk and protective factors for mental health problems. Moreover, this course will examine the signs and symptoms of these disorders (to facilitate early detection by educators), as well as provide educators with information about empirically supported recommendations for preventing and responding to mental health issues in the classroom. Additionally, broader evidenced-based strategies and programming for preventing mental health concerns, and promoting mental health and well-being in the classroom will be discussed.

The mainstream view of developmental psychologists has been that early childhood is a 'high season of imaginative play'. Watching children at play seems to bear this out. However, both the purpose and the nature of children's imagination have recently been subjects of debate. We will examine fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of children's imagination, play, and narrative comprehension in development. We will also ask whether 'imagination' and 'play' have been appropriately conceptualized: are the explicit and tacit assumptions that developmental psychologists have made about the nature of 'play' convincing, and are they well-defined? We will also ask questions about future thinking and counterfactual reasoning and whether and how they impact children's learning and development.

Language is central to the human experience. It emerges universally and is acquired effortlessly by children. This seminar will focus on the acquisition of a first language by children. We will review the acquisition of the sounds of language, the meaning of language, and the structure of phrases and sentences. We will discuss both the process of acquisition and the competing theoretical explanations of that process. Particular emphasis will be placed on discovering the mechanisms children possess that enable them to learn language. Understanding how language develops and the factors involved can help us better identify appropriate interventions for children at risk.

This course will build on the foundations of counselling and psychotherapy developed in Part I. Students will continue their learning of different theoretical orientations, further adding to their repertoire of theories and techniques. As with Part I, students will have an opportunity to engage in experiential exercises to practice relevant counselling skills and interventions through peer counselling activities. Students will continue to reflect critically on the theories of counselling and psychotherapy addressed in this course, with a focus on building skills to become culturally-responsive and self-aware practitioners. The course will also focus on theoretical integration and common factors in psychotherapy and counselling.