Initial Interview on a Clipboard

After the response to my solution-focused counseling on a clipboard, I thought I would share some other ways that I continue my philosophy of think about it once and make it easy for yourself in the future. I've always worked in really big schools and while I pride myself on knowing my kids pretty well, I inevitably get a referral for a student that I need to get to know a little better. I also kind of think that first individual session can be a little awkward and was looking for a way to make it less awkward. Enter the initial interview. And, yes, I do keep it on a clipboard.

Everyone likes to talk about themselves, especially kids. When I first bring a student into my office, I tell them why they are there if it was not a self referral. I'll then tell them that even though I know them around school, I want to get to know them better before we begin talking about (insert reason for referral). Depending on the kid, this initial interview may take up your entire session. However, if you are going to see this student more than once, I think it's well worth it. As you discuss these initial question, you will begin to see patterns that will inform your future work with the student.

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Let's take Sarah, my completely fictional student, who has been referred to me by her teacher because she seems withdrawn and sad. I will break down the initial interview questions and then talk about the patterns that begin to emerge. The first few questions are about likes and dislikes. 

• What do you like to do for fun? Play on my kindle.
• Do you like school? yes What do you like about it? reading books What don't you like about it? PE and Recess because I get left out
• What are your favorite subjects? Are there any subjects you don't like? Reading ... No
  
• Do you like your teachers? Yes

When looking at this I notice a few things. Sarah likes to play on her kindle and read. Both of these activities are individual activities. She might be an introvert or she might not have friends. She gets left out in PE and Recess - is that because she's not "sporty" or because she is unliked? She likes school so she isn't withdrawn and sad because she doesn't like being at school.

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 The second section gets into family, friends, and home. As you can imagine, a lot of themes will emerge here and sometimes you get more information than you can write!

• Tell me about your family? My mom and my brother (Luke, 4)
• Are there any other relatives? My dad. He lives in California. I visit my Grandma in Virginia sometimes. 
• Would you rather come to school or stay home? Go to School - home is boring
• Do you have friends? What do you do together? Yes, Rachel. We read at recess. Sometimes I go to her house but she can't come to mine. Why? I don't know.
  

Sarah doesn't get to see her dad often and her mom's support network is far away. She'd rather go to school than stay home. I wonder what that's about? She seems like she likes the work of school so it's possible that home is unstimulating for her. She has at least one friend (I would want to know if she considers that adequate) but her friend can't come to her house. I always circle follow up questions in my note-taking so I can see where I might have had to dig deeper. When I ask Sarah why Rachel can't come to her house, she says she doesn't know.

In the next section we start to dig deeper into Sarah's ideas about herself and her world. The initial interview tool starts with factual questions and moves forward to inference questions in order to build trust with the student. 

• If you had a magic wand, what 3 wishes would you wish for? Money so mom doesn't have to worry; a party with all the food you can eat; all my favorite books
• If you could change one thing about:
  • School? recess. Why can't we just stay inside?
  • Family? nothing
  • Yourself? I don't know. Can you guess? I don't know
• We're going to pretend your __________ came in the room? What would they say is the greatest/not so greatest thing about you?
  • Teacher? + work hard - sometimes too nervous
  • Mom? +I'm nice to her when she has a bad day - stop fighting with my brother (smiles)
  • Dad? I don't know Can you guess? We both like star wars. 

Here I start to get more clarity about Sarah's thinking. While I was worried about her home life before, these questions make me think that her home is under stress but that she feels safe there. Her three wishes all have to do with a desire for basic things. I wonder if her family has enough food? She doesn't list any changes about her family and her response to mom's opinion of her are positive. It's clear she and dad don't have much connection and that she tends to avoid talking about him. It's not uncommon for kids to not know what they want to change about themselves. I have noticed that when they do, it's usually poignant. 

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For my last section, I talk about feelings in a normative way. I begin with the "everyone feels _____ sometimes," so they know that it's safe to share a time that they felt this way. To end, I always ask students if there was anything they want to tell me that I haven't asked. Usually, the added information is fun and interesting but sometimes it is meaningful in a counseling way.

To make the initial interview even more fun, I created a Getting to Know You dice game. To play, students roll the dice and answer the question for the corresponding number. They can also color in the border and the title as they are talking to you. It would be fun to take turns, I ask a question and then the student rolls the dice. 

You are welcome to make your own initial interview using the questions I've listed for you. If you'd like it all created for you with fonts and borders, you can purchase the pages on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  If you would like the solution focused and the initial interviews on a clipboard, I recommend the Individual Counseling Bundle.