Sanderson, Robert G.

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JADARA 
Volume 7 Number 4 Article 7 
October 2019 
A Personal Theory of Counseling 
Robert G. Sanderson 
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for the State of Utah 
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Sanderson, R. G. (2019). A Personal Theory of Counseling. JADARA, 7(4). Retrieved from 
https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara/vol7/iss4/7 
A Personal Theory of Counseling 
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This article is available in JADARA: https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara/vol7/iss4/7 
A PERSONAL THEORY OF COUNSELING
ROBERT G. SANDERSON
INTRODUCTION
It so happens that my Ufestyle is inextricably interwined with
deafness and deaf people, personally, socially and professionally. Hence, I
feel most comfortable in undertaking the task of writing a personal theory
of coimseling and in limiting it to the area in which I function.
THE NATURE OF MAN
1. I believe that man is a rational being who, given sufficient
information about his own psychological, sociological, cultural,
biological (that is, total environmental) development, will be able to
make those choices which will enable him to achieve a satisfactory
adjustment.
2. A man may guide his own destiny only to the extent that he is
conscious of the forces and controls at work upon his life, and
resists them with determination to achieve a goal in opposition to
those forces. His brain is capable of learning new behavior, of in
dependent thought, of intuitive "leaps to new levels" which cannot
be ascribed directly to learned behavior.
3. I believe that if man does not have the perception to understand
himself, then he will be easily manipulated and his behavior
controlled by the dominant forces in his life.
4. I believe that people who are handicapped by deafness develop
certain perceptual differences. That is, they perceive the world
Mr. Sanderson is a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the State of Utah.
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A PERSONAL THEORY OF COUNSELING
somewhat differently than the person who has normal hearing. Sound
gives meaning to events that influence development of the organism,
i.e., the stimulus-response chain is interrupted and behavior is thereby
affected.
5. Man as handicapped by deafness has the same psychological needs as
the normally hearing person: Love, esteem, acceptance, social
contact—indeed, the same hierarchy of needs as defined by Maslow.
6. Man is a social being. His healthy adjustment to his particular
environment will be directly proportional to his meaningful and
satisfying contacts with other people.
HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
1. Behavior is learned. The earliest behavior arises from the satisfaction
or frustration of biological (physical) needs, such as for survival. For
example, a newborn baby responds to environmental change (warmth,
cold, noise) with a startle response, or cries, either of which may be
natural (unlearned) organismic behavior, but the stimulus-response
behavior pattern is quickly established by the reinforcement received
(the noise stops, or the wet diaper is changed). In other words, in
accepting behavior that is biologically based, I feel that all subsequent
behavior is learned.
2. Heredity is chiefly a biological-genetic function; the traits that may
affect behavior would be only those which limit the organism or
confer special qualities. For example, the tendency to mental
retardation may run in a family; there may be genetic deafness; or a
family may be blessed with a long "line" of physically beautiful
persons (sometimes the result of selective human breeding). Those
qualities may affect the ability of the person to learn appropriate
behavior.
3. Normal behavior—or what we can call normal behavior in our
particular culture—develops in an environment that is controlled. The
physical-biological needs of the developing person are carefully
controlled so that the necessities of survival are omnipresent—food,
warmth, shelter, love, acceptance, protection from threat or danger,
and constant communication. I am personally dismayed that so many
theorists seem to overlook the vitality of the mechanics of communi
cation; they seem to assume that it is present, and give it attention
only when it breaks down in the counseling interview.
a. Normal development in a deaf person takes a different slant.
There is now evidence to indicate that the deaf child of deaf
parents (and who thus has adequate communicative skills as a
result of constant usage of visual modes-sign language and the
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A PERSONAL THEORY OF COUNSELING
manual alphabet, pantomime, and body language) develops
better adjustment and better achievement than the deaf child of
hearing parents who lack this basic communication.
b. Abnormal development or behavior in a deaf child is frequently
if not always learned as a result of the frustration arising from
the breakdown of meaningful communication with the parents-
excepting, of course, pathological conditions with organic bases,
such as brain dysfunction. As a practicing counselor, I meet
many instances of behavioral problems in my clients which can
be traced directly to parental ignorance of the need for clear,
meaningful, adequate and visual communication; and these
problems are, with rare exceptions, the deaf-child/hearing-parent
relationships, not those of the deaf-child/deaf-parent. This is
confirmed by psychiatrists with whom I have worked at the
University of Utah Medical School, and by other psychiatrists in
clinics in various parts of the coimtry.
Abnormal behavior that arises in the parent-child relationship carries
over into school, where teachers, supervisors and administrators who may
be of one particular philosophy enforce it to extremes, continuing the
vicious circle of stimulus/response/reinforcement.
While it is dangerous to generalize, and while I realize that I am more
or less the product of my own experiences, education and training, I feel
that the most powerful influence in the shaping of behavior, whether
normal or abnormal, is that of the parents and their particular culture or
lifestyle. Subsequent environmental influences will, of course, affect
behavior, but the previously established behavior patterns affect percep
tions, which guide one's actions.
THE GOALS OF THERAPY
In presenting my personal goals of therapy, I must agree with other
rehabilitation counselors in general in their perception of their roles, but
differ in specific ways because of the peculiar nature of counseling deaf
people.
Therapists capable of working with deaf persons are rare; in all of the
United States there are perhaps ten or twelve psychiatrists and psychol
ogists who are sufficiently skilled in the American Sign Language to
understand and be understood by deaf people. Thus, with no professional
help available, the rehabilitation counselor with the special deaf caseload is
called upon to do "everything." A redeeming feature is that the special
caseloads are permitted to be smaller since deaf people take longer to
rehabilitate, longer to talk with, longer to find, and require more travel by
the counselor since most do not have telephones.
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With this background, I make the following distinctions:
Goals of therapy apply to those in need of such therapy, and not just
to any client who appears before the counselor.
Goals of rehabilitation may include therapy, but in general are aimed
at vocational objectives; i.e., there is a difference between vocational
rehabilitation and behavioral rehabilitation or change.
This particular section will deal only with the goals of therapy, and
not with those of rehabilitation, although there may be some unavoidable
overlapping.
1. Because deaf people usually present a severely Umited experiential
perception of life (especially those youths fresh from school, or from
an institution) I believe in actively helping an individual determine
what his own goals will be. My goal will be to help him develop a
realistic and attainable goal. I will help him set his goals high enough
to be an interesting challenge, but not so high that he will become
discouraged and fail. Thus, if he wishes to change from a spoiled brat
(and if he knows he is a spoiled brat) to a paragon of virtue, I will
stress the reality of the here and now, where there are few paragons
but many people who are reasonable facsimiles, and help him
understand the influences that shaped his behavior, and behavior that
would be more mature and appropriate for his particular lifestyle. If
he sets a goal that I believe is unrealistic, I will tell him so and why I
feel that way, but do so in a non-threatening and noncritical
way... .but I will also make it plain to him that those are my
feelings, and not necessarily his, and he does not have to give in to
me.
2. On the other hand; if the client happens to be a highly intelligent
and literate deaf person whose education and experience are such
that he can grasp concepts and abstractions, then my goal again
would be to assist him in setting his own goal of therapy but I would
not be strongly directive. Rather, I would attempt to make
conditions conducive for development of understanding between us;
non-threatening, warm, friendly, and accepting with the basic idea
being Rogerian in approach to unconditional positive regard. I would
attempt to develop an understanding of the individual's lifestyle, so
that I could assist him in bringing his experience and perceptions into
congruence. In short, help him face reality through his experience,
and trust his experience and inner organismic reactions instead of
inappropriate learned behavior.
Hence, my chief goal will be to assist each individual to learn to
function within his particular culture or environment in a manner that is
acceptable to those with whom he must work and socialize.
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A PERSONAL THEORY OF COUNSELING
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLIENT
Deaf clients bring a widely varying assortment of social, psycho
logical, physical and educational problems into the counseling situation. It
is impossible to categorize behavioral expectations of them. In general,
however, I would expect them to realize that they are in therapy for a
particular reason-they need it or they would not be there-whether
voluntarily or involuntarily. Most would be cooperative; however, those
who demonstrate paranoia and schizophrenia of long-standing, or of
developing status, are unpredictable. Deafness complicates their percep
tions, and all too often leads to transference of their fixations to the
counselor, putting just about an impossible burden on him in terms of the
time he has available for the therapeutic relationship.
Some clients will be incredibly naive, ridiculously easy to influence or
manipulate, wide open to suggestion-thereby putting the counselor in the
position, occasionally, of playing God. If play God I must, then I try to
do so with maximum restraint and imderstanding.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUNSELOR
In dealing with deafness, I believe strongly that the counselor should
have a deaf parent, preferably both parents being deaf. Only thus can he
develop a deep imderstanding of the impact of deafness on the
psychology, personality, and lifestyle of the deaf person. This is, of
course, an idea; there are many such persons (I have three of them
working with me!) but not all agencies are so fortunate. Another ideal
person will be deaf himself; he will bring to the counseling situation
unique understanding.
Educational considerations should be that at least the counselor
should have a bachelor's degree in psychology, sociology, or the liberal
arts. Advanced work in psychology is a requisite if one is to engage in
psychotherapy—particularly if one is to work within agencies where stress
is upon degrees—with deaf people. (Note: The attorney general of Utah
recently ruled that only a psychiatrist may practice psychotherapy in
Utah.) A counselor who possesses a master's degree may have adequate
skill for the helping professions, and indeed may learn by practical
experience over a period of time what doctoral students take intensive
study to leam. But as a practical matter, the counselor who possesses the
doctorate will achieve status and prestige (skill, of course, is to be hoped
for!) and possibly the confidence of the client.
The counselor with deaf people will find that the various approaches
to counseling put too much stress upon "intelligent" cUents, assuming
they have the normal language development of hearing people. Yet deaf
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people as a whole have such a low reading achievement that we get into
serious difficulty with cognitive approaches. It is my feeling that the
directive approaches may be somewhat more effective with the low-verbal
deaf person, and the nondirective (Rogerian) better with the more literate
class of clients.
I would expect a counselor to be open and friendly, and accepting of
deaf people regardless of their other handicaps. An aggressive person
would be a poor counselor with deaf people, since they are acutely
sensitive to attitudes (deaf people with low verbal functioning skills
frequently are quite resentful of "college educated" persons who demon
strate by attitude or manner their "superiority.").
THERAPEUTIC METHODS
1. The therapist must agree to see the client regularly, and the client to
attend regularly.
2. The therapist will take a detailed history from the client (and from
other sources if available) and be alert to strong behavior-shaping
influences.
3. The client must accept and cooperate in the process.
4. There must develop between the counselor and the client a mutual
respect, trust and openness.
5. The counselor must accept and expect some aggression on the part of
the client as he touches upon sensitive feelings, but must never react
in such a way as to degrade or demean the client.
6. As the chent develops deeper trust, the counselor may lead him
toward here and now (reality) experience and show him how his
perceptions of reality have been distorted by learned behavior of
inappropriate nature. At this point the client must be genuinely open
to his experience, with his defenses down, and the counselor must
know of this readiness.
7. As readiness is ascertained, the counselor may help the client
determine what behavior will be more suited to his lifestyle, help him
set up a concrete goal or a particular behavior to be practiced (for
example, he will say good morning to his co-workers, something that
he has never said before, and observe their responses).
8. The counselor will ask for definite evidence that new behavior
patterns are being estabhshed; the client must deliver evidence (which
can be written memos of particular behavior and times when it took
place). As a further check, the counselor might quietly inquire of the
supervisor, or of a co-worker, if there has been a change in behavior,
as a confirmation of readiness to "close" a case.
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"LABELS"
I do not know what label I could put upon such a course of therapy;
eclectic is what I have chosen to call it, because I do see in it certain
elements of Rogers, Thome, and Williamson, all of whom have influenced
me, and something of Bozarth, C. H. Patterson and L. Stewart. I am also
inclined to rely much upon E. Mindel for crystallization of my feehngs on
deafness and childhood development and learning. Alfred Adler impressed
me, as did Glasser.
I hesitate, from a personal sense of inadequacy, to enter into deep
relationships with clients when there are alternatives open to me.
Counseling deaf people is a serious challenge, and the more I leam about
deafness, about psychology and psychotherapy, the more I am impressed
with how little man knows about himself.
SUMMARY
In a description of my personal theory of counseling I have
outlined my approaches to and thinking on the nature of man,
human growth and development, goals of therapy, characteristics
of the client and the counselor in a therapeutic relationship, and
therapeutic methods. The brevity of the presentation precludes
exhaustive detail and qualifications.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rogers, Carl. Client-centered Therapy. Boston: Houghton Miffiin, 1951.
Freedom to learn. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill
Publishing Company, 1969.
.. The client-centered therapy of Carl Rogers. (In Ford and
Urban, Systems of Psychotherapy, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 1963.
Bozarth, Jerold D. Models and Functions of counseling for applied settings
and rehabilitation workers. University of Arkansas: Arkansas Reha
bilitation Research and Training Center, 1972.
Sussman, Allen E. and Stewart, Larry G., Editors. Counseling with deaf
people. New York: Deafness Research and Training Center, New
York University School of Education, 1971.
Mindel, Eugene D., M.D., and Vemon, McCay. They grow in silence. Silver
Spring, Md.: The National Association of the Deaf, 1971.
Patterson, C. H. Theories of counseling and psychotherapy. New York:
Harper and Row, 1966.
Glasser, W. Reality therapy. New York: Harper and Row, 1965.
Skinner, B. F. Beyond freedom and dignity. New York: Bantam-Vintage
Books, 1971.
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A Personal Theory of Counseling

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