Behavioral Consultation: An Overview

Abstract

Consultation research, theory, and practice have expanded rapidly over the past decade. Increasingly, individuals working in applied settings have begun to adopt various aspects of consultation practice as conceptualized in the psychological literature. There is no one specific definition of consultation. In fact, the term consultation is used in many different ways throughout the psychological and educational literature. However, there are several different theoretical and applied models of consultation that occupy a prominent role in psychology and education. Each of these models provides a conceptual definition for practice in the area. Specifically, 10 different consultation models have been identified (West & Idol, 1987). However, in psychological practice in the schools, three major models are used most often: mental health consultation, organizational development consultation, and behavioral consultation. These models differ in theoretical orientation, consultative relationship, nature of the problem, consultation goals, and intervention methods, as well as the conceptual and methodological criteria used to evaluate the effectiveness of consultation (Reschly, 1976). (Table 1.1 provides the reader with an overview of various dimensions of the 10 consultation models.) The three most common are briefly reviewed.