Counselling children using a multiple intelligences framework

This paper presents a three-stage framework that has been shown to be useful in the counselling of children. Some of the qualitative results of a study into counselling practice informed by Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences are reported. The study, which sought to explore the essence of the counselling act, highlights techniques and environmental factors that are useful in the counselling of children, particularly small children who have not developed the language required for more formal counselling sessions. The use of Gardner's (1983) theory of multiple intelligences as a framework enabled the counsellors to make available a variety of activities that tapped a variety of talents.