University of Arkansas professor co-authors book on rehabilitation counseling

University of Arkansas Professor of Rehabilitation Education and Research Lynn Koch recently partnered with Kent State University Professor of Rehabilitation Counseling Phillip Rumrill to write a new textbook for their field, Rehabilitation Counseling and Emerging Diseases.
 
"Rehabilitation counselors can anticipate providing more services to people with these disabilities," Koch said. "Chronic pain has not been fully recognized in the past and it has a tremendous impact on people's lives, for example. These emerging disabilities are often minimized or hidden from society."
 
Graduate programs for rehabilitation counselors are typically general, preparing students to serve a range of patient needs.

In their book, Koch and Rumrill hope to provide students and professionals with more specific information on treating emerging disabilities, or those that have recently been recognized or are currently increasing in prevalence. These include Lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, asthma, autism and type 2 diabetes.
 
"We truly believe this is critical information our students need to have that they are not getting elsewhere, so that is why we are incorporating it into our courses and we hope other educators will," Koch said. "We hope the book will enhance our students' abilities to serve contemporary rehabilitation consumers."