ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that there is a need to consider cultural context and acculturation in counseling and assessing children from different ethnic backgrounds. It describes two assessment tools used to explore the world of personal meaning of English as a second language (ESL) students: Ishiyama’s Validationgram and Wong’s Personal Meaning Profile. Three cases of Chinese immigrants’ children were chosen to illustrate how these instruments enabled us to look beneath the surface meanings of behavioral problems and uncover the deeper meanings of ESL children’s frustrated needs and acculturative stress. More importantly, all three cases revealed an indomitable human spirit in spite of the many school and family difficulties faced by ESL students. The present meaning-centered approach to counseling and assessment has several advantages: (1) it focuses on the strengths, resilience and spirituality of clients; (2) it relies on narrative and story telling; and (3) it addresses racial identity development, family relationships, and cultural context from the child’s perspective.
