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Date: 07/22/2026

Rehabilitation Counselors

Counsel individuals to maximize the independence and employability of persons coping with personal, social, and vocational difficulties that result from birth defects, illness, disease, accidents, aging, or the stress of daily life. Coordinate activities for residents of care and treatment facilities. Assess client needs and design and implement rehabilitation programs that may include personal and vocational counseling, training, and job placement.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy.
    • Locate barriers to client employment, such as inaccessible work sites, inflexible schedules, or transportation problems, and work with clients to develop strategies for overcoming these barriers.
    • Collaborate with clients' families to implement rehabilitation plans, such as behavioral, residential, social, or employment goals.
    • Collaborate with community agencies to establish facilities and programs for persons with disabilities.
    • Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed.
    • Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals.
    • Participate in job development and placement programs, contacting prospective employers, placing clients in jobs, and evaluating the success of placements.
    • Supervise rehabilitation counselors and staff.
    • Prepare and maintain records and case files, including documentation, such as clients' personal and eligibility information, services provided, narratives of client contacts, or relevant correspondence.
    • Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met.
    • Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups.
    • Confer with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other professionals to develop and implement client rehabilitation programs.
    • Locate barriers to client employment, such as inaccessible work sites, inflexible schedules, or transportation problems, and work with clients to develop strategies for overcoming these barriers.
    • Analyze information from interviews, educational and medical records, consultation with other professionals, and diagnostic evaluations to assess clients' abilities, needs, and eligibility for services.
    • Manage budgets and direct case service allocations, authorizing expenditures and payments.
    • Develop diagnostic procedures to determine clients' needs.
    • Arrange for on-site job coaching or assistive devices, such as specially equipped wheelchairs, to help clients adapt to work or school environments.
    • Participate in job development and placement programs, contacting prospective employers, placing clients in jobs, and evaluating the success of placements.
    • Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met.
    • Arrange for physical, mental, academic, vocational, and other evaluations to obtain information for assessing clients' needs and developing rehabilitation plans.

    Skills

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    3
    Workplace Documents
    5
    Graphic Literacy
    4

    Abilities

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    Knowledge

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 42620/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 20.49/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 3,650
    • Yearly Projected Openings 300

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Optimism
    • Sincerity
    • Empathy
    • Social Orientation
    • Cooperation
    • Integrity

    Tools

    • Computer mouse
    • Desktop computers
    • Digital telephones
    • Global positioning system GPS receiver
    • Intercom systems
    • Keyboards
    • Laser fax machine
    • Laser printers
    • Lasers
    • Liquid crystal display projector
    • Mobile phones
    • Notebook computers
    • Personal computers
    • Photocopiers
    • Pocket calculator
    • Scanners
    • Special purpose telephones
    • Tablet computers
    • Voice synthesizers for the physically challenged

    Technology

    • Accounting software
    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Calendar and scheduling software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Document management software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Internet browser software
    • Medical software
    • Mobile location based services software
    • Mobile operator specific application software
    • Office suite software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Transaction security and virus protection software
    • Voice recognition software
    • Word processing software
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