Behavior Consultation Clinic (BCC)
The Behavior Consultation Clinic (BCC) is designed to provide short-term services for parents and children ages birth to five years for a wide range of behavioral and developmental concerns such as parent-child conflict, daycare problems, sleep problems, toileting concerns, and sibling rivalry. Supervision is conducted via a one-way mirror. Appointments are 45 minutes and therapy focuses on short-term, goal-oriented techniques. Supervisors are Jennifer Shroff Pendley, PhD, and Jennifer L. Curran, PhD.
Primary Care
The Primary Care practicum experience focuses on providing brief therapeutic intervention and consultation with professionals, including pediatricians, nurse practitioners, medical residents, nurses, and medical students, in a Nemours affiliated primary care office. One full day is spent in clinic, focusing primarily on short-term, goal-oriented interventions. The experience also includes utilizing brief screening measures (e.g., Wide Range Intelligence Test, Wide Range Achievement Test-4, Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing) as needed to clarify diagnosis and inform educational interventions. There may also be opportunities to participate in resident/medical student teaching. The patient population includes a wide variety of diagnoses including behavioral disorders, ADHD, learning disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, elimination disorders, as well as many concerns of early childhood including eating and sleeping difficulties. Supervision is provided by Roger Harrison, PhD.
Weight Management Clinic
Year long externship positions are also available through the Weight Management Clinic. This is a multidisciplinary clinic staffed with physicians, psychologists, nurse practitioners, exercise physiologists, and nutritionists. Externs placed with this rotation have the opportunity to work directly with adolescents presenting to our bariatric surgery program, as well as carry outpatient therapy cases. Clinical work centers around helping children and their families initiate and maintain lifestyle changes, as well as cope with environmental stressors and psychological co-morbidities. Opportunities for pediatric psychology programmatic development and research are also available. This rotation typically requires two days (16 hours) per week. The supervisor for this program is Jennifer L. Curran, PhD.
Attention Deficit Disorders Consultation Clinic
The Attention Deficit Disorders Consultation Clinic focuses on children and adolescents presenting with attention concerns. Often, referred children experience co-morbid difficulty with behavior, learning, and/or emotional functioning. In this experience, externs spend one morning per week completing comprehensive diagnostic consultations with families referred to clinic. Afternoons are spent providing follow-up feedback, where diagnostic impressions and treatment recommendations are shared with families. While most patients referred to this clinic do not receive a comprehensive psychological evaluation, academic screening is completed using the Wide Range Achievement Test-4 (WRAT-4). Additionally, patients complete the Conners' Continuous Performance Test-II (CPT-II), while parents complete behavior rating scales and the Disruptive Behavior Stress Inventory (DBSI), a new measure of parent stress. This rotation may also include opportunities to conduct therapy with children with ADHD and their families. The supervisor for the Attention Deficit Disorders Consultation Clinic is Steven Reader, PhD.
Empirically Supported Evaluation and Treatment of Disruptive Behavior Disorders
When participating in Empirically Supported Evaluation and Treatment of Disruptive Behavior Disorders, practicum students have two primary responsibilities. Students participate in weekly psychological evaluations of children presenting with behavioral, attentional, and/or learning concerns, and are responsible for administering and scoring tests and writing comprehensive evaluation reports. Tests used include widely used measures of cognitive ability, memory functioning, academic ability, phonological processing, and attention ability, as well as standardized behavior checklists. Additionally, students will also assist in concurrent child and parent Conduct Clinic groups. Duties include gathering baseline data, participating as a co-therapist for child or parent groups, and assessing outcome data. The clinic is scheduled such that evaluations are conducted in the morning, scoring and writing occur in the early afternoon, and groups are conducted at the end of the day. Individual and group supervision is provided. The supervisors for this practicum experience are Roger Harrison, PhD, and Steven Reader, PhD.