Clinical PhD programs with autism focuses

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Hey all,

I currently work for a study that does autism surveillance in New Jersey and would like to continue that focus when I apply to PhD programs. Some of the programs that I know have ties to autism (Rutgers, UConn) are extremely competitive! Does anyone know of any other programs, particularly in the Northeast? There are family reasons which are geographically hindering my choices of schools.

Thank you in advance, any help is appreciated!

Stephanie

Most of the people that I know who work with children with autism/do autism research are in school psych programs. Have you looked at any of those?

Not particularly, I'm actually more interested in autism outside the school and the treatment options people seek outside of ABA

I'm currently looking into school psych. programs and if you get a PhD you can work outside the school system in hospital, clinics, private practice among other settings. It currently seems to be the most popular type of psychology for autism studies. Of course you could always go the clinical route too! Are you interested in working with children with autism or adults? If children, I would try to limit your search to child clinical programs if possible. If not, I would look at the professors research interests to see if anybody has autism as a research interest.

My research background in autism was a big part of what got me into the field of school psychology as well. It's definitely more then just ABA and with a PhD you can work in a lot of different places. With that being said, I wouldn't recomend it to anyone who was absolutely sure that they never want to work in a school. That is still the focus of the degree.

There are clinical programs out there which have autism research, although they are harder to find then you would think, given the prevalance of the disorder. I think it's pretty common for developmental psych programs to do autism research too, but you are usually limiting yourself to research with that degree.

Dr. Matson at LSU, Dr. Romanczyk at Sunny-Binghamton, Auburn has a few people I think, and UConn has a few people

Originally Posted by hockey99

Dr. Romanczyk at Sunny-Binghamton

SUNY Binghamton.

Originally Posted by ReInventor

SUNY Binghamton.

Eh, I was more focused on remembering how to spell Dr. Romanczyk

It is a bizarrely common mistake...I attended a different SUNY and at a concert on campus the musician greeted us as "Sunny University!" Nah, it's not sunny in NY.

Just an FYI - I am completing my phd in school psych, am currently completing pre-doc internship in a hospital setting, and will be doing post-doc next year at a major R-1 university, focusing on autism/DDs. So I would agree with the other posters in at least looking at school psych phd programs if you are interested in gaining clinical and research expertise in autism/DDs.

Originally Posted by StephNeves

Not particularly, I'm actually more interested in autism outside the school and the treatment options people seek outside of ABA

A former cohort of mine is at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia with Dr. Shannon Johnson doing autism research. It's a clinical PhD program. Might want to look into it if Canada is an option.

http://johnsonlab.psychology.dal.ca/page1/page1.html

Speaking of Canadian programs, Dr. Grace Iarocci at Simon Fraser University also specializes in autism research.

Not quite northeast, but Virginia Tech several professors with an autism focus.
Angela Scarpa
Susan White
John Richey