advice on child clinical psychology programs?

[evbean]

I am just starting the process of applying to PhD programs in Child Clinical Psychology. Does anyone have advice on which programs to apply to or any advice for child clinical programs in general? I know that some schools have child clinical tracks and some schools don't have the child clinical track but do still study child populations. How do you know if a school would still be studying a child population even if they do not have a child clinical track?

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[50960]

Are there child specific PhD clinical programs?

 

[evbean]

Are there child specific PhD clinical programs?

There are clinical programs that have child clinical specific tracks. This is where a section of the clinical program will be devoted to studying children. I've looked through the Insiders Guide to Clinical and Counseling Programs and there are a bunch of schools that have this, but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations.

 

[lazure]

Yes, I'm in a clinical-developmental program focused on children, adolescents and families. To the OP, you can PM me for the program name. Also, do a search on the APA website of APA accredited clinical programs - the child ones are listed separately.

 

[butterfli73]

I was looking for the same thing, and I found the Insider's Guide to be a good starting point. I looked at how many faculty members studied anything related to children, and which clinical opportunities mentioned children. If there were a decent number of faculty members (more than 1 or 2) and children were included in clinical opportunities I went to the website to further look at the program. This system worked well for me but there may be an easier way to go about it. I will be attending a school in the fall with a separate child track, which I personally found to be a better fit with my interests, but there were other schools that did not have a specific child track but that you could still focus on children. At least from my experience if you are sure you want to focus on children only then it might make more sense for you to find a program with a separate track or at least a specialization.

 

[Psyclops]

Certain programs ask you to specify, for example, Penn State offers an adult and child clinical track, you have to specify during application. I don't know of many more off hand, they weren't on the radar.

 

[LM02]

I have two friends who have gone through the child clinical track at the University of Miami, and both have been very successful.

 

[edieb]

Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge (lsu.edu) has two pediatric clinical psychology professors; both are very good.

 

[caffeinebean]

what specifically are you looking to study in grad school? internalizing disorders? externalizing? there are many great programs that may not have a child specific program, but may have faculty members who work in that area. for example, if you want to do child anxiety, you'd probably want to look to temple or boston u. if you're into externalizing disorders, berkeley and u of washington are great programs for that (UW does have a child clinical track).
u of denver also has a child clinical track. the san diego joint program has several faculty members that do child/adolescent focused work. if you let us know specifically what you're looking for, we may be better able to guide you. thanks!

 

[joetro]

I interviewed at Ohio State and Vanderbilt (Peabody) which both have solid child clinical tracks. Of course, where you apply will really depend on your interests.

 

[JatPenn]

The University of Delaware clinical program has several faculty involved in many aspects of child research, as well as access to many external practicum sites which cater to child issues.

 

[50960]

Cool, good to know. I went to grad school in the UK and I am not knowledgeable about this, but am glad to hear there are such programs; I am a child psychologist.

 

[Psyclops]

Cool, good to know. I went to grad school in the UK and I am not knowledgeable about this, but am glad to hear there are such programs; I am a child psychologist.

Interesting mod, are you American by birth? Or a Limey? They offer PsyD programs over there? What differneces do you see between the British and American systems?

 

[bigmood]

I've also found a few programs that say they have a "child track" versus those that have a "child concentration," the latter meaning you will be almost equally trained to work with children/adolescents and adults. personally, i'm headed to U of Florida where their child track is almost solely devoted to children and not adolescents.

 

[50960]

American 100%, the differences are vast and too much for a simple answer. We can start a thread if there is interest.

 

[Psyclops]

I'd be interested to learn about it. Especially if there were externship opportunities over there. Consider it started.

 

[clinpsychgirl]

I'll be part of the child track at my program. They have a variety of child-focused research opportunities. PM for more details.

 

[davie]

There's a whole directory of clinical child programs available. Check www.clinicalchildpsychology.org, and click on the Directory!

 

[layleh]

West Virginia University has a child clinical program with some excellent professors.

http://www.wvu.edu/~ccpsych/

 

[wdd]

DePaul in Chicago has a dedicated Child track:

http://condor.depaul.edu/~psych/clinical.html

 

[psychwanabe]

I was told by my UG advisor that Kansas has the best child program in the country. It's tough to get into but it looks really good.

One suggestion: even though you're concerned about getting into a program with a child track, don't neglect the match with a professor (i.e., don't apply to a University just because they have a child track). Match may be even more important in these instances since there are so many kid people in the applicant pool.

...just my $.02.