Developmental wannabe stuck in clinical program. . .

[clinpsy18]

Hey! I have just discovered this site and i'm already lovin it!!! I have just begun my clinical psyd program but I suddenly find myself really interested in developmental psychology. I want to stick to my program, but I would like to know what options there are to combine the fields of clinical and developmental psychology. Is this something far-fetched, or are there viable options that can meld the two together? What do you think? Any input or advice would be so much appreciated. Thanks!

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[JackD]

Hey! I have just discovered this site and i'm already lovin it!!! I have just begun my clinical psyd program but I suddenly find myself really interested in developmental psychology. I want to stick to my program, but I would like to know what options there are to combine the fields of clinical and developmental psychology. Is this something far-fetched, or are there viable options that can meld the two together? What do you think? Any input or advice would be so much appreciated. Thanks!

One option would be to work with children who have behavioral disturbances or developmental problems. That could possibly work.

 

[KillerDiller]

It depends on how you want to combine these two areas. Do you want to see clients across a wide array of developmental stages? If so, a clinical degree will poise you well to achieve this goal (in fact, you couldn't see clients with just a degree in developmental psychology). A clinical degree is also useful if you want to research the development of pathology. Many programs have child clinical specializations in order to train psychologists to deal with the disorders that typically arise during childhood.

If, on the other hand, you are more interested in normative development, such as language acquisition, infant attention, or Piaget's stages of development, then you may be hard pressed to find researchers who are doing this within a clinical program. It would be difficult to then get into this area after graduation as well.