PhD/PsyD Peds/child clinical neuropsychology Ph.d programs

[cuckooforcocopuffs]

Hey all,

Does anyone have any suggestions other than UF, UConn, and SIU-Carbondale that have POIs and programs with somewhat of a focus on child/pediatric clinical neuropsychology?

Thanks!

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[AcronymAllergy]

I want to say UT Southwestern might have some folks whose students work with kiddos.

 

[WisNeuro]

UW-Milwaukee has Bonnie Klein-Tasman, and the practicum placements are very good (e.g., MCW).

 

[CheetahGirl]

At one point in training, I wanted to go into pediatric Neuropsych, but I had much more externship experience in treating child therapy cases and not enough Neuropsych testing experience to make it work. So I would also make sure to aim for clinical programs, take courses in child psychopathology/ child assessment/ child treatment, go straight for the neuropsych placements, and then extrapolate to peds later in training. Some of the Neuropsych people may have better suggestions but this is what I encountered (and I'm finishing up training this year).

 

[CogNeuroGuy]

I want to say UT Southwestern might have some folks whose students work with kiddos.

Yes they do. They have a pediatric emphasis with a great connection to Children's Hospital of Dallas which is an APPCN accredited program that would set one up nicely for future board certification in pediatric neuropsychology.

 

[cuckooforcocopuffs]

At one point in training, I wanted to go into pediatric Neuropsych, but I had much more externship experience in treating child therapy cases and not enough Neuropsych testing experience to make it work. So I would also make sure to aim for clinical programs, take courses in child psychopathology/ child assessment/ child treatment, go straight for the neuropsych placements, and then extrapolate to peds later in training. Some of the Neuropsych people may have better suggestions but this is what I encountered (and I'm finishing up training this year).

Does anyone else have any other opinions or guidance or this? Like whether it is better to focus on just neuropsych in general for training, or focus just on child, or try and go peds neuro from the start? I would assume that going child-focus (not specifically neuro) would make it very difficult to get a neuro internship

 

[LETSGONYR]

Does anyone else have any other opinions or guidance or this? Like whether it is better to focus on just neuropsych in general for training, or focus just on child, or try and go peds neuro from the start? I would assume that going child-focus (not specifically neuro) would make it very difficult to get a neuro internship

I think it's important to try to get solid practica and neuro experience. There are a few big places for peds neuro- Kennedy Krieger in Baltimore, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, CHOP, Children's National in DC, Children's Boston, Mailman Center in Miami, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta... It would be great if you could get externship/practicum experience in peds neuro at one of those sites. You don't necessarily need a "pediatric neuropsychology" program or anything.

Overall, I'd try to get as much neuro coursework and practica as possible, and try to do at least practicum with pediatric populations. You'll also need to get therapy or C/L experience to be competitive for top internships, though, so I'd also try to do that with peds to show your dedication to the field.

Personally, I made sure I got experiences in peds neuro, and I did my intervention work with medical populations. I sold the narrative that I liked working with medically fragile populations, and after seeking out those experiences, that I knew more about which experiences fit my personality/style and which did not.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Folks go about the training in different ways, but in general, it's becoming more of the norm to start receiving the neuro training concurrently with the general clinical psych training. Whatever you do, just don't skimp on that latter portion (i.e., the general clinical psych training); neuropsychologists are still psychologists first, and our training in psychology is often what sets us apart from our colleagues in various settings and allows us to make unique contributions to patient care and program evaluation/outcome.

However, if you get no neuro training in grad school, then the cards will be stacked against you a bit, and you'll definitely want to get a peds neuro-heavy internship in order to be competitive for postdoc. If you get little-to-no neuro training in both grad school and internship, then your odds of obtaining a quality peds fellowship are going to be pretty small. Having a child focus from the start shouldn't automatically make getting a neuro internship difficult, it'll just make the more adult-oriented programs wonder if you're going to be a good fit for them. Personally, if I knew I were going the peds neuro route, I'd look to start getting both peds and neuro training in grad school, although would also want at least some adult experience.

 

[CheetahGirl]

In my experience, after training to assess/treat severely abused children and adults with severe abuse histories with comprehensive medical/social work teams, I became interested in pediatric neuropsych (but in my 4th year of doctoral training). At that point (after taking courses in neuropsych), I only had one clinical neuropsych battery (for an adult), but tons of experience in general psychodiagnostic cases and treatment for ages 3-80. However, I would've been much better prepared to apply for neuropsych internship positions (thus a possible neuropsych peds post-doc) had I completed two years of neuropsych externships. Most neuropsych internship require 5-6 clinical batteries before ever being considered. FWIW...