Specialization in Autism Spectrum Disorders?

[Dr. Wednesday]

Hi all,

I am just curious...As a child psychiatrist, would there be a way to specialize in working with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)? If so, are there fellowships or certain places to go to residency where developmental disorders like ASD are emphasized? Or do you get equivalent training working with ASDs no matter where you go to residency? I'm not sure if you can subspecialize as a child psychiatrist, but I'm just wondering.

Thanks all!

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[notdeadyet]

This is probably self evident, but I would target residencies that do a lot of ASD research. They tend to have a lot of autism-specific clinics, some of which you can attend as elective time during residency. Ask if the CAP fellowship has allocated research and/or elective time (some have both).

One of my mentors early in was a biggie in ASD and there was tons going on so I got pulled into it and did an APA presentation on an aspect while in residency. There's plenty of opportunity if you go to a good program, especially if they have a nice research department.

Beyond that, hopefully the CAP folks can weigh in (unless they've abandoned us for the proposed sub-forum)....


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[TexasPhysician]

There is no formal subspecialization. A good child psychiatry fellowship will give you plenty of experience.

 

[vistaril]

Hi all,

I am just curious...As a child psychiatrist, would there be a way to specialize in working with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)? If so, are there fellowships or certain places to go to residency where developmental disorders like ASD are emphasized? Or do you get equivalent training working with ASDs no matter where you go to residency? I'm not sure if you can subspecialize as a child psychiatrist, but I'm just wondering.

Thanks all!

Im sure it's possible to do an autism subfellowship. Then maybe an adolescent autism sub-sub-fellowship. Then a sub-sub-sub specialty program where you gain experience treating adolescents with addiction and autism. Then you could take the addiction autism subspecialty boards.

 

[SmallBird]

Hi all,

I am just curious...As a child psychiatrist, would there be a way to specialize in working with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)? If so, are there fellowships or certain places to go to residency where developmental disorders like ASD are emphasized? Or do you get equivalent training working with ASDs no matter where you go to residency? I'm not sure if you can subspecialize as a child psychiatrist, but I'm just wondering.

Thanks all!

As a child psychiatrist there are a number of ways you can have clinical involvement with ASD. Behavioral symptoms of ASD are a prominent issue in both inpatient and outpatient settings and any good fellowship should equip you to be comfortable in managing these. Other ways are to be part of ASD evaluations, consulting to group homes, or doing therapy with these patients. These are less common experiences and you'd want to make sure your fellowship allows for them if you have a specific interest (although post fellowship it is unlikely you are going to be doing non medication treatment like pivotal response treatment or social skills training anyway). In my fellowship all of these are options; I have a strong interest in ASD and likely this will translate into me doing a good amount of medication management and comorbidity assessment as an attending.

 

[Dr. Wednesday]

Thanks for the clarification all! I really appreciate it.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

Most of the places I interviewed at had some degree of formalized 'autism experience'. My current program has an Autism clinic with a multidisciplinary component as well as regular lectures by OTs, SLPs, BCBAs, etc who specialize in treating Autism. UC Denver used to have a separate inpatient unit just for Autism and related disorders and is hardly unique in that regard.

As for becoming an 'Autism specialist', I think it's mostly a matter of exposure and interest. ASD was actually one of the things I liked least about CAP, and then I ended up doing an elective during general residency in Autism...mostly because it was the only way to get more facetime with my favorite attending. I was kind of surprised that that half day for six months exposure led to as much comfort as it did. After another 11 months of half day clinics with appropriate specialists and mentors I'm not feeling completely hopeless at it.

 

[shan564]

There are a few autism specialists here at WashU, and they get referrals from all over the place. You don't have to do a fellowship (beyond the child fellowship) - if you start out at an academic center and let everybody know that you have an interest in autism, you'll get a slurry of referrals and you'll quickly become known as the autism specialist. As has already been mentioned, there aren't a lot of people with a specific interest in ASD, so if you are one of the few, plenty of people will want to send you their challenging cases.

You should definitely apply to WashU for residency though. The head of the child psych department is an autism specialist, and there are a couple of others in the department who run pure autism clinics. There is also a large body of cutting-edge ASD research here.

 

[Dr. Wednesday]

There are a few autism specialists here at WashU, and they get referrals from all over the place. You don't have to do a fellowship (beyond the child fellowship) - if you start out at an academic center and let everybody know that you have an interest in autism, you'll get a slurry of referrals and you'll quickly become known as the autism specialist. As has already been mentioned, there aren't a lot of people with a specific interest in ASD, so if you are one of the few, plenty of people will want to send you their challenging cases.

You should definitely apply to WashU for residency though. The head of the child psych department is an autism specialist, and there are a couple of others in the department who run pure autism clinics. There is also a large body of cutting-edge ASD research here.

Oh that's cool! I heard University of Washington did a decent amount of ASD, but I didn't know that WashU was as involved with ASD. That's good to know!

 

[notdeadyet]

Look into UCSF. Lots of autism work and research. Current Chair is one of the biggies in the field. PD of the CAP program is also an autism researcher. Lots of opportunity for specialization in the residency and research in the fellowship if desired.

 

[Dr. Wednesday]

Look into UCSF. Lots of autism work and research. Current Chair is one of the biggies in the field. PD of the CAP program is also an autism researcher. Lots of opportunity for specialization in the residency and research in the fellowship if desired.

Alright I'll definitely look into UCSF!