Practicum Training of Doctoral Students in Psychology
Description of Training Program
The Marcus Autism Center has a long history of training postdoctoral
fellows and practicum students in the area of psychology. Dr.
Jennifer Stapel has been taking practicum students for the last 4
years and they have worked on the Georgia Evaluation Project, the Marcus
Evaluation Project and in the Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Center.
Dr. Stapel has two levels of student training in progress during the
2003-2004 year. She provides clinical experience and supervision to two
doctoral graduate students, a 2nd year student working on her initial
9-month practicum and a 4th year student doing a 9 month advanced practicum.
Dr. Stapel’s expertise is in evaluation, diagnosis, and making
recommendations that effectively bridge evaluation findings and practical
applications, thus these are the major focus areas of the training.
Initial diagnostic practicum students spend 16 to 20 hours per week with Dr. Stapel in the Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Clinic assessing children ages 3 to 21 with developmental disabilities such as ADHD, autism, learning disabilities as well as emotional/behavioral disorders such as depression and anxiety. The advanced practicum student spends between 8 and 16 hours weekly with Dr. Stapel. They are involved in the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Team, evaluating children ages infancy to adolescence as well as the Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Clinic.
Specific training involves triaging and reviewing cases, writing case formulations and integrative summaries, and providing technical assistance to schools systems statewide. The student will also have opportunities to expand their knowledge of assessment instruments, do specialized testing and work with other professionals in the care of children with developmental disabilities. Clinical areas of expertise acquired include:
- Broadening knowledge of specific developmental disabilities
- Expansion of knowledge base of resources and recommendations for parents and school systems
- Broadening knowledge of assessment tools and techniques for children and adolescents
- Provision of technical assistance to school systems about referral questions, evaluation instruments, case conceptualization
- Development and practice at providing oral and written feedback from evaluations
- Work with ethnically and culturally diverse populations