COMBINED SCHOOL-CLINICAL CHILD– Psy.D. 114 credits (as of 10/09)

Program Telephone #: 718-430-3945

Program URL: www.yu.edu/ferkauf/page.aspx?id=733&ekmensel=15074e5e_242_290_btnlink

Program Director: Dr. Abraham Givner

APA Accredited and NASP approved

This program is accredited by the American Psychological Association as a Combined School - Clinical Psychology program.

It was accredited in 2003 for a maximum, seven-year, period and will be site visited again in 2010. It is also approved by the National Association of School Psychologists. The program provides the students with the knowledge and skills to assume the role of a school psychologist or a clinical child psychologist in diverse settings. It is a full-time sequence of training that consists of four years of coursework, practica and field, culminating in full-time internship in the fifth year.

 The Program's mission is to provide doctoral-level training through an interdisciplinary model that concentrates on both school and clinical child psychology. Students are prepared to deliver psychological and psycho-educational services to adults, children, adolescents and their families in urban and suburban schools, mental health settings, early childhood centers and other schooling environments.

The training model is that of Practitioner-Scholar, with an emphasis on school and clinical child psychology, built upon a foundation in developmental psychology. Students gain more than 3,500 hours of supervised school/clinical field experiences in diverse schooling environments, hospitals and mental health facilities, usually in urban centers with largely multi-cultural populations. The program also provides specialized training in infancy/early childhood, family systems and adolescent psychology, and provides a specialization in bilingual school psychology.

While the Program's model is Practitoner-Scholar, we also adhere to a Combined-Integrative model, as delineated by the Council of Directors of Combined-Integrated Doctoral Programs in Psychology. The disciplines of school psychology and clinical psychology are integrated throughout the course work. At the same time the program provides students with a pedagogical orientation that is eclectic in both theory and practice. The Program's faculty members are trained in psychodynamic, behavioral and family systems approaches for working with children, adolescents (0-18), and young adults and the students are taught to work with all these approaches. Students are taught to respect the value of each approach and to integrate theory and practice across the three orientations. It is understood that eclecticism also has a hierarchical structure to it. We recognize that a value of this type of program is the high regard for each orientation, in its own right, that permits students to integrate an approach that is truly their own, but one that is also respectful of empirically supported treatments from all orientations.

Because the Program is accredited in both school and clinical psychology the program also requires students to complete one foundation course in adult psychopathology and another in adult development, as well as an externship experience that includes one rotation in adult psychotherapy.  In the latter part of the program, students may also elect a concentration in early childhood assessment and intervention, school-family collaboration, adolescent treatment or they may complete the bilingual extension.

The Program's goals are to:

1. PRODUCE GRADUATES WHO HAVE THE REQUISITE KNOWLEDGE IN THE CORE AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE DOCTORAL-LEVEL PRACTICE OF SCHOOL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY WITH AN EMPHASIS ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
   
2. TO DEVELOP STUDENTS' SKILLS AND RELATED KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR CONDUCTING PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENTS IN SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES, EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTERS AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES CENTERS WITH CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS AND FAMILIES
   
3. TO DEVELOP A PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS A DOCTORAL-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGIST AND TO BE AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN THE PROFESSION
   
4. TO PRODUCE GRADUATES WITH ADVANCED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN SCHOOL AND MENTAL HEALTH SETTINGS
   
5. TO ENHANCE STUDENTS' SENSITIVITY AND ABILITY TO WORK WITH CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FROM DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS
6. TO BE KNOWLEDGEABLE OF THE REALTIONSHIP BETWEEN RESEARCH AND ITS APPLICATION TO PRACTICE

You can find a list of goals,objectives and competencies by clicking on "goals and objectives" in left panel. (In development)

 
Students receive the Masters of Science degree in School Psychology, the Advanced Certificate in School Psychological Services and are eligible for New York State Certification as a School Psychologist after completing a 60-credit course of study within the doctoral program. Students are also eligible for the Bilingual Extension to the School Psychology Certificate that permits them to become “Certified Bilingual School Psychologists.”

The Max and Celia Parnes Family Psychological and Psychoeducational Services Clinic is our primary practicum facility. It provides facilities for assessment, diagnosis, psycho-educational remediation  and interventions with children, adolescents and their families by students under faculty supervision. Externship, internship and other field-based experiences sequenced and integrated with the level of training are provided in schools, hospitals, mental health facilities and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine facilities.  

            Five-year program- 114-117 credits (99 credits of required courses and 18 credits of elective courses)

This five-year program is for full-time students. The course of study includes didactic courses, extensive practica, and 3500 hours of externship and internship experiences. Students develop foundational and functional competencies that focus on work with children, adolescents and adults in schooling environments, medical centers, community mental health centers and other settings.

Program requirements are:

Core and Foundations – 30 credits:

Required Courses – 69 credits

To meet specialization requirements, students may select 9-12 credits from the following Program courses or others offered in the school provided they meet program conditions:

Multiculturalism and Diversity:

The program's focus on individual differences, diversity and multiculturalism is embedded through all course work and practica. Several required courses specifically focus on these issues and other electives may be taken to strengthen students' knowledge and skills.The program also offers a 15-credit New York State approved Bilingual Extension to the Advanced Certificate in School Psychological Services.

We have been successful in attracting ethnic and multiculturally diverse students as well as students who identify with other diversity characteristics. For example, 16% are students of color, 30% were born or raised outside of the U.S, 19% were born outside the northeast, 13% are “non-traditional”/older students, 42% are married, 26% have children, 8.8% self identify as GLBTQ, 38% had a prior career, 4.4% were professional athletes or artists, 37% are not Jewish.

The Bilingual Extension courses are:

Integrating Gender and Race/Ethnicity in Multiculturalism –3 credits (Required for Bilingual extension)     
Practicum in School Family Collaboration – 3 credits (Required for Bilingual extension)     
Advanced  Issues in School Psychology  – 3 credits (elective)                             Assessment of Bilingual and Multicultural Populations- 3 credits (Required for Bilingual extension)                                                                                                     Practice of School Psychology with Bilingual and Multicultural Populations: Seminar with Internship I  (Required for Bilingual extension)     

Working with Families from a Multicultural perspective (elective)
Sex Role Development – 3 credits (elective)
Sexual Orientation and its Impact on Psychological Intervention (elective)
Other Program approved elective

Externship:

Students are required to take School-Clinical Child Psychology Internship Seminars I - VI (0 credit) each semester they are on externship. Typically, a student will complete three, year-long (600-750 hours) experiences in schools, mental health facilities, hospitals or infancy/early childhood centers. Each experience is supervised by a licensed psychologist and will continue for 10-12 months, two or three days a week. At the end of the fourth year the student will have accumulated approximately 1750 hours of supervised externship experiences.

Internship:

The culminating educational experience is the internship that occurs after all course work has been completed and Research Project I and proposal for Research Project II have been signed. All students are required to complete a full-time internship in a school, mental health facility or hospital setting, lasting between 1500 and 1750 hours (the equivalent of one full year). Supervision must be conducted by a licensed psychologist and meet State regulations.

DISCLOSURE: The following information is provided in compliance with APA Implementing Regulation C20.

 Time to Completion of Program

Attrition Information (2001-2008)

Internship Information (2001-09)

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School-Clinical Child Psychology PsyD

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Externship/Internship Manual
PsyD Research Handbook 
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