Universal Psychology Postdoctoral Directory

The Trueman Fellowship in Autism Treatment is a post-doctoral psychology training experience based in the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH).  Fellowship training is 1-year, with an option to extend to a second year to allow the fellow to complete a leadership development project.  This fellowship was developed to provide a unique opportunity for advanced training in evidence-based treatments of autism, across a range of ages, treatment modalities, and levels of functioning, and is conducted in a department rich in resources related to professional development. Our goal is to train psychologists to demonstrate leadership in the areas of service, training, research, and excellence in the provision of care for individuals with autism and their families. This fellowship is offered as one track of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Psychology Post-Doctoral training programs, along with tracks in Pediatric Psychology, Child Clinical, Neuropsychology, Acute Care, and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities. All NCH fellows participate in a monthly cross-track didactic series, along with their track-specific seminars. The NCH post-doctoral training program is housed within the Division of Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine at The Ohio State University. Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric facilities in the United States, and is one of the nation’s largest pediatric providers of mental health services. The Hospital leadership has selected Behavioral Health to be the focus of the Hospital’s current and last 5-year strategic plans, which has resulted in the building of a Behavioral Health Pavilion that includes a specialized DD/IDD inpatient unit, and the development of the "On Our Sleeves" mental health support movement. The Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, one program of NCH Behavioral Health, employs 155 faculty and staff devoted to implementing a wide range of evidence-based interventions for children with ASD and their families. Services are organized into 4 clinical programs: 1) the Behavioral Intervention Program provides early intensive behavioral intervention for both toddlers and young children; behavioral and school consultation; and parent training for all ages; 2) the Autism Outpatient Psychotherapy Program provides individual psychotherapy, social skills groups, psychotherapy groups, crisis care, family supports, and school consultation to clients without cognitive or language impairments; 3) the Complex Behavior Program provides both day treatment and community-based behavior support service for individuals with severe problem behavior, and has a specialized program for high functioning individuals with autism without cognitive or language impairment who also have severe problem behavior; 4) the Adolescent Transition Program provides services such as pre-employment skill building, adaptive counseling, transition-to-adulthood consultation, and a Project SEARCH internship program. Additionally, CASD provides extensive Community Outreach services, such as ASD awareness, seminars, intake and psychoeducational services, group parent training, sibling support, summer camps, and recreational programming. CASD services are offered to individuals from 12 months to 22 years of age, across the range of the autism spectrum, provided to a variety of recipients of care (individuals with ASD, their families and caregivers, community providers and other professionals) and in a range of settings. Substantial training opportunities in telehealth service delivery models are available in all 4 clinical programs. The five domains of competency that are emphasized in this Fellowship are assessment, intervention, consultation and interdisciplinary relationships, scientific foundations and research, and professionalism. CASD serves clients from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, and trainees will have the opportunity to develop and integrate cultural identity and humility into their service delivery. This post-doctoral experience will allow for training in this broad range of service options to provide the fellow with an excellent and broad basis of treatment knowledge (year 1), and to allow for clinical specialization and opportunities to provide supervision and implement program development (year 2). Collaboration with the NCH Child Development Center allows for additional opportunities to become proficient in diagnostic screening and assessment, cognitive assessment, and work within a multi-disciplinary team. Fellows will choose an area of emphasis (Complex Behavior, Behavioral Intervention, Autism Psychotherapy, Adolescent Transition) which will organize their primary duties, with other diverse clinical experiences worked around this major emphasis.  Applicants must have completed all requirements of an APA-approved graduate program specializing in child/adolescence and disabilities experiences, and completed a one-year APA accredited clinical internship. See above for additional information about application process, and see the website for more information about the fellowship experience http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/autism-psychology-post-doctoral-fellowship.