Yale Child Study Center Psychology Internship and Postdoctoral Fellowship

The APA accredited internship at the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) was founded by Sara Sparrow, PhD in 1977. In 1989, the program expanded from a one year generalist training program to a two year program. In 2004, the program reorganized to support specialization within the Autism program, in addition to three other areas of strength within the Center. All interns and postdoctoral Fellows, regardless of area of specialization, develop general clinical skills in hospital and community-based mental health service delivery models. They receive their doctorate at the end of the first year of training and, through continued supervised clinical training in the second year, meet licensure requirements in most states.

Through training in (1) treatment and diagnosis of a wide range of psychiatric disorders in inpatient and outpatient settings, (2) diagnosis and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders, and (3) research on Autism, it is our goal to produce highly trained scientist-practitioners who remain committed to improving the lives of children with autism spectrum disorders through service, research, and teaching.

PROGRAM HALLMARKS

• History of producing leaders in the YCSC's Areas of Specialty
• Scientist-practitioner model integrating research and clinical work over two years
• Strong emphasis on psychological assessment
• Clinical Services to children and families in both traditional and nontraditional settings
• Intervention at multiple, interacting levels of influence
• Training in psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, family, and group modalities

TWO YEAR FELLOWSHIP
Year One

• Meet APA internship requirements
• Extensive clinical and didactic experiences serving children in inpatient and outpatient settings
• Clinical work in area of specialization

Year Two

• Meet state licensing requirements
• Extensive clinical experiences in inpatient settings
• Extensive clinical and research opportunities in area of specialization
• Numerous elective opportunities

Past and Current YCSC Fellows within the Autism Specialty Track:

Eligibility Criteria:
Applicants are recruited from across the United States through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) online application process from clinical, counseling, or school psychology programs meeting American Psychological Association (APA) accreditation standards. All candidates must have a plan to complete the doctoral degree before the beginning of their second year of fellowship.

To apply:
Applications are usually due in the first week of November each year and are submitted through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) online application process, which may be accessed at www.appic.org, click on "AAPI Online". The starting date for the fellowship is July 1 each year and requires a two year commitment.

For more information:
Please see the Yale Child Study Center Psychology Fellowship webpage.
Questions regarding the psychology fellowship should be addressed to michele.goyette-Ewing@yale.edu.

Yale Autism Program Postdoctoral Positions

In addition to the APA accredited Internship/Postdoctoral Fellowship at the YCSC, the Autism Program has a long history of postdoctoral positions in psychology with both clinical and research focuses. Several subsequent fellowships were funded by the National Alliance for Autism Research (now Autism Speaks), beginning with the Roland D. Ciaranello, M.D. Memorial Fellowship in Basic Research awarded to our own Dr. Tsatsanis in 1999.

The Yale Child Study Center also offers the NIMH Research Training Program in Childhood-onset Neuropsychiatric Disorders for interdisciplinary investigators in the field of child psychiatry, where fellows have the option of specializing in autism research. This two-year program is designed to provide patient-oriented research training to an interdisciplinary group of postdoctoral fellows interested in a broad range of scientific disciplines relevant to childhood-onset neurobiological disorders. Fellows within this program who chose to focus their research on autism spectrum and related disorders have included Drs. Klin, Dimitropoulous, Sukhodolsky, Robins, Bearss, Shic, & Westphal.

Over the past 10 years, our program has grown exponentially, resulting in an increasing number of postdoctoral fellows joining our group to gain expertise in a wide range of areas, including clinical & diagnostic evaluation, treatment, neuro-imaging, eye tracking, early detection, social cognition, infant & toddler development, adolescent & adult issues, evidence-based practices, and phenotypic expression across development. Many of the professionals who have come through our postdoctoral programs have gone on to become leading clinicians, researchers, and professors in the field of autism and related disorders. In fact, 8 of these former fellows are currently integral members of the Yale faculty.

Past and Current Postdoctoral Fellows & Associates that have specialized within the Autism Program: