Postdoctoral Psychology Residency

At least 40% of the resident-fellow’s time will be spent in direct service.

Psychology’s Autism Diagnostic Clinic prioritizes seeing patients with medical complexities (e.g., neurology conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, cerebral palsy, metabolic disorders, gastrointestinal and sleep disorders), genetic conditions (e.g., Down Syndrome, Fragile X, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, neurofibromatosis type 1, Turner Syndrome), and sensory organ impairments (i.e., Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Blind, Visually Impaired). The resident-fellow will be provided a range of clinical and didactic opportunities to develop advanced competencies in the specialty area of diagnostic assessment of autism and related disorders.

The resident-fellow will become knowledgeable and trained in current best practices for autism assessment (including the use of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition [ADOS-2]). The postdoctoral psychology resident-fellow will build their differential diagnostic skills as well as their ability to recognize and understand the impacts of language, social determinants of health, and co-occurring medical and mental health conditions. The resident-fellow will focus on building expertise in conducting culturally responsive, ecologically valid assessments, including strong clinical conceptualization and provision of patient- and family-centered feedback about strengths and support needs. Around 50-60% of the resident-fellow’s week is spent in activities related to diagnostic evaluations.

The training year is enriched by targeted therapy experiences focused on the assessment and treatment of a range of diagnoses commonly seen in our outpatient pediatric psychology clinics. These include Tic Disorders/Tourette Syndrome, Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Social Anxiety, Phobias, and Selective Mutism.

Resident-fellow will develop expertise in delivering evidence-based care to youth with complex medical histories, utilizing a variety of treatment modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT), Habit Reversal Training (HRT), the ComB model, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Selective Mutism (PCIT-SM), SPACE treatment, psychoeducation, and parent coaching. Additional opportunities may be available for the resident-fellow to co-facilitate group therapy and engage in teaching and supervision activities within the general therapy clinic.

Required:

• Participation in and successful completion of the ADOS-2 training. This training will be paid for by Phoenix Children’s and completed at the beginning of the resident-fellow’s training year.
• Presentation at Phoenix Children’s Neurosciences Grand Rounds and case presentations during Psychology didactics.  
• Advocacy Project
  • Develop mentored expertise in social media such as providing media interviews, producing blog and vlog posts.
  • Purpose of this project is to promote psychological science in ways that are easily understandable to the public.

Umbrella Supervision

• Resident-Fellow will take on a peer supervision role for the current pediatric psychology intern and/or practicum student(s).
• Supervision for the patients will ultimately be the responsibility of a licensed clinical psychologist on staff.  

Didactics

• Our program is a member of the Arizona Psychology Training Consortium. As such, resident-fellows are required to attend regularly scheduled monthly didactic training as provided by the AZPTC.
• These will be supplemented with the Phoenix Children’s Postdoctoral Seminar focused on professional issues such as contract negotiation, working with the Board of Psychologist Examiners, passing the EPPP, mentoring, and advanced topics in supervision.

Scholarly inquiry and quality improvement projects

• Several psychologists, including Autism/IDD psychologists, have active research projects with IRB approval which may allow for resident-fellow research engagement.
• Phoenix Children’s is dedicated to continued quality improvement of clinical practices which may also allow for resident-fellow engagement in evaluation and improvement of current procedures.

Committee Engagement

• Become a member of an interdisciplinary team of providers and staff members dedicated to improving the healthcare procedures experiences.
• Phoenix Children’s hosts an annual Autism Educational Summit for which a Planning Committee is established. This may be another opportunity for the resident-fellow to engage in community outreach and education.