Outpatient Rotation

The interns participate in five activities: (1) pediatric neuropsychology (6 months), (2) ADHD Clinic (3 months), (3) Rehabilitation Services (3 months), (4) Autism Clinic (6 months), and (5) inpatient consultation liaison (6 months).

The interns spend 13-15 hours per week in pediatric neuropsychology. They learn to select and administer neuropsychological test batteries to children and adolescents with various neurologic disorders. They have the opportunity to observe intracarotid amobarbital procedures, language and motor mapping, and participate in multidisciplinary team evaluations of children undergoing epilepsy surgery. They learn to write comprehensive neuropsychological test reports and conduct inpatient neuropsychological consultations.

The interns spend 4-5 hours per week in ADHD Clinic. They participate in evaluations of children and adolescents suspected of having ADHD, learning, and behavior problems. They administer and score a variety of tests and rating scales, and conduct differential diagnostic interviews with parents and children. The supervisor is always in the room with the intern during the differential diagnostic interviews, and feedback is given on the spot. The interns also learn to write comprehensive evaluation reports, with a particular emphasis on helping families advocate for school-based services. Interns who wish to learn how to conduct adult ADHD evaluations can exercise this option for several of their cases.

During the 4-6 hours per week in the Rehabilitation Rotation, the intern conducts consultation, follow-up, brief therapy, and assessment of children hospitalized for traumatic brain injury, orthopedic problems, spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, and other rehabilitation issues. The intern participates in the daily activities of the multidisciplinary teams on the inpatient Rehabilitation unit.

In autism clinic, interns participate for 4-6 hours per week in comprehensive assessments of children suspected of having autism spectrum disorders and/or developmental disabilities. They have the opportunity to become acquainted with common measures used to assess autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities. They participate in formulating and recommending educational and behavioral interventions for the children whom they have evaluated.

Interns will have the opportunity to attend school conferences and IEP Meetings to advocate for their patients during this rotation. Supervision will be provided to prepare for school meetings.

The intern continues to conduct one inpatient pediatric consultation per week during the Outpatient Rotation.

During the fourth to sixth months of this rotation, the intern may elect to do either a 10-15 hour elective by reducing Neuropsychology time. The available rotations and electives are listed earlier in this website. For those interested in research, this is the time when they can pursue their interests; this involves establishing a collaborative research relationship with a faculty member and either working in the faculty members’ ongoing research or developing a small research project in a similar area of research. For example, one intern arranged to work both with Dr. Ellis analyzing a portion of the data from her treatment trial of Multisystemic Family Therapy for diabetic youth and with Dr. Robin validating a measure of family interaction with youth who have Spina Bifida.