We are now welcoming applications for third and fourth year doctoral students in psychology programs for the 2024-2025 training year.
Externship Training
The Center for Autism Services, Science and Innovation (CASSI™, formerly known as the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, or CARD) at Kennedy Krieger Institute offers an externship in clinical child psychology, focused on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The primary goal of this externship program is to learn more about the identification of children with ASD. Doctoral externs will participate in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnostic evaluations and work toward participating in all aspects of the evaluation, including diagnostic interview, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) administration and coding, feedback, and report writing. By the end of the training year, externs should be familiar with the ASD diagnostic process, be able to conduct developmentally informed diagnostic interviews, independently administer at least one module of the ADOS-2, write psychological reports, and share findings and recommendations with caregivers. Dependent on the extern’s interests and schedule, opportunities to participate in short-term manualized parent training and short-term group therapy may be available. Additional supervised experience with the ASD population following this externship training will be beneficial to become fully competent in this area.
Our training model involves participation through the experiences listed below:
- Participation in ASD diagnostic evaluations
- (Optional) Participation in short-term manualized parent training and short-term group therapy
- Participation in didactic seminars
- Participation in ADOS-2 consensus scoring activities
Commitment
The externship position at the Kennedy Krieger Institute requires the ability to complete a 12-month externship and commitment of two full days (16 hours) a week. Placements are offered at CASSI in Baltimore City. The start of the training year is flexible (typically July 1 or September 1). Doctoral externs must be available for training on Mondays plus one other day of the week.
Compensation
Externs are paid a stipend of $2500/year.
Supervision
Doctoral externs receive, at minimum, two hours of individual supervision per week.
Didactics
Doctoral externs are also required to participate in weekly clinical psychology seminar meetings (on Monday afternoons), which include seminars on ASD-related topics and ADOS-2 consensus scoring activities.
Application Process
If interested in applying for the doctoral externship at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger Institute, send the following by email:
- Letter of interest
- Curriculum vita (CV)
- Two letters of reference from a clinical or research supervisor (emailed directly from the letter writer)
Please submit application materials by January 15, 2024 to CrossEl@KennedyKrieger.org.
Interviews will be held at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in February.