JFK Partners is a university based interdisciplinary training program with a commitment to the following goals for psychology trainees:
- Teach trainees about the needs and strengths of persons with developmental disabilities and their families.
- Teach trainees a variety of specialized clinical skills for assisting persons with developmental disabilities, including psychological assessment, psychotherapy and consultation.
- Teach trainees to work in an integrated fashion with members of an interdisciplinary clinical team.
- Foster development of leadership skills and scholarly activities related to the field of developmental disabilities.
- Introduce trainees to values involving inclusion, family and individually centered care, diversity, advocacy, and self-determination for persons with developmental disabilities.
- The psychology intern will learn to administer a variety of cognitive tests applicable for persons with developmental disabilities including, but not limited to, the Mullens Scales of Early Learning, Leiter-Revised, Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-Fifth Edition. The intern will refine his/her use of more traditional cognitive tests, such as the WISC-IV, with children with developmental disabilities, and will learn and utilize inventories of adaptive skills such as the Vineland Scales of Adaptive Behavior and the Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised (SIB-R).
- The psychology trainee will learn to clinically administer one or more tests specifically designed for the diagnosis of autism (Autism Diagnostic Interview; Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule).
- The psychology intern will learn the basic tenets of positive behavioral interventions and use these strategies (where appropriate) to:
- design teaching and educational strategies for persons with developmental disabilities to develop new skills
- to design positively based interventions to address problem behaviors, based on functional assessment for persons with developmental disabilities.
- The psychology trainee will learn to conduct an assessment of socio-affective functioning and to design and carry out treatments (individual, group, family, and consultative) for persons with developmental disabilities.
- The psychology intern will co-facilitate a minimum of two group therapies for children with autism spectrum disorder. One set of groups focuses on social skills development for children with ASD and the other focuses on a manualized approach to the treatment of anxiety symptoms in children with ASD.
- The psychology trainee will work together as a team member with members from other disciplines, including pediatrics, social work, occupational therapy, speech/language pathology and child psychiatry to evaluate and treat persons with developmental disabilities, and to impart information to family members and others interested in the diagnostic information.
Psychological assessments: Each month, the intern will complete 2-4 (to be set with supervisor) comprehensive psychological assessments of children and/or adolescents referred to the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic of JFK Partners.
Psychotherapy: The intern will treat a number of therapy clients, ranging in age from young children to (occasionally) adulthood, presenting with a variety of problems and generally including persons with mild to severe developmental disabilities. The intern will also participate in group treatment and family treatment.
Educational activities: The intern is expected to attend clinic meetings, supervisory sessions, ongoing JFK seminars, and lectures, courses, and special workshops as scheduled.
Social skills group: The intern will co-facilitate at least one social skills group.
Coping group (CBT approaches to treating anxiety): The intern will co-facilitate at least one CBT group.
Scholarly activity: Every intern has the opportunity to work with any faculty member or supervisor at JFK Partners on a research activity. The intern also has the opportunity to develop his or her own individual research project.
Educational activities: The intern is expected to attend clinic meetings, supervisory sessions, ongoing JFK seminars, and lectures, courses, and special workshops as scheduled.
JFK Partners Grant Projects: There are numerous ongoing JFK grant projects in developmental disabilities in which the intern may participate, depending on time and interest.
Developmental Disabilities Research Group: The trainee may participate in this monthly seminar focused on understanding the current research in neuropsychology and neurobiology of autism and other developmental disorders. This group also generates ideas for new research projects and presents findings from ongoing studies of its various members. There are a variety of seminars, courses, and lectures provided by the UCEDD as a whole and available to any of the trainees. Although there is not a single theoretical approach that is utilized exclusively, a major philosophy of JFK Partners is to promote culturally competent, family focused interventions in inclusive settings. The main psychology faculty represents diverse theoretical orientations, including more dynamically oriented clinical child psychology, developmental psychology, and cognitive-behavioral psychology. There is an emphasis on child neuropsychology, as it pertains to autism and other developmental disorders, both in the research programs and in the clinical practice of the center. A developmental orientation and family systems perspective are main ways of understanding persons with developmental disabilities and their families. Each trainee also becomes quite familiar with positive behavioral approaches for behavioral growth and change. - Interdisciplinary and disciplinary diagnostic services
- School and community consultation
- Positive behavioral methods for skill building and behavior management
- Cognitive/behavioral therapy groups
- Family-centered consultation and advocacy
- Child and adult individual psychotherapy
The persons referred to JFK Partners are of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, with a diagnosis (or a question of a diagnosis) of a developmental disability. There is a particular focus on the diagnosis and treatment of people with autistic spectrum disorders. JFK Partners serves people with disabilities throughout the Rocky Mountain region, both urban and rural settings, from all ethnic groups and from all income levels. The intern receives supervision for all clinical activities, including psychological assessment, psychotherapy and school consultation. Six psychology faculty members are on site at JFK Partners.
Assessment supervision is shared by several primary faculty supervisors. The intern will be supervised for 6 months by two different supervisors. Supervision for assessments averages 1 ½ - 2 hours per evaluation, not including live supervision during the assessment itself. Supervision covers preparation for the assessment, review and interpretation of data, written and oral reporting.
Psychotherapy supervision is generally provided by one supervisor for the entire year, 1 ½ hours per week. Live supervision and supervision by videotape are also important components of the supervision. Each trainee may participate in a psychotherapy group supervision. Hal Lewis, PhD (Clinical Child Psychology; University of Denver, 1984). Areas of expertise: early intervention, parent counseling, ego developmental approaches, developmental psychopathology (including autism spectrum disorders), ADHD, pediatric TBI, gender disorders, program development and program evaluation.
Judy Reaven, PhD (Clinical Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1985). Areas of expertise/interest: the co-occurrence of anxiety symptoms and other mental health conditions in children and adolescents with ASD; cognitive-behavioral interventions with children/adolescents with ASD.
Audrey Blakeley-Smith, PhD (Clinical Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2005). Areas of expertise/interest: school based interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders, social and psychological functioning in school aged children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.
Terry Katz, PhD (Clinical Child Psychology, University of Denver, 1989). Areas of expertise: assessment and treatment of young children, child psychotherapy, diagnosis and intervention in autism.
Susan Hepburn, PhD (Clinical Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2000). Areas of expertise: diagnosis and intervention in autism.
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