Pediatric Psychology Internship - Rotations

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry rotation is in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. It provides rich opportunities for assessment and intervention with children, adolescents, and young adults experiencing a broad range of psychopathology. Psychological assessment is an integral part of this rotation. Interns gain experience in conducting psychiatric interviews as well as performing diagnostic, intellectual, neuropsychological, and personality evaluations. This rotation provides the greatest opportunities for psychotherapy within the Internship. Interns are assigned to outpatient clinical settings and maintain outpatient therapy caseloads throughout the rotation. Interns are supervised directly by psychology and psychiatry faculty and consult with additional faculty members and psychiatry fellows about psychopharmacological interventions.

In the outpatient clinics, interns provide diagnostic evaluations and formulate comprehensive treatment plans. As part of the assessment process, interns are expected to collaborate closely with schools and other agencies to ensure accurate interpretation of evaluations and to assist in implementing and assessing the outcome of intervention programs. Interns also participate in providing feedback to patients, families, and other professionals and complete comprehensive psychological reports.

The experiences in the outpatient clinics vary and include participation in the following specialty clinics: 

• Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Program with Gail Bernstein, M.D. and Sasha Zagoloff, Ph.D.
• Neuropsychology Clinic with Jeff Wozniak, Ph.D.
• Early Childhood Mental Health Program with Katie Lingras, Ph.D.

Interns are trained in several empirically-supported treatments including behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), parent management training, and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Therapies are offered for children, adolescents, and young adults with internalizing disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, phobias and stress-related disorders. Interns will also be involved in providing DBT to adolescents and young adults. Therapy provided in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic includes outpatient individual, group and family therapy modalities.

Supervision from other supervisors may also be arranged. Supervised therapy experiences include:

• CBT for various conditions with Sasha Zagoloff, Ph.D (including Trauma-Focused CBT)
• CBT and parent management training with Katie Lingras, PhD. (including Trauma-Focused CBT and/or Child-Parent Psychotherapy informed treatment).

Interns are expected to complete an average of approximately 15-20 hours per week of direct clinical service delivery throughout the rotation (i.e., including assessment, therapy, and possibly consultation). Additional time is devoted to comprehensive supervision with multiple clinicians, a robust set of didactics, and medical documentation. Across the internship, approximately 50% of interns' clinical activity typically involves diagnostic interviewing and psychological assessment, and the other 50% involves therapeutic activities. Interns receive a minimum of three hours of individual supervision per week and participate in additional group supervision along with other interns, practicum students, psychiatric residents and fellows, and other staff and faculty. There may be opportunities for interns to participate in co-therapy with supervisors. Interns participate in Departmental and Division activities, including Anxiety Roundtable, Grand Rounds of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and other selected seminars and courses.

Interns who choose the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry rotation have the opportunity to see a broad range of patients in the outpatient clinic. This prepares them to work comfortably with the full continuum of severity of psychopathology and for a range of career paths including those in academic medical settings. Two of the faculty psychologists for this rotation were previously interns in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Contact Us

Katie Lingras, PhD, LP
(612) 273-9720
klingras@umn.edu
Experts

Jeffrey Wozniak, PhD
(612) 273-8700
jwozniak@umn.edu
Experts

Alexandra Zagoloff, PhD
(612) 273-9825
zagol001@umn.edu
Experts

Italics designate the primary supervisor

The Pediatric Neuropsychology rotation is in the Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience of the Department of Pediatrics. It provides a multidisciplinary diagnostic service for children with complex learning and behavioral challenges associated with neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders. Children are referred by schools, clinics, practitioners in the community, and health professionals at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital. The Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience serves the community, state, five-state area, and (for specific disease entities) the entire country and internationally. The clinical orientation of the staff is developmental. The approach to neuropsychology is to integrate knowledge from multiple sources (e.g., parents, schools, other involved agencies) to quantify functional deficits developmentally in association with knowledge gained from neurological examinations; diagnostic imaging; neurophysiological, genetic, and other laboratory studies; and medical and psychosocial history. The goal of this rotation is to provide training in pediatric neuropsychology which emphasizes the scientist-practitioner model and follows Houston Conference Guidelines. Although interns’ experience is primarily clinical, there are also academic aspects to this experience, including weekly didactic and related training events, opportunities to engage with research studies, and/or preparation for a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology. It is strongly preferred, but not required, that interns who participate in this rotation will have undertaken basic coursework and/or practicum-level training in child or adult neuropsychological assessment prior to the internship.

Neuropsychological diagnostic services are provided for children with a wide range of neurological or medical conditions that can affect brain development, such as: Tourette’s syndrome, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, infectious diseases, various forms of cancer, neurotoxic conditions (e.g., lead poisoning), or congenital disorders (e.g., cerebral palsy, agenesis of the corpus callosum, hydrocephalus). We also see children with neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, developmental language impairment, learning disabilities, and intellectual disability). Notably, many of the supervisors on the Pediatric Neuropsychology rotation have special expertise in care for patients with rare genetic diseases that have neurodevelopmental or neurodegenerative sequelae. Psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and conduct disturbances (especially in children with possible attentional and learning difficulties) and somatoform disorders are also commonly assessed. Diagnostic evaluations typically consist of a day-long (or occasionally a multi-day visit) to the Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic.

As part of the diagnostic process, interns organize and integrate information about patients and families including medical and neurological data, neuropsychological assessment data, educational information, interview observations, and other data and related history. The focus is on neurocognitive functioning as well as behavioral and emotional aspects of children’s functioning. Both environmental and biological factors are considered in evaluating children in the Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic. Interns refine skills involving neuropsychological assessment and assessment of emotional and social development through interviews, objective measures, and behavior observations. Interns are supervised closely on every case. Interns receive direct case supervision to promote formulation of diagnostic impressions and treatment recommendations. Interns then participate in feedback meetings in which the results of assessments are communicated to parents. Interns prepare chart notes documenting patient visits, complete formal neuropsychological reports for patients’ medical records, and consult appropriately with physicians and other involved professionals.

In addition to diagnostic assessment and case formulation, interns are expected to follow through with patients to facilitate use of appropriate resources in The University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital or the community. Many patients with neurological and neurodevelopmental difficulties are monitored periodically by both a pediatric neuropsychologist and a pediatric neurologist. This is especially true for patients who are required to take medications and for patients whose interventions require periodic reassessment. Because the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital is a tertiary care center, monitoring treatments of rare and complicated disorders (including transplants, epilepsy surgery, brain tumors, and experimental medication) is also conducted as part of both clinical and research protocols. Also, emphasis is placed on providing consultation regarding educational planning. Meetings with school personnel and telephone consultation regarding placement and interventions are important facets of the consultative process in this rotation.

Opportunities to learn about brain-behavior relationships from a developmental standpoint are abundant in informal and formal contexts on the Pediatric Neuropsychology rotation. Interns attend a didactic seminar in neuropsychology and present cases at the weekly Pediatric Neuropsychology Group Staffing. The neuropsychology seminar includes weekly didactic presentations by the neuropsychology staff or invited guest lecturers. Attendance at Grand Rounds for the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics is optional but encouraged.

Research opportunities are varied in the Pediatric Neuropsychology rotation. Ongoing studies address childhood inherited metabolic diseases, effects of bone marrow transplants, social-emotional development in various populations, and a variety of other topics. Interns may participate in a research project or a case study during the year, either independently or as part of a larger ongoing project led by one of their supervisors.

Interns are expected to complete approximately three neuropsychological evaluations per week while on the Pediatric Neuropsychology rotation. Days not in clinic allow interns time to attend training activities, devote attention to clinical management issues, and participate in other professional activities, such as psychotherapy or research. On the Pediatric Neuropsychology rotation, interns are supervised by all of the participating supervisors on the rotation.

Postdoctoral fellowships in Pediatric Neuropsychology are sometimes available following the internship year. Several interns have remained within the Pediatric Neuropsychology Division as postdoctoral fellows after completing the internship.

The primary Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic is housed in the outpatient Voyager Clinic: Pediatric Specialty Care adjacent to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. Evaluations are also conducted several days a week at satellite locations in two Twin Cities suburbs: Fairview Ridges Clinic in Burnsville and the MHealth Pediatric Specialty Clinic in Woodbury. Interns will need to be able to arrange their own transportation to participate in these clinics (e.g., personal vehicle, public transportation, rideshare, cab, etc.)

Italics designate the primary supervisor for each rotation.

Contact Us

Julie Eisengart, PhD, LP
(612) 624-7466
eisen139@umn.edu
Experts

Kelly King, PhD, LP, ABPP
(612) 624-9796
kingx780@umn.edu
Experts

Alicia Kunin-Batson, PhD, LP
(612) 301-2459
kunin003@umn.edu
Experts

Rene Pierpont, PhD, LP
(612) 625-3930
pier0053@umn.edu
Experts

Italics designate the primary supervisor

The Pediatric Psychology rotation is in the Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience of the Department of Pediatrics. Through consultation, therapy, and neuropsychological assessment, we focus on developmental and psychosocial aspects of pediatric patients. Because a variety of social, educational, psychological, and medical factors contribute to children’s total well-being, interns on the Pediatric Psychology rotation participate and work cooperatively with many subspecialty services within the Department of Pediatrics. The interdisciplinary approach is utilized because the behavioral, psychological, psychosocial, and medical problems are affected by children’s stages of development and often are too complex to be resolved by any single professional or discipline. 

Interns on the Pediatric Psychology rotation provide consultation, therapy, and neuropsychological evaluations. Various educational and didactic opportunities are offered at the rotation, internship, and departmental levels. In addition to interns, the Pediatric Psychology rotation also provides training for practicum students and post-doctoral fellows. Collaborative research projects with Pediatric Psychology faculty members are available but not required. 

Services Provided: Interns on the Pediatric Psychology rotation can expect that clinical work will be split between providing intervention (~4-6 hours per week) and neuropsychological evaluations (~2 per week).

• Intervention 
  • Outpatient therapy related to chronic disease management
  • Consultation (primarily on outpatient basis with medical teams)
  • Parent training and family management of chronic disease
  • Adolescent Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery preparation program
• Neuropsychological Evaluations 

Patient Populations: Patients are referred to the Pediatric Psychology program from the MHealth Fairview system, as well as from the community for a broad range of psychological concerns. We often serve patients who are managing acute and chronic diseases. Interns will work with patients who range in age from preschool to young adulthood, as we often support the transition from pediatric to adult care.

Patients are commonly referred for consultation or ongoing therapy from the following groups:

• Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care
• Pediatric Weight Management Clinic
• Endocrinology (e.g., Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes)
• Pre- and post-transplant
• Various other subspecialties treating chronic diseases (e.g., pulmonology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, neurology)

Patients commonly referred for neuropsychological evaluations have the following: 

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and other prenatal substance exposure
• Metabolic and Genetic Disorders (e.g., PKU, galactosemia)
• Pre- and post-solid organ transplant (kidney, liver, heart)
• Long-term follow-up of former NICU patients 
• International or domestic adoption

Didactics and Supervision: Interns participate in at least 2 hours of scheduled individual supervision each week, as well as rotation-specific group supervision for assessment and therapy each week. We also have one rotation-specific didactic presentation each week covering a variety of topics related to pediatric psychology and pediatric neuropsychology. 

Contact Us

Amy Gross, PhD, LP
(612) 624-9865
acgross@umn.edu
Experts

Amanda Kalstabakken, PhD, LP
(612) 301-3381
akalsta@umn.edu
Experts