Autism Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship Training & Experience

The Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD) at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH is offering clinical training in evidence-based ASD interventions. This two-year fellowship is designed to train clinical psychologists to demonstrate leadership in the areas of service, training, research and excellence in the provision of care for individuals with ASD and their families. Fellows will be provided a range of clinical and didactic opportunities to develop advanced competencies in the specialty area of ASD and to prepare for independent practice as scientist-practitioners. Training experiences will include extensive experience and supervision in:

  • Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) for toddlers/children with ASD
  • Brief behavioral consultation, educational consultation and adolescent transition services for school-age children and adolescents with ASD
  • Community-based care and in-clinic day treatment services for complex problem behavior
  • CBT interventions (group and individual) for children and adolescents with high-functioning ASD
  • Social skills group and psychotherapy group interventions
  • Triple P – Stepping Stones individual and group parent training for ASD
  • Sibshops™ for siblings of children with ASD
  • Peer-mediated social skills camps
  • Community education

Within these services, fellows will have opportunities to gain skills to improve language and social development, coping and emotional regulation, academic and daily living skills, as well as behavioral regulation. Providing this care directly to children, their parents or their educators allows for a well-rounded clinical experience. In addition, the fellows are exposed to opportunities to teach and supervise others, provide community education, participate in advocacy activities and conduct research. A focus on culturally-informed care is also offered, as the Columbus and greater central Ohio area has a large Somali immigrant population, among others.

Opportunities for experiences related to diagnosis and psychological assessment are available as well. Fellows will participate in a rotation conducting standardized psychological assessments that are aimed at documenting a client’s progress in treatment, current level of functioning and ongoing diagnostic status. Assessments are comprehensive in nature and include measures in the following domains: developmental skills, traditional and nonverbal cognition, academic, functional and pragmatic language, visual-motor, adaptive behavior, autism symptoms (direct and indirect) and general behavioral symptomology. Additionally, the CASD works in conjunction with the Child Development Center (CDC), which conducts more than 1000 diagnostic and psychological evaluations per year for children suspected of ASD and other developmental delays. Opportunity for fellows to do an assessment rotation at the CDC as part of an interdisciplinary diagnostic team may also be available.

This fellowship is one of the programs offered through Nationwide Children's Hospital Psychology Post-Doctoral training program. Other fellowships are offered in Pediatric Psychology, Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, Child Clinical, and Neuropsychology. Fellows across all programs participate in a joint seminar series, which focuses on professional development topics as well as clinical or quality improvement research projects.

Supervision is conducted by the team of licensed psychologists within each clinical program. CASD currently employs 11 licensed psychologists, eight of whom are board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs). Fellows will be exposed to different supervisors throughout the training experience, which allows for exposure to a breadth of perspectives and areas of expertise. Both individual and group supervision opportunities are provided, as well as a monthly CASD didactic seminar with fellows, psychology interns and practicum students. Fellows also participate in a cross-track seminar series with fellows in other areas of Nationwide Children's Behavioral Health Services. Additional seminar and educational offerings are available through the hospital, including Behavioral Health Grand Rounds.

Collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams is integrated into the clinical work across all of our program areas. As such, coordination, supervision and training opportunities with other disciplines are also available. Fellows may also gain experience in umbrella supervision of other psychology trainees (interns and practicum students) as well as other clinicians within CASD programs.