Four of the required six practica must be taken through the School Psychology Clinic. Students are encouraged to take additional practica in settings congruent with their career objectives. Although a single faculty member will be designated as the primary instructor for a practicum, students will have access to all faculty for supervision and consultation as needed. The practicum taken during the summer of the first year is designed to prepare new students for the following year of clinical work. Students will serve as assistants in the clinic where they will be mentored in clinic operations, and they are expected to acquire some beginning testing competencies. Students then perform the second year practicum duties on a full year basis thus creating a “real world” work schedule. In addition, they will respond to emergencies or client requests during holidays and vacation periods as needed. The SPY Clinic has close working relationships with schools, which ensures that students develop a strong understanding of the nature of psychological services for school aged children.
Internship Requirements
Students are encouraged to pursue internships through APPIC. If a student elects to pursue a school-based non-APA/APPIC internship, it must be in an accredited school setting and should conform to the CDSPP internship guidelines (https://sites.google.com/site/cdspphome/2012guidelines). Regardless of internship type, the University of Georgia School Psychology Program requires the following:
1) Students must have the dissertation prospectus completed prior to applying for any type of internship. For students going through the APPIC process, the deadline for completion is October 15. In order for the APPIC form to be completed by the Training Director, the prospectus defense must be held prior to November 1st.
2) We require 2,000 internship hours. All students, regardless of whether completing APA/APPIC or other program-approved internship, must spend a minimum of 1000 hours in an accredited school setting.
3) Supervision for the 2000 hour internship must be provided by a psychologist licensed at the individual level by the State Board of Psychology.
4) Supervision of school-based hours must be completed by a doctoral psychologist licensed at the individual-level (from the respective State Board of Psychology) and as a school psychologist (with an active credential from the State Department of Education or agency that credentials school psychologists).
5) Students must register for at least 9 hours total of EPSY 9720 during the internship year and be registered each semester in which you are on internship. For a one-year full-time internship, internship credits should be distributed as follows:
1-2credit hours of 9720 the summer before you start (i.e., most internships will have a start date that falls before the beginning of the Fall semester) as well as 1-2credit hours of 9720 during the following summer to ensure that you are a registered student at UGA all terms during which you are on internship. You must also register for 3 hours of 9720 during the Fall term of the internship year and 3 hours the Spring term of the internship year.
Additional notes:
- Students may elect to complete a full-time internship over 12-months or a half-time internship over 2 years.
Local Training Opportunities
A partial list of sites where students have obtained practicum experience prior to seeking their full year predoctoral internship follows. Numerous other professional settings that serve as training sites are not listed.
Emory Autism Center
Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
Nadine Kaslow, Ph.D.
Practicum opportunities are available as part of a variety of research programs associated with Emory University affiliated hospitals and clinics. Experiences with neonatal intensive care, sickle cell, outpatient mental health, childhood leukemia, and numerous other presenting problems are available.
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Tom Owen, Ed.S.
Practicum and internship opportunities are available through the Gwinnett County Public Schools. GCPS, the 14th largest school district in the U.S., offers a wide range of services and has a diverse population of students and families.
Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS)
Dr. Mark Hartigan, Ph.D.
GNETS is a network of support provided to local school systems for students with emotional and behavioral disorders in the state of Georgia. School Psychology Program students interested in practicum and internship opportunities typically work with the DeKalb-Rockdale Program.
Neuropsychological Assessment and Intervention Practica
Department of Neuropsychology
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Kathleen O’Toole, Ph.D.
Training Coordinator
Through a colloborative arrangement with the Department of Neuropsychology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, students may participate in advance practica opportunities. In the Department of Neuropsychology, there are three neuropsychologists, one psychometrist, and two post-doctoral associates. The assessment practicum can be arranged in one of three rotations. The first rotation is outpatient, in which the student can assess children with a variety of neurological and developmental disorders. The second rotation is in Rehabilitation, which can be inpatient or partial-hospitalization. The inpatient component offers training in working with children with brain injury in a hospital unit setting. The partial-hospitalization setting, or Day Rehabilitation Program, offers experience with children with a variety of acquired brain injuries, such as traumatic brain injury, brain tumor and infectious diseases, who are well enough to be discharged from the hospital but not ready to retun to school. Finally, there is a combination epilepsy/outpatient rotation, in which the student can work with inpatients and outpatients who have epilepsy. These patients may be preparing for epilepsy surgery or having their epilepsy monitored as inpatients. If the student completes an assessment practicum and would like therapy experience, there are opportunities to complete a therapy practicum with teenagers with brain injuries. The focus is on cognitive and affective treatment of issues that arise as a result of brain injury. The practicum offers both individual and group treatment opportunities. This practicum is reserved for those students who first complete the assessment practicum.
Marcus Autism Center
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Nathan Call, Ph.D., BCBA, Director, Behavior Treatment Clinics
David Jaquess, Ph.D., Director, Pediatric Feeding Disorders
Alice Shillingsburg, Ph.D., Program Coordinator, Language and Learning Clinic
Through an ongoing collaboration with the Marcus Autism Center, students may participate in advanced practica with students with autism spectrum disorders, developmental disorders and children with feeding problems. Students have completed practicum rotations within the Behavior Treatment Clinic, Pediatric Feeding Disorder Clinic, and Language and Learning Clinic at the Marcus Autism Center. See www.marcus.org for more information about supervising faculty and services.
Practicum and Internship Evaluation
Students are required to submit completed Practicum/Internship Supervisor Rating Forms at the end of the Fall semester (by December 15th), Spring semester (by May 15th), and Summer semester (by July 15th), as applicable, of their clinical training experiences. Students must also complete Student Ratings of Practicum/Internship to provide program faculty with feedback regarding their training experiences. For students enrolled in 12-month internship training, Fall, Spring, and Summer rating forms should be submitted to the Internship Coordinator.
Download the Practicum/Internship Supervisor Rating Forms.
Download the Student Rating of Practicum/Internship Forms.