Hello,

We are currently experiencing technical issues with our survey. To ensure we receive your application materials, please email Alexis Williams at Alexis.Williams@choa.org with your resume, cover letter, whether you are completing an internship for course credit or supervision hours, and your top program choices.

Below is a list of our available programs for you to choose from:

Complex Behavior Support Program, Intensive Program:

• The Complex Behavior Intensive Outpatient Program is our most intensive service for the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. Clients attend services daily (Monday-Friday) for 5 hours per day for approximately 12-week admissions. Clients who are appropriate for this service engage in significant problem behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injurious behavior, disruptive behavior, elopement, noncompliance, etc.) that is causing harm to themselves or others or destruction to property. Students work directly with clients and learn to collect data, conduct assessment and treatment sessions as the therapist, manage problem behavior, physically transition clients, assist with caregiver training and may also assist with administrative tasks related to the program.

Complex Behavior Support Program, Outpatient Program:

• The outpatient programs in the Complex Support Program focus on the treatment of externalizing behaviors, such as aggression, self-injury, destruction, and elopement. Treatment involves weekly appointments and approaches include coaching caregivers on behavioral strategies (often following a manualized intervention: https://www.rubinetwork.org/); psychotherapy approaches to address emotional regulation and clinical mental health concerns related to externalizing behaviors; and crisis prevention and planning. We focus on a holistic and culturally sensitive approach that considers the diverse needs of each client and their families. Students should be in graduate training programs for either psychology, social work, or counseling and will overlap with licensed providers to gradually build independence in delivering clinical care.

Marcus Research Program: 

• The goal of the Research at the Marcus Autism Center is to better understand children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and to change the future of Autism through our various research cores. As a research intern, you will be tasked with data collection, analyzing and interpreting data using statistical software or other tools and implementing study procedures and protocols.

 

Multidisciplinary Feeding Program:

• The Multidisciplinary Feeding Program at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is designed for children with chronic and severe disruptions in their relationship with food. Many of the children we treat struggle to gain weight because they eat too little or no food at all during meals or because they rely on formula from a bottle or through a tube. Other children may consume enough calories but will eat only a few types of food. They often reject one or more food groups, like fruits and vegetables.  Our patient population meet diagnostic criteria for avoidant or restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), which negatively affects a child's physical, social, and psychological well-being.
  
  Common signs and symptoms of a feeding disorder may include:
  - Poor weight gain, weight loss or faltering growth
  - Dependence on formula delivered by bottle or feeding tube
  - Frequent mealtime tantrums
  - Refusing to eat
  - Distress and anxiety when trying new foods that interferes with social functioning
  - Inability to tolerate different textures
  - Extreme food selectivity or pickiness (eating fewer than 12 foods, rejecting one or more food groups)
  - Significant nutritional deficiency
  
  Trainees will primarily receive training in our outpatient clinics working directly under the supervision of a psychologist.  The caseload will involve a combination of follow-up support for families who have graduated from our intensive multidisciplinary intervention. The focus of follow-up involves maintaining progress achieved in day treatment and continue advancing their feeding goals to improve the child's relationship with food.  Our patient population ranges from 8 months to 21 years old.

 

Skill Acquisition Program: 

• The Language and Learning Clinic (LLC) provides clinical services and support to families whose primary concerns are related to the development of language and communication. In the LLC, personalized interventions are provided to meet the unique needs of children with autism and their families. Our interventions are based on the science of applied behavior analysis and reinforcement-based methods. All clients within the LLC receive one-to-one intervention services.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.