School Consultation and Parent Training Track – Full year (1 position)
The Marcus Autism Center’s School Consultation and Parent Training Track provides an intern opportunities to engage consultation and training with school professionals and parents to increase the behavioral functioning of children with developmental disabilities. The School Consultation Program provides consultation, direct assistance, and professional development for school systems to help them effectively serve students with educational needs and behavioral challenges—especially those diagnosed with autism and related disorders. Interns provide a variety of behavior analytic services within the school setting aimed at both increasing students’ appropriate skills and decreasing aberrant behaviors that are disruptive in the classroom. In addition to school consultation, this intern provides direct service through the RUBI Parent Training Program. RUBI is an outpatient program developed and shown to decrease challenging behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) between the ages of 3 and 10. The program involves teaching parents a number of strategies to prevent, manage, and reduce occurrences of problem behaviors of mild to moderate severity while promoting skill development. Applicants must have a BCBA to be considered for this Track.
In the School Consultation role, the intern will travel to schools across Georgia (mileage will be reimbursed) and provide consultation or training in a variety of settings – from Head Start classrooms to classrooms designed for transitioning to adulthood with students 18-21. The majority of our classrooms are in rural settings in low income districts where private therapy services are scarce. Therefore, high quality education using behavior analytic strategies are the only services many of our students receive. We work with teachers and administrators to build classroom structure that is understandable to students, create IEP goals that are informed from direct assessment (e.g., AFLS, ABLLS-R), train teachers to utilize behavior analytic teaching strategies to reach those IEP goals, and conduct functional behavior assessments (FBA) and behavior intervention plans (BIP). Furthermore, we have the Behavioral Consultative Assessment Support in Education Team (B-CASE Team) Project. In the B-CASE project we train school-based professionals to conduct the full range of FBAs, including experimental methods (i.e., functional analysis, structural analysis, concurrent operants assessments).
In the RUBI Parent Training Program within the Severe Behavior Program, the intern will work directly with parents/caregivers to incorporate behavior analytic strategies into their daily life. Children are typically between the ages of 3 and 11 years old, and are displaying low severity problem behavior (e.g., tantrums, noncompliance, aggression, destruction). Under the supervision of the licensed psychologist, the intern will work with the parent/caregiver to define target behaviors, develop treatment goals, and provide training on behavior analytic strategies to reduce aberrant behaviors and increase appropriate behaviors. This is a manualized treatment program, comprised of weekly appointments with caregiver homework (e.g., practice the strategies learned in the appointments).
Interns in the full-year track will gain experiences in School Consultation and Parent Training. In addition to the School Consultation and Parent Training opportunities, interns will also be given the opportunity to conduct a minor rotation (1/2 day a week) in the Severe Behavior Program, Clinical Assessment and Diagnostics Department, or Feeding Department.
Severe Behavior Minor Rotations
The Brief Behavior Intervention (BBI) Program (minor rotation) is a weekly outpatient program. Children have a variety of problem behaviors of moderate to high severity, including aggression, self-injury, noncompliance, disruptive behavior, elopement, and pica. Targeted treatment goals are achieved through the therapist coaching the caregiver in completing a functional analysis and implementing treatment. There is a heavy emphasis on parent training, with the caregivers rehearsing skills both during the appointment as well as between appointments.
Long-term Follow Up (minor rotation) is a service provided to children after completion of day-treatment and short-term follow-up. Clients are transferred to long-term follow-up approximately 6 months after discharge and most clients are seen every 1-3 months. This program provides experiences in maintenance of behavioral interventions.
Possible Minor Rotations Outside of Severe Behavior
The Clinical Assessment and Diagnostic Department (minor rotation) is a multidisciplinary clinic that provides diagnostic assessments of individuals with a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders with a possible autism spectrum disorder. Children seen in the CAD clinic range from infancy to late adolescence with a focus on children ages 16 months to 6 years.
The Pediatric Feeding Clinic (minor rotation) offers interns the opportunity to work with children ages 9 months to 21 years who do not consume enough volume or variety of food to maintain adequate growth or nutrition. Children with this level of feeding disorder fall under the broader psychiatric diagnosis of Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
The Early Intervention Program (minor rotation) is an outpatient parent coaching program designed to support families of toddlers with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in developing play, communication, social engagement, and imitation skills. The program uses the Project ImPACT curriculum, which has been shown to build skill in young children with ASD and other developmental delays through integrating behavioral and developmental treatment strategies. The program emphasizes active parent participation within and between sessions.
The Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety program (minor rotation) is an outpatient therapy program. The program is aimed to treat youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and co-morbid anxiety disorders. This program is currently offered in an individual context via telemedicine. The clinic utilizes the Facing Your Fears Program, which uses cognitive behavioral principles to help youth develop their awareness and insight into their anxiety and/or fears and learn ways to effectively manage their symptoms. The program actively involves parents via a parent education component. This minor rotation is for persons with graduate practicum experience in delivering individual/group therapy to any child/adolescent with or without ASD.