Graduate Studies
Child/Family/Developmental Focus Area
- Overview
- Goals
- Interest Areas
- Possible Career Tracks
- Student Preparation
- Course Content
- Faculty
- Examples of Research/Practical Training Opportunities
- Clinical Externship/Field Experience Opportunities
- Proposed Governance Structure
Overview
The Child/Family/Developmental Psychology focus area is a domain of specialization building on strengths long existing within the Department of Psychology at the University of Rhode Island. The focus area interfaces child clinical, school, family, and developmental psychology, supporting research with individuals ranging in age from infancy to adulthood. Recognizing the importance both of social context - family, peers, school, culture - and neurocognitive factors, it places emphasis on prevention and intervention.Goals
The primary objective of this focus area is to develop competent scientists and practitioners interested in the investigation of child/family/developmental issues and the application of research to practice.Specific objectives are to:
- Provide students with a broad theoretical background in the study of children, families, and lifespan development.
- Foster scholarly expertise in one or more areas of research specialization within this field.
- Build core competencies in practical applications of science including critical components of service delivery, as well as creation and implementation of research-based policies.
Benefits:
- Specifying the parameters of the focus area will provide graduate students with guidelines for attaining this area of expertise.
- For Clinical and School Psychology students selecting the Child/Family/Developmental specialization, the focus area will strengthen their applications for internships.
- Encourage greater interest and expertise in research methodology among students and faculty.
- Even more importantly, the focus area will aid graduate students from all of the departmental programs who wish to launch future careers with a developmental concentration.
Child/Family/Developmental Psychology Interest Areas
| Academic outcomes | Adjustment |
| Adolescence | Aging |
| Anxiety disorders | Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder |
| Bullying | Child/Adolescent suicide |
| Child care | Child maltreatment |
| Child therapy | Childhood behavior problems (including severe behavior disorders) |
| Childhood trauma | Cognitive development |
| Coping | Death |
| Depression | Developmental exceptionalities |
| Developmental neuropsychology | Developmental psychopathology |
| Developmental theory | Divorce |
| Eating disorders | Emotion regulation |
| Family policy | Family systems |
| Family therapy | Family violence |
| Friendship formation | Health outcomes |
| Hunger | Identity formation |
| Infancy | Juvenile justice |
| Language acquisition | Learning disabilities |
| Lifespan development | Marriage/partnerships |
| Mental health consultation | Moral reasoning |
| Nonviolence | Nutrition |
| Parent-child relationships | Parenting |
| Peer relationships | Personality development |
| Poverty | Prevention |
| Race/Ethnicity | Reading acquisition |
| Reading disabilities | School consultation |
| School readiness | School-based mental health |
| Social-emotional development | Socioeconomic environments |
| Substance abuse | Violence prevention |
Possible Child/Family/Developmental Career Tracks
Graduates from this focus area would be qualified to serve in numerous capacities, including:| Academics | Research (e.g., Research Centers) |
| Clinician (e.g., Schools, Hospital, Mental Health Facility, etc.) | Policy-maker |
| And many more... |
Student Preparation
The typical student who focuses in Child/Family/Developmental would take three courses in the area of children, families and/or development. With program committee permission, up to two directed readings/special topics courses may be included in the total of three CFD psychology courses.When students prepare for their comprehensive exams, they should ensure that at least one question pertains to child, family, or developmental psychology. Alternatively, a published book chapter, journal article, or grant submission in the area of child, family, or developmental psychology may fulfill this requirement.
Finally, students are expected to have several research and applied experiences (15 weeks in duration) with a focus on children, families, and development.
These could include: Research with faculty, externships, practica, and internships.
Child/Family/Developmental Psychology Course Content
Child:
| PSY 647 (Spring) | Child Therapy |
| PSY 672 (Fall and Spring) | Child Health Practicum |
| PSY 663 (Fall) | Child/Adolescent Personality Assessment |
| PSY 668 (Spring) | School Psychological Consultation |
| PSY 683 (Spring) | Psychology of the Exceptional Child |
Family:
| PSY 672 (Fall and Spring) | Family Therapy Practicum |
| PSY 644 (Not currently offered) | Family Therapy Course |
| HDF 530 (Not currently offered) | Advanced Family Studies |
| HDF 533 (Fall) | Family Policy and Program Evaluation |
| HDF 535 (Fall) | Families Under Stress: Coping & Adaptation |
| HDF 563/564 (Fall) | Marital and Family Therapy |
| HDF 569 (Spring) | Assessment in Family Therapy |
| HDF 570 (Spring) | Research in Hum. Dev. and Family Studies |
Human Development:
| PSY 603 (Fall) | Development |
| PSY 665 (Spring) | Developmental Psychopathology |
| PSY 688 (Not currently offered) | Developmental Neuropsychology |
| HDF 500 (Fall) | Human Development Seminar |
| HDF 501/511 (Fall) | Infant & Early Child Development |
| HDF 503/512 (Not currently offered) | Middle Child & Adolescent Development |
| HDF 505 (Spring) | Human Sexuality & Counseling |
| HDF 513 (Not currently offered) | Seminar in Adult Development |
| HDF 514/520 (Fall) | Seminar in Older Adulthood |
| HDF 568 (Spring) | College Student Development and Learning |
| NUR 525 (Not currently offered) | Spirituality of Loss & Death for Help. Profess. |
Learning/Education/Language:
| CMD 564 (Spring) | Lang. Disorders in School-Aged Children |
| CMD 584 (Fall) | Lang. Disorders in Devel. Young Children |
| CMD 585 (Fall) | Language Disorders in Adults |
| CMD 593 (Not currently offered) | Multicultural Issues in Commun. Disorders |
| PSY 540 (Not currently offered) | Learning Disabilities: Assess. & Intervention |
| PSY 544 (Fall) | Reading Acquisition and Reading Disability: Research and Implications for Practice |
| PSY 602 (Not currently offered) | Learning & Motivation |
| HDF 507 (Not currently offered) | Seminar in Early Childhood Education |
Child/Family/Developmental Faculty in Psychology
- Susan Brady, Ph.D. (School)
- Paul Bueno de Mesquita, Ph.D. (School)
- Ellen Flannery-Schroeder, Ph.D. (Clinical)
- Ann Varna Garis, Ph.D. (Interim Director of the Psychological Consultation Center)
- Kathleen Gorman, Ph.D. (Behavioral Sciences/Developmental)
- Robert Laforge, Sc.D. (Behavioral Sciences)
- Susan Loftus, Ph.D. (School)
- Lyn Stein, Sc.D. (Clinical)
- Gary Stoner, Ph.D. (School)
- Theodore A. Walls, Ph.D. (Behavioral Sciences)
- Lisa Weyandt, Ph.D. (School)
- W. Grant Willis, Ph.D. (School)
Other Child/Family/Developmental Faculty
- Jerome Adams, Ph.D. (Human Development and Family)
- Sue K. Adams, Ph.D. (Human Development and Family)
Examples of Research/Practical Training Opportunities
- Working with youth involved in the juvenile justice system
- Coalitions involved in the development and promotion of policies affecting low-income individuals and families
- Evaluation of policies and programs that target low-income families including child care, health care, housing, and food assistance
- Practicum in Reading and Response to Instruction
- Treatment outcome studies of cognitive-behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety disorders
- Parenting variables and their relationship to the onset and maintenance of childhood anxiety disorders
Clinical Externship/Field Experience Opportunities
Clinical externship experiences are available in working with youth involved in the juvenile justice system, psychological testing with children, consultation in schools, classroom interventions, as well as individual and group psychotherapy with children in a variety of settings (e.g., inpatient, partial hospitalization, outpatient). Below is a non-exhaustive list of possible externship and practicum placements:- Hasbro Children’s Hospital
- The Bradley School
- Bradley Hospital
- Psychological Centers
- Butler Hospital
- Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island
- The Groden Center
- Sargent Rehabilitation Center
- Providence Community Health Centers – Allen Berry
- Rhode Island Training School
- Rhode Island Elementary, Middle, and High Schools - public and private (e.g., Central Falls, Providence School Districts; Monsignor Clark Catholic Elementary)
Proposed Governance Structure
Ellen Flannery-Schroeder, Ph.D., Chair
Research and clinical faculty and staff in psychology and in other closely-related departments may affiliate with the Child/Family/Developmental focus area upon request. Graduate students will be included as representatives. Focus area meetings will be scheduled at least once per semester.
