Program Overview

School-Clinical Child Psychology, PsyD Program

The School-Clinical Child Psychology, PsyD program at Pace University is a combined-integrated program accredited by the American Psychological Association. The program aims to prepare professional psychologists as health service providers with expertise in school and clinical psychology.

Program Overview

This doctoral program carefully integrates field experience with academic preparation within a practitioner-scholar training model. Students are trained in psychological foundations, assessment and evaluation techniques, remediation and intervention procedures, and program evaluation and research. The goal of the program is to prepare professional psychologists who can provide clinical and education expertise and consultation to serve children and families across various systems of service delivery.

Program Prerequisites

• Background preparation in abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, experimental psychology, general psychology, learning, personality theory, and statistics.
• Courses or demonstrated competencies in principles and problems in education and curriculum development or methods of teaching and instruction.
• Psychology prerequisite preparation must be completed prior to entering the program. Students can complete some prerequisites (e.g., education) after admission.

Full-Time or Part-Time Study and Residency Requirement

Students may undertake the program on a full-time or part-time basis, but the program must be completed within ten years, and a minimum of three years of residency at Pace University is required, including one year of full-time study. Class hours permit field work and generally allow for limited part-time employment in the first four years of study.

Program Elements

The program requires 111 credit hours of study, a Qualifying Examination after the first year, a Comprehensive Examination typically during the third year, a School and Clinical Child Psychology distributed internship typically in the third and fourth years, a full-time internship typically in the fifth year, and a doctoral project.

Program Curriculum

Prior to receiving the doctoral degree in school-clinical child psychology, students must first complete a master's degree in school psychology or have been awarded state or national psychology certification. Sixty-nine hours of the first three years of study in the doctoral program generally correspond to the M.S. Ed. in School Psychology at Pace University. Applicants with graduate credits from other institutions may enter the program but this prior work will be evaluated for transfer credit on a course-by-course basis only after acceptance into the doctoral program.

Year 1

• Fall:
  • PSY 501: Introduction to School-Clinical Child Psychology I: Professional Attitudes and Behavior
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 704: Advanced Developmental Psychology
  • PSY 717: Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior
  • PSY 721: Tests and Measurements
  • PSY 725: Advanced Personality Theories
• Spring:
  • PSY 502: Introduction to School-Clinical Child Psychology II: Communication and Interpersonal Skills
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 703: Psychological Assessment I
  • PSY 703B: Psychological Assessment I: Lab
  • PSY 710: Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence
  • PSY 722: Intervention Tech II: Cognitive-Behavioral Perspectives
  • PSY 727: Learning Disabilities-Diagnosis/Remediation: Theories and Practice
• Summer:
  • Qualifying Examination
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 839: Psychoanalytic Theory
  • PSY 876: Multicultural and Gender Intervention Issues

Year 2

• Fall:
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 707: Psychological Assessment II
  • PSY 707A: Psychological Assessment II
  • PSY 715: Statistics and Research Design I
  • PSY 737: Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
  • PSY 738: School Field Experience and Seminar
• Spring:
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 712: Advanced Biological Bases of Behavior
  • PSY 713: Psychological Assessment III
  • PSY 713A: Personal Assessment
  • PSY 723: Advanced Social Psychology
  • PSY 739: The Exceptional Child: Field Experience and Seminar
• Summer:
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 720: Integrating Seminar

Year 3

• Fall:
  • Comprehensive Examination
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 711: Intervention Techniques I: Psychodynamic Perspectives
  • PSY 734: Consultation
  • PSY 750: School-Clinical Child Psychology I: Internship, Ethics and Seminar
  • PSY 759: Early Childhood and Infant Assessment
• Spring:
  • PSY 509A: Practicum in Psychological Services: Psychotherapy
  • PSY 716: Statistics and Research Design II
  • PSY 751: School-Clinical Child Psychology II: Internship, Ethics, and Seminar
  • PSY 777: History and Systems in Psychology
  • Elective Courses

Year 4

• Fall:
  • Required Courses
    • PSY 726: Evidence-Based Practice
    • PSY 821: School-Clinical Child Psychology Internship I: Practicum and Seminar
    • PSY 834: Doctoral Project Seminar
  • Elective Courses
• Spring:
  • PSY 810: Advanced Psychopathology
  • PSY 822: School-Clinical Child Psychology Internship II: Practicum and Seminar
  • PSY 835: Doctoral Colloquium
  • Elective Courses

Year 5

• Fall:
  • PSY 861: Full-Time Internship I
• Spring:
  • PSY 862: Full Time Internship II
• Summer:
  • PSY 860: Summer Full Time Pre-doctoral Internship

Required Program Electives (6-13 credits)

Students select their electives by advisement. Elective choices must include either PSY874 or PSY829.

• PSY 509G: Elective External Field Experience
• PSY 509I: Elective McShane Center Psychotherapy Practicum
• PSY 509L: PsyParent Practicum
• PSY 656: Developmental Disabilities
• PSY 680: Program Evaluation
• PSY 701: Doctoral Mentored Lab Class
• PSY 743: Advanced Seminar in School-Clinical Child Psychology
• PSY 802: Prvntn Programs in the Schools
• PSY 803: Advanced Psychometrics: Test Construction and Measurement Models
• PSY 804: Supervision of School Psychological Services
• PSY 828: Advanced Psychodiagnosis
• PSY 829: Family Interventions 1
• PSY 842: Crisis Intervention: Brief and Short Term Psychotherapies
• PSY 844: Advanced Topic: Parenthood and Parent-Child Relations
• PSY 857: Infant / Toddler Assessment and Intervention
• PSY 874: Group Interventions 1
• PSY 875: Brief Interventions
• PSY 849: Psychopharmacology
• PSY 848: Substance Abuse Counseling: Theory and Practice
• PSY 840: Neuropsychology I
• PSY 841: Neuropsychology II
• PSY 745: Bilingual Language Development and Disorders
• PSY 741: Communication, Language, and the Bilingual Child in the Classroom
• PSY 709A: Counseling the Culturally Different: Implications for Bilingual Psychological Service Provision
• PSY 703A: Practice: Limiting Bias in the Assessment of the Bilingual Child