Internship Opportunity
 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Program

 State University of New York at Buffalo

Summer 2007 Internship Positions for Undergraduate Counselors, Aides, and Research Assistants

The Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Program in the Psychology Department at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, announces positions for summer internships for undergraduate students and recent graduates in Psychology, Special Education, Premedicine, Child Development, Social Work, and related fields. Interns will work as paraprofessional counselor, developmental aides, or research assistants in the Children's Summer Treatment Program (STP) for children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder (CD) or Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (ODD). The program provides treatment tailored to children's individual behavioral and learning difficulties and serves children ages six through twelve. The ADHD Program is directed by William E. Pelham, Jr., Ph.D., who is a Professor of Psychology at SUNY Buffalo. In 1993, the Summer Treatment Program was named as a Model Program for Service Delivery for Child and Family Mental Health by the Section on Clinical Child Psychology and Division of Child, Youth, and Family Services of the American Psychological Association. Additionally, in 2003 the STP received the Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) Innovative Program of the Year Award. Moreover, the STP has been adopted as a core psychosocial component of the Multisite Treatment Study for ADHD that is funded by NIMH, and the Early Risers Prevention Program funded by SAMHSA.

Interns will work from Friday, June 22, 2007 through Saturday, August 18, 2007. The hours of internship are from 7:30 AM
until 5:30 PM, Monday through Friday, and 7:30 AM until 5:30 PM,and Saturday, August 18 . Wednesday, July 4, will be an
observed holiday. In addition, counselors and aides continue to work with the children from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM one evening
each week while parents participate in weekly parent training groups. A limited number of $2200 stipends are available. In
addition, academic course credit can often be arranged through the student's own university department or SUNY at Buffalo.
SUNY-Buffalo is offering twelve credits through the psychology department for participating in the program. Arrangements for
credit may vary depending on the credit-granting department or university.

During the summer of 2007, we will be conducting several different types of STPs. One version will be our standard intensive behavioral program with elementary-aged children. Another, funded by an NIMH grant in which we are examining whether we can reduce or eliminate the need for medication among young ADHD children, will use behavior modification techniques designed explicitly to use with this younger age group. Finally, we will be conducting a modified version of the STP as a part of summer school for underachieving children from the Buffalo Public Schools. These opportunities all offer a unique and rich experience for undergraduates.

In each Summer Treatment Program), children and counselors are assigned to groups that remain constant for the duration of the program. Each group consists of four counselors (three student counselors and one lead counselor) and 14 to 16 children of similar age. Counselors implement the behavior modification treatment during recreational activities including basketball, soccer, softball, and swimming. Counselors also conduct sports skills training, social skills training, and problem solving training. During these activities, counselors provide incentives (e.g., giving points, rewards, and/or praise) to the children for positive behaviors such as following the rules of the activity, helping a peer, sharing with a peer, complying with staff members' commands, contributing to group discussions, and ignoring provocation and insults. Staff members provide consequences (e.g., taking points, removing privileges, or providing time out) from the children for negative behaviors such as aggression, noncompliance, lying, verbal abuse, teasing, swearing, interrupting, and complaining. Counselors will have opportunities during the day to plan activities, to design and revise individualized programs and targets for children's daily report cards, and to meet individually or as a group for supervision from ADHD Program clinical staff members.

The STP also includes academic components tailored to the specific program and ages of the children and may include academic
seatwork, computer-aided learning activities, reading instruction, and cooperative learning experiences. During these activities,
special education teachers and aides implement behavior modification programs that are designed to treat children's problems
in a classroom context. Teachers and aides manage the children's behavior in the classrooms using a class-wide token economy
that includes both reward components (e.g., receiving privileges or rewards for work completion and accuracy), response-cost
components (e.g., losing privileges for violating classroom rules), and time out from positive reinforcement. Public recognition
and praise are given for assignment completion and for work accuracy. Aides will be responsible for implementing the classroom
behavior management system; assisting the teachers in preparation of daily materials; scoring, grading, and recording of the
children's work; and data entry.

In the STP conducted as a part of summer school for underachieving children from the Buffalo Public Schools, counselors will
have the opportunity to implement a modified version of the STP described above in a community setting. Counselors will work
in groups comprised of a lead (typically a professional school staff member), themselves, and two high school students. The
children will attend school during the first portion of the day, and will then participate in the recreational program. This
program is a unique experience for the undergraduate counselors, in that they will have the opportunity to work in both the
classroom and recreational settings. It is also important to note that this program is shorter in terms of both treatment day
and length of treatment. As such, participation in this program offers a variety of possibilities who have limited availability
over the summer.

Prior to the start of the internship undergraduate counselors and aides will be required to memorize the operational definitions
of the categories used in the behavior modification program and rules for daily activities. During the first two weeks of the
internship, all staff members will undergo intensive training conducted by the ADHD Program staff. Students will learn the
goals and procedures of the program, and they will learn to function as paraprofessional counselors during the eight-week
Summer Treatment Program. During the internship, students will learn:

1. the etiology, nature, and prognosis of ADHD, CD and ODD;
2. the behavior modification treatment program (token/point economy system, time out, physical management, etc.);
3. behavioral assessment procedures for pinpointing and monitoring behavior change;
4. how to develop and to implement individualized behavior modification programs;
5. social skills and problem solving training procedures for children with peer relationship problems;
6. how to record behavioral and academic data and enter data.

Interns will have the opportunity to attend a weekly seminar on research and ADHD. This seminar will enable participants to
learn more about ADHD and to gain experience in the design and implementation of research in child psychopathology and
psychotherapy.

The Summer Treatment Program was conducted at Florida State University from 1980 to 1986, at Western Psychiatric
Institute and Clinic from 1987 to 1996, and moved to SUNY-Buffalo in 1997. Furthermore, over the last decade similar STPs
have been established and run in numerous other locations. The program has been translated into Japanese and has been
conducted for two summers in that country. The more than 1000 interns who have worked in the program have found it a
valuable opportunity to receive intensive training and to gain experience with children in a clinical setting and a means to
obtain letters of recommendation to help in their future careers. On the feedback forms administered at the end of recent
programs, approximately 90 percent of the students reported that working in the program was an experience that contributed
significantly to their career goals and that they would recommend it to others. Undergraduate counselors and aides in previous
years have come from more than 127 colleges and universities from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Forty-five undergraduate Counselor, Developmental Aide, and Research Assistant positions will be available at SUNY-Buffalo
this summer for undergraduate students and recent graduates. The selection process is competitive; thus interested
students are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Students who wish to apply for more than one position should
submit only one set of application materials. Position announcements, the 2007 application, and directions for
completing and submitting application materials are available immediately via the World Wide Web at
http://wings.buffalo.edu/adhd. To request application materials by mail, please send a letter of interest and a self addressed
stamped manila envelope, with postage of $0.92, to the Center for Children and Families - Summer Treatment Program,
University at Buffalo, Diefendorf Hall Rm. 106, 3435 Main St., Bldg. 20, Buffalo, NY, 14214.

In addition to the hub site in Buffalo, plans to offer STP’s this summer are underway at several other sites. Interested applicants should contact these sites directly for additional information.

Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital, Section of Pediatric Psychology, Cleveland, OH: Michael Manos, Ph.D. (216) 444-0075, http://www.clevelandclinic.org/pediatrics/psych
University of Alabama at Birmingham Sparks Clinics, Birmingham, AL: Bart Hodgens, Ph.D.; www.circ.uab.edu/Sparks/ADHD/adhd.htm; (205)934-5471.
NYU Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY: Howard Abikoff, Ph.D.: http://aboutoutkids.org.
Alternative Community Resource Program, Johnstown, PA: Frank Janakovic, (814) 536-5611, http://www.acrpkids.org/
Achievement Center, Erie, PA: Mary McIntosh (814) 459-2755, http://www.achievementctr.org/
Community Guidance Center, Indiana, PA: (724) 465-5576, http://www.thecgc.com/
Evergreen Counseling Center, Hoquiam WA: (360) 586-2800.
Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume-city, Fukuoka, Japan: Yushiro Yamashita, M.D.: 81-942-317565.