JFK Partners Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

JFK Partners is a university based interdisciplinary training program with a commitment to the following goals for psychology trainees:

1. Teach trainees about the needs and strengths of persons with IDD  and their families.
2. Teach trainees a variety of specialized clinical skills for supporting persons with IDD , including psychological assessment, psychotherapy and consultation.
3. Teach trainees to work in an integrated fashion with members of an interdisciplinary clinical team.
4. Foster development of leadership skills and scholarly activities related to the field of IDD.
5. Introduce trainees to values involving inclusion, family and individually centered care, diversity, equity and inclusion, advocacy, and self-determination for persons with IDD.

Objectives:

1. The psychology intern will learn to administer (or gain mastery with) a variety of cognitive, academic and adaptive assessments for individuals with IDD, including ASD (ages 15 months – 21 years).  
2. The psychology intern will learn to administer (or gain mastery with) gold standard autism assessment measures with individuals aged 15 months – 21 years.   
3. The psychology intern will apply the basic tenets of evidence-based interventions to:
   • design teaching and educational strategies for persons with IDD to develop new skills
   • focus on strengths of the individual and how to best capitalize on these abilities as a means of forging positive social connection and supporting school and community participation
4. The psychology intern will learn to assess the complex co-occurring psychiatric needs of individuals with ASD/IDD, as well as deliver evidence-based interventions (individual, group, and family).
5. The intern will receive training on Facing Your Fears – a CBT group therapy program for managing anxiety in children with ASD, The psychology intern will co-facilitate  a Facing Your Fears group for autistic youth without intellectual disability (ages 8-14) and a research group of Facing You Fears adapted for autistic teens with intellectual disabilities (ages 12-18). The psychology intern will work on an interdisciplinary team with members from other disciplines, including occupational therapy and speech/language pathology, and child psychiatry to evaluate and treat persons with IDD, and to provide comprehensive oral and written feedback to family members. The psychology intern will support residents from the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry to gain knowledge around Autism evaluations while rotating through the interdisciplinary team in addition to collaborating with the resident on interview skills for the assessment of mental health conditions
6. The psychology intern will complete a scholarly project in collaboration with a supervisor on a topic related to ASD/IDD.

Facing Your Fears (CBT group intervention for treating anxiety in youth with ASD): The intern will co-facilitate at least one Facing Your Fears group.​​

Monthly Developmental Pediatrics Research Didactic seminar focused on conducting research related to IDD. This group also generates ideas for new research projects and presents findings from ongoing projects.

Monthly discussion/meetings within the wider Developmental Pediatrics clinic in which recent research projects/contributions to the literature are discussed.

Core LEND curriculum focusing on the assessment and treatment of ASD/IDD. This coursework is required for some trainees, but not for psychology interns. Some specialty topics and presentations may be of particular interest to interns (e.g. Sensory and Motor Interventions; Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine; Sleep Disorders in Children with Special Needs, etc.) and are available for interns to join.

Monthly ADOS reliability meetings within the Developmental Pediatrics community.

There are a variety of seminars, courses, and lectures provided by the UCEDD as a whole and available to any of the trainees. While some courses are required for interns (e.g., Key Concepts, Leadership Dialogues) as part of the LEND training program, other course are optional (see optional activities tab).

We use a mix of theoretical approaches, including cognitive-behavioral, developmental, and family systems theoretical orientations. Additionally, a major philosophy of JFK Partners is to promote culturally responsive, family focused interventions in inclusive settings. Each intern also becomes familiar with positive behavioral approaches for growth and change.

• Interdisciplinary and disciplinary diagnostic services
• Positive behavioral methods for skill building and behavior management
• Cognitive/behavioral therapy (individual and group-based)

The people referred to JFK Partners are of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, with a diagnosis (or a question of a diagnosis) of a developmental disability. There is a focus on diagnosis and treatment of people with autism spectrum disorder. JFK Partners serves people with IDD throughout the Rocky Mountain region, both urban and rural settings, with a variety of racial/ethnic backgrounds and with varying access to social and economic resources.

The intern receives supervision for all clinical activities, including psychological assessment and psychotherapy  Two. psychology faculty members are on site at JFK Partners (Drs. Judy Reaven and Audrey Blakeley-Smith) and three psychology faculty members are on site within Developmental Pediatrics (Drs. Lisa Hayutin, Lindsey DeVries, and Caitlin Middleton).

Assessment supervision is shared by several primary faculty supervisors (Drs. Judy Reaven and Audrey Blakeley-Smith). The intern will be supervised for 6 months by each of these supervisors. Supervision for assessments averages 1 ½ - 2 hours per evaluation, not including live supervision during the assessment itself. Supervision covers preparation for the assessment, review and interpretation of data, and written and oral reporting in addition to live support in co-administration of certain assessments.

Psychotherapy supervision is generally provided by one supervisor for the entire year, 1 hour per week. Live supervision is an important components of the supervision and faculty may observe telehealth sessions lives as well.  Each intern may participate in a psychotherapy group supervision (e.g., Facing Your Fears). Finally, interns are also able to help support the supervision of psychology externs on the team.