I am 18 years told and want to become a child psychologist specializing in autism?

Question

im 18 years old and am currently working with autistic children. i have become really interested in becoming a child psychologist. anyone out there have any experience with autism or child psychology? what kind of classes should i take in college?

Answer 1

first of all I want to say what an honor to meet you on here! My son has asd and is 2.5 yrs old. You might want to attend college at UNC ( university of NC ) they have TEACHH which deals with children with autism and other delays. NC is a hot bed right now , people move from all over the world to my county to receive the awesome services


Besides all that. I think you need alot of childrens education and special education. I would get in touch with TEACHH, they would be a great help


http://www.teacch.com/

I will be seing one of my sons therapist on monday and I can ask her if ya want to. If ya want me to just email me!
Im hoping once both kids are in school fulltime that I can go to school to be an occupational therapist

Answer 2

In college, depending on where you go, I think the psychology courses don't cover as much as I think you'd want to cover. In college, you'd probably want to major in psychology and take all the brain and behavior, psychopharmacology, developmental psychology, adolescent psychology courses you can. You might also want to think about how you want to work with autistic children. I am a school psychologist and I work in special education, mainly with children with severe disabilities which also includes autistic children within the severe context, and this is within the school setting. There are of course a range of classes for the range of abilities that autistic students have so there are plenty of opportunities to work with them and their families in the school setting. But I know that this is only one of the few ways that psychologists can work with autistic children and their families. So while taking your classes in college, you might think about how and where you see yourself working in the future, and then find the right Masters/Doctorate program that is for you and your goals. You should also try to figure out the emphasis of your postgraduate program. There are a lot of research-oriented programs out there, and if that's what you want to do, great. If you want to be more hands-on and practical, you will need to go more toward the applied side of things. And keep working with those children. Direct experience with them and their families will teach you a lot of things that your education never will!

Good luck!!

Answer 3

Well besides having a career you love, you're going to make a fortune if you live in California; probably some other places too. But, I know about California first-hand.

Take your time though. You're 18. Get your general ed. stuff done. Use those two years to make sure you don't want to change your mind. Use your school counselor and your college's psychology department to guide you to the right classes.

Bless you for the work you're currently doing and best wishes.

Answer 4

Any psychology classes and possibly even some special education classes. You may also want to take some sort of statistics course, because to do any work in psychology, you typically need at least a master's degree if not a Ph.D. These degrees require research and as such, stats is usually incorporated in some way to define data. Good luck! Definitly talk to college counselors, or check out your school's career center.

Answer 5

Unless a child psychologist is on this board, check with the college when you get there. The first two years of college are basically about completing requirements with a few dangles of electives/free choices to keep you hanging in there. The psychology department will be glad to guide you.

Answer 6

My son is autistic and he has 3 therapists that help him on a day to day basis... He has a speech therapist, an Occupational therapist and an ABA (applied Behavioral Annalist) therapist. Of the 3, the ABA and O.T. are the hardest to find.

They are on opposits when it comes to comming up with solutions to our every day problems.

You have ABA which is "drill drill drill", mostly at a desk
and O.T which deals with sensory seeking issues.

I use all there knowledge and suggestions to come up with something ballanced in the end.

So basiclly, which ever field you choose, you know it will be helping not just the child, but the whole familly.

All that to say... check out this web site...

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/8-05/Coulter8-25-05.html

hope it helps