Neuropsychology Externship

This advanced assessment externship, in the Division of Neuropsychology at Children’s National Hospital, is under the direction of Lauren E. Kenworthy, PhD, and includes direct clinical supervision by licensed faculty neuropsychologists, pediatric psychologists and post-doctoral fellows. This is an unpaid training experience, though a stipend is provided to help defer transportation and onboarding costs.

Neuropsychology externs learn to administer neuropsychological tests, including measures of intelligence, attention, executive function, language, visual processing, learning and memory, social cognition, fine motor abilities and emotional adjustment, while psychology externs in the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders placement may focus on autism diagnostic assessment. Externs are taught to interpret test data, formulate diagnoses and conceptualize each patient’s unique pattern of neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses, assist with report writing, and participate in clinical interviews and parent feedback conferences when possible.

The externship is designed for doctoral students who are interested in developing advanced skills in child assessment, as well as those with specific interest in the specialty of pediatric neuropsychology or autism. This service works in close consultation with Children's National physicians and several multidisciplinary teams. An extern may be involved in presenting neuropsychological findings and discussing cases with neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, speech/language pathologists and teachers.

Number of Positions Offered

Approximately 20 externs will be accepted for the 2026-2027 training year.

Placement Opportunities

General Neuropsychology

Approximately 8-12 extern positions are expected in General Neuropsychology. This externship provides broad, general training in comprehensive pediatric neuropsychological assessment to children and adolescents. The extern receives exposure to a range of pediatric populations with neurodevelopmental (e.g., ADHD, learning disabilities, genetic conditions, etc.) and/or medical/neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy, brain tumors, stroke, etc.).

Our patients are typically school-age through late adolescence, with some opportunities to see preschool-aged patients and occasionally young adults. Clinical experiences provide opportunities to develop facility with:

Test battery selection and administration
Process-driven behavioral observations
Case formulation
Report writing
Involvement in clinical interviews and feedbacks

This externship is best suited to advanced practicum students or students with a strong interest/career goals in neuropsychology.

An additional add-on opportunity for inpatient neuropsychological assessment is available for an advanced extern with additional time availability.

Opportunities for bilingual/Spanish neuropsychological assessment may be available to a qualified student.

Possible Locations

Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery and Education (SCORE) Program

Approximately 2-3 positions are expected in the Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery & Education (SCORE) Program at Children’s National. SCORE providers evaluate, monitor and manage the care of children and adolescents with sport and non-sport related concussions (mild Traumatic Brain Injury; mTBI). This externship provides a foundation of training in general pediatric neuropsychology in a multidisciplinary clinic with a focused patient population.

Externs will be specially trained to provide focused evaluation and develop empirically based treatment plans for youth with concussion. This experience may be best suited to novice students and/or students with a particular interest in sports concussion or traumatic brain injury.

Possible Locations

Autism

Approximately 8-12 total positions are expected within the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD), which offers externship positions across a diverse set of experiences.

Evaluations may be full-day or half-day assessments, depending on factors such as age, medical complexity and referral questions. Apart from direct testing experience, externs can expect to gain experience with clinical interviewing, report writing, providing feedback and consultation with families. All evaluation experiences may include autism diagnostic assessment (e.g., exposure to, and potential training in the administration of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2, and/or the Childhood Autism Rating Scale-2). Listed below are the types of experiences externs may be exposed to at CASD.

Neuropsychological Evaluation. Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations for school-age children to young adults. Individuals seen either have an established autism diagnosis or a question of autism, and may present with medical, genetic and/or psychiatric complexity. These full-day assessments include a broad range of standardized measures and neuropsychological assessment tools. This experience is best suited for advanced students with prior evaluation experiences.
Targeted Diagnostic Evaluation. Targeted, abbreviated batteries for school-age children to young adults. Individuals seen have a primary diagnostic question of autism. These half-day assessments may include testing and/or screening of relevant areas of functioning (e.g., cognitive screener using the WASI-II, social-emotional functioning) and autism diagnostic measures. This experience is best suited for students who primarily seek autism diagnostic experience.
Infant/Toddler Evaluation. Diagnostic evaluations with toddlers. Evaluations may be multidisciplinary (e.g., with developmental pediatricians, speech/language pathologists). Evaluations include autism diagnostic testing and may include developmental assessment (e.g., Bayley, Mullen). These experiences are best suited for students with an interest working with very young children.
Developmental Evaluation. Assessment of young children with a history of developmental delays and/or a diagnostic question of autism. Young children may also present with medical and genetic complexity (e.g., Down syndrome, rare genetic disorders, congenital heart defects). These half-day evaluations may include a range of standardized measures (cognitive assessment, ADOS-2), as well as out-of-level, developmental assessment (e.g., Bayley, Mullen). Some of these evaluations are multidisciplinary (e.g., with developmental pediatricians, speech/ language pathologists). These experiences are best suited for students with experience with young children and an interest in developmental disabilities.
CASD Gender, Autism and Neurodiversity. Externs who pursue this optional elective externship position will receive training in the common intersection of autism and gender diversity. They will work with the Gender and Autism Program team and learn about gender-related assessment and characterization of intersecting autism/neurodivergence.
Supplementary add-on intervention opportunities. Manualized outpatient group therapy experiences in CASD may be available pending trainee experience, interest and availability. Groups typically address executive function skills, social skills, anxiety, and may include preschool, school and middle school-age, or teenager/transition age youth. CASD may have limited opportunities for training in individual therapy. Training in intervention is supplementary to the primary assessment placement; CASD is not offering a primary intervention track this training year.

For the incoming training year, three of our CASD supervisors can provide training in Spanish/bilingual evaluations. Applicants with fluency in Spanish, at any level, are strongly encouraged to apply.

Possible Locations

Research

Opportunities to participate in clinically-based research may be available. Staff interests include, but are not limited to, executive function, epilepsy, concussion, neurofibromatosis, childhood cancers, memory and autism spectrum.

Qualifications

All externs must be enrolled in a doctoral program in psychology. The general neuropsychology and CASD neuropsychological evaluation track placements are advanced child assessment externships, and thus are most appropriate for doctoral students who:

Are in their third year or beyond
Have completed coursework in assessment
Have had prior externship experience with testing and direct clinical experience with children.

The externship in the SCORE clinic and the CASD developmental and diagnostic positions are appropriate for doctoral students at all levels of training who may have less assessment training experience but have a particular interest in working with children and adolescents with autism or mild traumatic brain injuries/concussions or sports-related injuries.

Time Requirements

Sixteen hours per week is required (two eight-hour days). This externship is a 12-month commitment, although under special circumstances (e.g., internship start date, etc.), alternative arrangements can be made in advance. Scheduled days generally remain consistent throughout the 12-month training period.

Location

Our main clinical location is Children's National Montgomery County in Rockville, MD, located eight miles north of the beltway (495). In addition, some externs may see patients at the Annapolis, Prince George's County, Salisbury, Silver Spring and Takoma Theatre locations. Extern location(s) is dependent upon the supervisor and clinical population that the extern is assigned.

How to Apply

If you are interested in applying for the Neuropsychology Externship, upload the following to our online portal:

A letter of interest/cover letter
- Please tell us about your clinical interests and goals for the externship.
Your CV
A list of test measures administered to patients and number of administrations
Graduate transcripts (may be unofficial)

If you want to start the application and finish it later, please note your "return code" and enter it in the upper right of the page when you come back to the site later to avoid duplicate applications. You may apply to one or all tracks with the same application.

Materials to Be Emailed Separately

Two letters of recommendation

Please ask your letter writers to email their recommendation letters directly to Julie Newman, PhD, assistant training director, with "Letter of Recommendation" in the subject line.

Application Deadline

The final deadline for applications to the Division of Neuropsychology is 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2026. Interviews will be conducted in February and March. You will receive an automated notification via email that your application has been received and we will follow up individually if any additional materials are needed. We request that you not call to confirm the status of your application in general, though if you receive an offer from another site please email us before making your decision.

Contact Information

For more information, to request a copy of our training brochure, or questions about the Neuropsychology and Autism Externship, please contact:

Julie Newman, PhD, ABPP-CN, Assistant Training Director (General Neuropsychology)
Srishti Rau, PhD, Assistant Training Director (CASD)
Christopher Vaughan, PsyD, Extern Co-Director (SCORE)