Colorado School Psychology Internship Consortium

2-4 full-time positions

APS Primary Supervisors: Lynn Emken, PsyD, (lkemken@aurorak12.org), Brittany Greiert, PhD (bsgreiert@aurorak12.org), and Jeremy Wilson, PsyD ( jmwilson@aurorak12.org)

APS is an under resourced, urban school district that serves more than 40,000 pre-K to 12th grade students in 65 schools. The district has a very high concentration of poverty: 68% of students in APS are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Students come from 130 countries and speak 160 languages. Thirty-five percent of students are English language learners, with 78% of those speaking Spanish. Approximately 12% of APS students receive special education services. Interns will be placed in select schools within APS.

• Murphy Creek P-8 School has over 680 students in grades Pre-K to 8th. Murphy Creek P-8 School’s student population is 0.9% Native American, 5.2% Asian, 15.4% Black, 30.3% Hispanic, 38.0% White, 0.0% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and 10.2% two or more races. Just over 14% of Murphy Creek students are English Language Learners, 5.1% are Gifted/Talented, 12.8% receive special education services, and 35.5% are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
• Edna and John W. Mosley P-8 School has 398 students in grades Pre-K to 8th. Mosley P-8 School’s student population is 0.4% Native American, 2.6% Asian, 15.4% Black, 58.2% Hispanic, and 15.1% White. Approximately 38.2% of Mosley students are English Language Learners, 1.6% are Gifted/Talented, 17.9% receive special education services, and 71.3% are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Rotation Options in APS(interns will be placed in one of these rotations):

District Assessment Team [1-2 interns]

This rotation is part of a district resource to provide a range of services primarily related to psycho-educational assessments in the context of special education evaluations. Direct and consultative supports are provided to new behavioral health staff as well as to veterans. The team provides a continuum of support from targeted to comprehensive evaluation and encompasses cognitive, social/emotional/ behavioral, adaptive, and executive functioning measures, as well as data collection assistance and testing related to autism spectrum disorders.

High School Rotation [1-2 interns]

This rotation is at one of two high schools (Aurora Central High School or Rangeview High School). The rotation involves providing the full range of school psychological services with a diverse high school population. Interns work with an on-site school psychologist in this role.

Neurosequential Model in Education (NME) Pilot School Rotation [1 intern]

TENTATIVE ROTATION (Dependent on availability of supervision). This rotation is at one of the NME pilot schools implementing trauma-informed care for their students. The rotation involves the opportunity to learn more about the NME by being in a school where the school team partners with the NME team in supporting students with challenging behaviors. 

APS Bilingual Consultation Team (Spanish)  [1 intern]

TENTATIVE ROTATION (Dependent on availability of supervision).  This rotation is with the district team that travels to individual schools to provide culturally and linguistically sensitive bilingual assessment and professional consultation for ELL students in APS currently identified and/or referred for special education in a variety of settings. 

1-2 full-time positions

APPIC Program Code: 253012

DCSD Primary Supervisors: Brian Nutter, PhD (bnutter@dcsdk12.org) & Ryan Trowbridge, PsyD (ryan.trowbridge@dcsdk12.org).

DCSD is located in the towns of Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, and Parker, Colorado. It is in the southern part of the Denver metro area. The district is the third largest district in Colorado and serves approximately 68,000 students; and consists of 45 preschool program locations, 48 elementary schools, 9 middle schools, 9 high schools, 5 alternative schools, and 20 charter schools. Approximately 3,400 English Learners attend school in Douglas County in grades K-12, and 97 languages are represented. The top 6 languages in DCSD are Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Russian and Korean.

DCSD Intern Experience

• Primary Site: Interns are placed at a primary site for the first semester. The incoming intern is placed at a school based on their previous experience, their specific goals for the internship year, and this is decided in collaboration with the mental health director. They are placed at either an elementary, middle or high school.
• Secondary Site: Interns have a secondary site added during their second semester. This second school or rotation is assigned based on what would round out their experience. For example, the second school will be a school that provides experience with different grade levels from the primary school site or the intern will add an optional rotation the second semester (see below for more details on the optional rotations).
• Priority: A priority of this program is to make sure interns work with a variety of students of different ages and grades so that the intern is able to get a broad range of experiences with children at different developmental levels.
• Goal: This internship program is designed to set interns up to graduate as a well-rounded and highly marketable school psychologist.
• Additional Experiences: Interns also have the opportunity to participate in the following:
  • District Crisis Team - Interns are able to work on the team with experienced crisis responders in order to get an initial experience with this critical work when a traumatic event occurs such as a student or staff death.
  • BrainSTEPS Committee – Interns have on opportunity to attend a monthly meeting in which a highly trained multidisciplinary group comprised of school nurses, counselors, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and psychologists come together to review complex cases to support school teams with Traumatic Brain Injury assessment and intervention.
  • Professional Development – Interns are required to take training for both suicide risk assessment and threat assessment. Interns have the opportunity to take PREPaRE crisis response training, grief counseling, behavioral supports, autism supports, mindfulness, and many more.

Optional Rotations in DCSD

District Autism Team
This rotation is with the district team that travels to individual schools to provide support to school teams who need additional support with functional behavioral assessments and behavior intervention plans for students identified with autism. The intern is exposed to complex cases working with staff members who are highly trained in behaviorism and autism. Interns have an opportunity to work with an autism specialist who is Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) and receive supervision hours that would count toward the intern who might be pursuing their own BCBA credential. Interns can also choose this rotation for their experience if they are not pursuing a BCBA and would like experience with this population and type of work.

District Behavior Team
This rotation is with the district team that travels to individual schools to provide behavioral support to school teams who need additional support with both general education and special education students experiencing behavioral difficulties. Interns have an opportunity to work with a behavior specialist