Advanced Child & Adolescent Development

PREREQUISITE:  None

This doctoral course prepares students to lead advanced counseling services for children and adolescents in schools, clinics, and integrated care settings. Students will learn how child development and mental health challenges connect, while building skills in advanced assessment and diagnosis, case planning, and evidence-based interventions that are culturally responsive. The course also covers systems, equity, ethics, and law, with a focus on working across families, schools, and communities while following professional and educational standards. Students gain leadership and supervision skills, learn to evaluate programs, and practice strategies for scaling interventions effectively. Through field-based case studies and a capstone project, learners apply research to create real, measurable improvements for youth and families.

UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, THE STUDENT WILL BE COMPETENT IN:

• Understanding development and mental health by learning how typical development and mental health problems connect across ages, and practice in telling the difference between normal behaviors and clinical concerns.
• Making accurate diagnoses by using information from multiple sources (parents, teachers, tests, etc.) and applying DSM-5-TR criteria to make accurate diagnoses, including spotting overlapping or look-alike conditions like trauma or sleep issues.
• Designing and sharing assessments by choosing reliable tests, understanding what makes them valid, and writing clear reports that combine findings into practical, family-friendly recommendations.
• Using data to guide care by setting measurable goals, tracking student progress with the right tools, and using data to adjust treatment plans when needed.
• Planning interventions with evidence-based tools by selecting and adapting proven strategies (like exposure therapy, parent training, or trauma-focused CBT) to meet student needs, while also building safety and crisis plans.
• Building whole-child care plans by combining information from students, families, schools, and healthcare providers into one case plan that guides coordinated support and referrals.
• Working across systems by leading collaboration between families, schools, and clinics, making clear plans that define each person’s role, responsibilities, and follow-up steps.
• Promoting equity and inclusion by looking at data to spot gaps in access or outcomes, identify risks, and adapt interventions so they are culturally and linguistically responsive.
• Applying ethics and law by practicing how to handle consent, confidentiality, mandated reporting, telehealth, and documentation, and writing decision memos that can stand up to review.
• Supervising and leading others by providing fair and culturally aware supervision, evaluating skills, supporting growth through feedback or remediation, and leading continuous quality improvement efforts.
• Supervising and leading others by providing fair and culturally aware supervision, evaluating skills, supporting growth through feedback or remediation, and leading continuous quality improvement efforts.
• Using AI responsibly by creating workflows where AI supports but doesn’t replace human judgment, checks for bias, privacy, and security risks, and writing clear guidelines to ensure fair and ethical use.

ACQUIRED SKILLS:

• Developmentally Informed Diagnosis & Case Planning – Learn how to use information from different sources and reliable tools to assess children and teens. Practice telling the difference between normal development and real mental health concerns, make accurate diagnoses, and create case plans that fit each student’s developmental stage.
• Evidence-Based Intervention Planning – Choose and adapt proven interventions for young people, involve families, schools, and communities, and set clear, measurable goals. Use progress checks and data to see if the plan is working, make adjustments as needed, and ensure the approach is fair and culturally responsive.
• Systems Leadership, Supervision & Program Design – Learn how to lead teamwork across schools, families, and health systems while following laws, ethics, and equity principles. Gain skills in supervising others, and practice designing, evaluating, and improving programs using tools like logic models, progress dashboards, and continuous improvement cycles.