Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) – Adult Clinical Neuropsychology

The Adult Neuropsychology Practicum in the MCW Department of Neurology offers wide training opportunities and a supportive learning environment, thus drawing pre-doctoral students from local universities. Faculty and neuropsychology post-doctoral fellows together provide frequent individual supervision and consultation with an open-door policy; most faculty are also ABPP-certified in clinical neuropsychology. Initially, practicum students are trained on administration and scoring of an extensive number of neuropsychological tests. Such training is split into three tiers according to frequency of test admiration. Practicum students first observe test administration and then practice among themselves, with psychometricians or postdoctoral fellows until they are deemed ready to administer tests to inpatients or outpatients under supervision. To become independent under supervision, practicum students must accurately administer a test(s) to a psychometrician, who will simulate a difficult case. Practicum students are exposed a diagnostically diverse patient population including individuals with various neurologic (e.g., epilepsy, TBI, neurodegenerative conditions, and tumor) and psychiatric conditions. Opportunities to observe feedback sessions and conduct intake interviews under supervision when considered appropriate are available. Report writing is expected and feedback is provided by faculty and post-doctoral fellows. There are a large number of weekly didactics (e.g., neuropsychology seminars, journal club, fact-finding case conferences, and neurology grand rounds), which practicum students are encouraged to attend. There are also several lines of research that practicum students can get involved in, including research in epilepsy, TBI, and neuro-oncology.