Blank Children’s Hospital | National Psychology Training Consortium

Mission: Our purpose is a relentless pursuit of every child’s potential. Our mission is to revolutionize developmental and psychological service provision through accessibility, value, effectiveness and efficiency, innovation, and empowerment.

UnityPoint Health is an integrated health system providing care throughout Iowa, western Illinois, and southern Wisconsin in not-for-profit hospitals, clinics, and home health settings. Blank Children’s Hospital is an entity of UnityPoint Health. Blank Children’s Hospital has the distinction of being the only civilian hospital built during World War II. At that time, Iowa had the highest rate of polio among children of any state, but was one of only a few states that did not have a children’s hospital to care for them. The A.H. and Anna Blank family built the original hospital in 1944, in honor of their son Raymond who died at a young age, to address the health care needs of Iowa’s ill and injured children – and that legacy has continued for 80 years and counting.

The recently renamed Deb and Bob Pulver Center at Blank Children’s Hospital is located in West Des Moines, a short drive from the Blank Children’s Hospital main campus. We are co-located with the STAR Center, which provides child advocacy and support for children who are drug-endangered, in foster care, and/or require support in growth and nutrition. The Pulver Center was built in 2020 and has an array of services available, including Psychology (assessment/diagnostics, behavioral parent training, consultation, upcoming expansion of intensive behavioral services), Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, medication management in the context of autism and developmental disabilities, and NICU follow-up.

We are a multidisciplinary center consisting of two licensed psychologists, two board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians, two doctoral-level nurse practitioners, social work, and nursing. We have a robust administrative team to help support scheduling, billing, referrals/triaging, and prior authorizations. We also have access to our wonderful STAR center therapists and staff in the building, such as social workers, therapists, and medical professionals.

Training Opportunities

Positions: 1

Setting

Hospital

Services Provided by Interns

At the Blank Children’s Hospital Deb and Bob Pulver Center, the intern would focus on pediatric (ages 2-16) diagnostic evaluations for autism spectrum disorder and intellectual/developmental disabilities (i.e., intellectual disability, ADHD). Opportunities for interdisciplinary work with developmental/behavioral pediatricians, with whom we share our clinic, are available. We also provide brief behavioral parent training, and we are working toward expanding those services using an applied behavior analytic lens (i.e., functional analysis and treatment of challenging behavior within ASD and I/DD populations). We are co-located with the STAR center, which provides services for child victims of abuse (alleged and founded), children in foster care, and primary care. There may be opportunities for the intern to rotate at the STAR center as well, if desired.

The intern will receive training from our Psychology team on gold standard autism measures (e.g., ADOS-2, CARS-2), cognitive assessments (e.g., Wechsler batteries), behavioral and socioemotional assessments (e.g., BASC-3), and adaptive assessments and interviews (e.g., ABAS-3, Vineland-3), as well as have opportunities to work with psychometrists. The intern will receive training and supervision in case conceptualization, interview/preliminary assessment, and report writing. They will also receive training in interpersonal skills related to working with families and children with developmental disabilities and providing diagnostic feedback to families (e.g., communicating results, supporting families throughout the diagnostic process, reviewing recommendations). The intern will have the opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary clinic with our developmental-behavioral providers (board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians and nurse practitioners).

Our center is growing every year. We plan to pilot intensive outpatient services for the assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior in children with ASD and I/DD. The interested intern can gain experience in conducting experimental functional analyses, function-based treatments, complex behavior management, and parent training/generalization. Interns with interest in this area can gain supervision for both psychology licensure and board certification as a behavior analyst (BCBA).

Placement Location

Didactics

Didactic trainings are typically held every other Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. Two times per year interns will attend an all-day training from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm which will allow in-person socialization and interaction. Interns spend a minimum of eight hours each month in seminars and workshops with required learning objectives and a reading list covering relevant journal articles, etc. Please email applicant@psychologyinterns.org for access to our current training manual which includes the full didactic training policy (policies subject to change).

Supervision

All interns receive at least four hours of supervision per week. The requirement includes at least two hours with a licensed psychologist in individual, face-to-face supervision. The other two hours include secondary supervision with a licensed psychologist and/or ancillary supervisor in a group or individual setting. Please email applicant@psychologyinterns.org for access to our current training manual which includes the full supervision policy (policies subject to change).

Clerical and Technical Support

We are fortunate to have two psychometrists who are excellent and conduct cognitive assessments. They also triage our referrals to our clinics. Supervision of the psychometrists by the intern is available. We have a wonderful clerical team including three patient experience specialists who schedule and provide appointment reminders. Our nurses are also very knowledgeable and helpful. We have IT staff from the hospital who can be called here.

Training Materials and Equipment

We have laptops and access to our Educational Research Center through UnityPoint Health.

Schedule

Each intern’s schedule may vary according to special interests and needs of the training site.

Site Training Director

Sara Jeglum, Ph.D., L.P., BCBA-D

Dr. Jeglum is a Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Health Service Provider in Psychology, and a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst at the Doctoral level. Dr. Jeglum’s specialties are Pediatric Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Jeglum completed her doctoral program (Ph.D. in Educational Psychology – School Psychology area) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed a LEND fellowship, an interdisciplinary leadership training program. She then completed her internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she trained on the Neurobehavioral Unit – Inpatient and Outpatient. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior in the context of autism spectrum disorder and neurodevelopmental disabilities. She also specializes in diagnostic assessment of autism spectrum disorder and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Dr. Jeglum’s clinical areas of interest are Behavioral Assessment and Treatment, Psychodiagnostic Assessment, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Disabilities, Genetic Syndromes, Research, and Supervision. Dr. Jeglum is also the Current President of the Iowa Association of Behavior Analysis (3-year term).

Supervisors

While we won’t know your exact supervisor assignments until the internship starts, these are examples of some of the individuals you may work with over the course of your year at the site.

Martha Early, Ph.D., L.P.

Martha Early, Ph.D., L.P., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Blank Children’s Hospital. She specializes in pediatric psychology and neurodevelopmental disorders. She enjoys working with children diagnosed with developmentally complex conditions and their families, especially collaborative work involving other disciplines. She primarily provides diagnostic and cognitive evaluations with for youth (e.g., evaluations for Intellectual Disability waivers, neurodevelopmental disabilities such as Autism, and other complex developmental conditions such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders). She also provides one-time consultation and intervention with pediatric populations including youth with neurodevelopmental disorders, youth experiencing emotional and behavioral problems, and youth with chronic medical conditions.

Dr. Early graduated with a Ph.D. in Child Clinical and Developmental Psychology from the University of Missouri and completed her pre-doctoral internship from the University of Missouri Health Sciences Consortium. During her time in Missouri she completed training through the LEND program at the Thompson Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Columbia, Missouri. She furthered her training as a post-doctoral fellow in pediatric and child clinical psychology at the Mayo Clinic-Department of Psychiatry and Psychology where she was able to work on many interdisciplinary teams collaborating with families to find solutions for children with complex medical and behavioral conditions.

Example treatment modalities (as listed by APPIC):

Assessment	Major Area (50%+)
Individual Intervention	Emphasis (31% to 49%)
Couples Intervention	N/A
Family Intervention	N/A
Group Intervention	N/A
Community Intervention	N/A
Consultation/Liaison	Experience (21% to 30%)
Crisis Intervention	Experience (21% to 30%)
Brief Intervention	Emphasis (31% to 49%)
Long-Term Intervention	Exposure (1% to 20%)
Cognitive Rehabilitation	N/A
Primary Care	N/A
Supervision of Prac. Students	N/A
Evidence-Based Practice	Major Area (50%+)
Evidence-Based Research	Exposure (1% to 20%)
Other (Supervision of Psychometrists)	Experience (21% to 30%)

Diagnostic assessment for autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, secondary concerns such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, disruptive behavior disorders; applied behavior analysis (ABA) procedures such as functional assessment/analysis and function-based interventions; parent training; program development; meta-supervision (gaining supervision on supervising our psychometrists), research opportunities if the intern is interested (while we do not have a formal research program, there is ample opportunity with the populations we serve).

Example supervised experiences (as listed by APPIC):

Health Psychology	N/A	Forensics / Corrections	N/A
Women’s Health	N/A	Sexual Offenders	N/A
HIV / AIDS	N/A	Geropsychology	N/A
Eating Disorders	N/A	Pediatrics	Major Area (50%+)
Sexual Disorders	N/A	School	Exposure (1% to 20%)
Sports Psychology	N/A	Counseling	N/A
Rehabilitation Psychology	N/A	Vocational / Career Development	N/A
Physical Disabilities	N/A	Multicultural Therapy	N/A
Learning Disabilities	Exposure (1% to 20%)	Feminist Therapy	N/A
Developmental Disabilities	Major Area (50%+)	Religion / Spirituality	N/A
Assessment	Major Area (50%+)	Empirically-Supported Treatment	Emphasis (31% to 49%)
Neuropsychology – Adult	N/A	Public Policy / Advocacy	Exposure (1% to 20%)
Neuropsychology – Child	Exposure (1% to 20%)	Program Development/Evaluation	Experience (21% to 30%)
Serious Mental Illness	N/A	Supervision	Experience (21% to 30%)
Anxiety Disorders	Exposure (1% to 20%)	Research	Exposure (1% to 20%)
Trauma/PTSD	Exposure (1% to 20%)	Administration	Exposure (1% to 20%)
Sexual Abuse	N/A	Integrated Health Care–Primary	N/A
Substance Use Disorders	N/A	Integrated Health Care–Specialty	Major Area (50%+)

We are in the largest metropolitan area of Iowa – Des Moines. However, we very frequently serve clients who are in rural areas of the state. Our client population is diverse, including those for whom English is a second language, refugees/immigrant population, and racialethnic minorities. We typically serve ages 2-16, with some cases between 16-18 years old on a case by case basis.

The largest barriers to treatment include lack of funding, lack of resources, lack of options for applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for older children – our waitlist is extensive. We are trying to serve as many Iowans as we can by educating other providers in various regions.

Children	70%
Adolescents	30%
Adults
Family
Older Adults
Inpatients
Outpatients	100%
LBGTQIA+
Ethnic Minorities	60%
Spanish Speaking	25%
French Speaking
Deaf/Hearing Impaired
Students
International Students
Rural	30%
Urban	70%
Low Income	50%
Homeless

Number of counties served	99
Number of clients served	1200

Annual Pay for the 2025-2026 Training Year: $35,000

This site observes the following holidays:

New Years Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving
Friday after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day

Applicants need to be able to pass all UPH pre-employment requirements, including background check, sex offender registry, OIG check, and more. Vaccine requirements include MMR, Hepatitis B, varicella, Tdap, and flu. COVID-19 vaccine is strongly encouraged. Documentation is required for vaccination refusal.

Dr. Jeglum, Dr. Early, and our psychometrists, Jessica Eagan and Kristen Bircher, are involved in the process. We are looking for a dedicated, hardworking, flexible, and professional individual who is ready to tackle hard problems, adapt to change, give families unexpected or difficult news, and eager to learn. A good intern would be one with at least some experience in assessment and/or behavioral interventions. Ideally, the intern would be a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) or seeking to become one. The intern with autism assessment experience is preferred. An intern that is psychodynamic in orientation may not be a good fit. Intern applicants must be a U.S. citizen.

A master’s degree is preferred, but not required. A person who is enrolled in a doctoral degree program in psychology at an institution approved by the board but who has not completed the other requirements for licensure under this section may apply for a provisional license during the person’s internship program. The license shall be designated as a “provisional license in psychology”. The provisional license shall authorize the licensee to practice psychology under the supervision of a supervisor who meets the qualifications determined by the board by rule. A provisional license shall be valid for a period of two years.

Interviews take place virtually along with other NPTC sites in the Cy-Hawk Region. Questions would be on the applicant’s interests, our services, and goodness of fit. Interviews would occur with Dr. Jeglum and/or Dr. Early, and are one hour in length. We will schedule as needed with the applicants as the time comes.

Cy-Hawk Region Sites

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