Overview of Child Psychology Degree Program

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Child psychology is the study of social and emotional development from the prenatal period through the adolescence stage of children. The field of psychology studies includes subjects such as genetics, language development, personality, gender roles, cognitive development, sexual development, and social growth. Child psychology covers the ages of infants, toddlers, children, and teens or those of a particular age group. The main duty is to gain an understanding of the child’s issues and then prevent, diagnose and treat their developmental, cognitive, social and emotional issues.

What a Child Psychology Degree Can Do for You

Some of the related career options might include abnormal child psychologist who works with children suffering from psychological disorders such as anxiety, mood and personality disorders. A developmental psychologist will focus on developmental issues throughout the lifespan of that person.

School psychologists will focus on the educational system to help the child with emotional, social and academic issues. An educational psychologist will study how people learn, the outcomes, instructional processes, the differences between individuals, learning disabilities as well as those who are gifted learners.

Duties will involve diagnosing, treating, managing behavioral issues, administering psychological tests, conducting scientific research, working with teams to come up with unique treatment plans designed for each individual.

Child Psychology Degree Options

There are options available for a person with a master’s degree and there are more opportunities available for those with a doctoral degree. After the degree is obtained, one must complete a supervised clinical internship that will usually last two years. They will then need to pass state and national testing in order to become licensed in the state in which they want to practice.

Classes of study will include introduction to psychology, experimental psychology, statistics, business administration, education, healthcare, clinical, emotional, mental health components, development, research, psychoanalysis and rehabilitation. There will also be some medical education that will be critical to the learning process of how the human brain works and how processes affect a person’s actions. Qualities needed include communication skills, people skills, analytical skills, observational skills, patience, problem solving skills and you must be trustworthy.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the job growth for a child psychologist is projected to increase by 12% between the 2012 and 2022 with a median salary being around $69,000, the lower percentile making around $39,000 and the higher percentile making around $110,000.

There are those who have a private practice, work as independent consultants, and some will offer evening and weekend hours. Having a private practice will affect the overall salary per year. Others will work in clinical settings, hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare settings.

Child psychology is a truly rewarding career and being able to help children and their families gives one joy. It will be stressful on occasion and there will be some long hours and possibly even some sleepless nights thinking about strategies and testing that can be used to help with the child’s issues at hand. A person who loves to help people and loves children will enjoy a career as a child psychologist.