Many undergraduates seek opportunities to work with children in educational or clinical settings.
Sometimes they are motivated to examine possible careers related to developmental psychology. Sometimes they seek to gain research experience with a project or faculty member, and sometimes they want to enhance their knowledge about children. The Fourth R Practicum in Psychology has emerged from an informal arrangement between myself and a consortium of principals, school administrators, school psychologists, parents, and teachers representing several elementary schools in the Ann Arbor Public School District as a means to connect meaningful community service experiences with academic course learning and research training. This program is in its' fourth year. Through the program, children who lack social skills and are rejected by their classmates are identified and provided with social skills training in a small group context designed to facilitate rehearsal and reinforcement of concepts and to foster personal friendships among the child participants.