Dr. Ellyn Schmidt
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Ellyn Schmidt is a Licensed Psychologist at Boston Child Study Center. She is also a Licensed and Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP). Dr. Schmidt specializes in working with young children (i.e., toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary age children), their families, and their teachers to address a wide variety of challenges including disruptive behaviors, attention problems, anxiety, selective mutism, and emotion regulation difficulties, as well as social and behavioral challenges related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She also has a background in early childhood assessment, including assessment for ASD.
Dr. Schmidt completed her undergraduate education at Wellesley College where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in psychology. She then worked for 3 years as a research assistant and lab manager at the Lab for Developmental Studies at Harvard University. Dr. Schmidt then completed her M.A and PhD. in School Psychology at Northeastern University. During this time, she completed clinical training within elementary and preschools in the Newton Public School system as well as at the Center for Children with Special Needs at Tufts Children’s Hospital. Dr. Schmidt’s predoctoral training concluded with an APA accredited internship in Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology at the Mailman Center for Child Development within the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. Her primary placement was in the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) clinic, and she also completed rotations focused on other types of intervention and assessment for young children. Dr. Schmidt continued at the University of Miami for a clinical and research postdoctoral fellowship focused on continuing to develop expertise in PCIT along with implementing and evaluating TCIT in early childhood special education preschools with educators and allied health professionals. Across these training settings, Dr. Schmidt has worked with children and families who are diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, primary language, and family construction.
Dr. Schmidt’s research broadly focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions that aim to improve the behavioral and physical health of young children. She is currently involved in further expanding and evaluating a preschool-based program to promote physical activity among children with ASD that she developed with her doctoral advisor, Dr. Jessica Hoffman. She also continues to collaborate with colleagues at the University of Miami on developing and evaluating a social emotional and behavioral multitiered system of support within early childhood special education centers. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations focused on these topics.
At BCSC, Dr. Schmidt is a member of the PCIT/Young Child, Selective Mutism, and Early ASD Assessment teams, providing clinical services to young children, their families, and school teams. She is certified as both a PCIT therapist and a within-agency PCIT trainer through PCIT International, and is clinically trained in treatment adaptations of PCIT for anxiety (PCIT-CALM), selective mutism (PCIT-SM), toddlers (PCIT-Toddler), and ASD. With children over 8 years, she provides cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and behavioral interventions along with parent coaching. She also has extensive experience consulting to classroom teachers and school staff regarding the implementation of TCIT and other evidence-based behavioral strategies to address disruptive behavior and emotion regulation challenges. In her clinical work, Dr. Schmidt values providing evidence-based treatment, developing authentic connections, respecting client values and world views, engaging in collaborative decision making, and building upon client strengths to support them in reaching their goals.