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Diplomas / Degrees

Post-Doctoral Program, Adelphi University (2006)
Ph.D. in Clinical and School Psychology, Hofstra University (1998)

Recent Courses

Adolescent Psychology
Clinical Interventions In School Settings
Intellectual Assessment I
Intellectual Assessment II
Overview Of School Support Services
Principles Of Behavior
Psychopathology
S/T: Intro To Clinical Psychology

Personal Statement

After working as a School Psychologist in Valley Stream for eight years, I joined the Adelphi faculty to help training future psychologists. In the classroom, it is my goal to help engage students to become interested and passionate about this fascinating field. I often use visual materials (PowerPoint and handouts) and relate the materials to students’ lives to make the materials more meaningful and memorable. My training and professional work as both a Clinical and School Psychologist has led me to have a variety of interests. In general, my research interests include training issues in school psychology, emotional intelligence, psychotherapy integration, parents’ experiences when their children are first identified as having a disability, and collaborative problem solving with oppositional students and their families.

Teaching Specializations / Interests

New York State Psychologist
New York State School Psychologist

Research Interests

Assessment of a Social Network of ADHD Information Communication: Diagnosis and management decisions concerning children with ADHD are based on communication among parents, teachers and providers. Research has demonstrated that lines of communication between providers and schools can be difficult to establish, are often infrequent and insufficient, and potentially contribute to inaccurate diagnoses of ADHD. I am interested in examining the manners in which information about ADHD children is communicated and seek to identify barriers to clear communications for accurate diagnosis as well as effective management and treatment.

Emotional Intelligence and success in graduate school: Ensuring that school children succeed academically is part of the national agenda. Nevertheless, a significant number of students develop, or are at-risk for developing, behavioral, emotional or learning problems that interfere with their academic and social success. School psychologists play an important role identifying and remediating these issues either by direct service provision or by providing direction to parents and teachers to assist such youth. There is current demand for school psychologists who are competent and able to work successfully with students, parents, teachers, and administrators to improve student outcomes. Given the complexity of the role required of school psychologists, it is in the interest of all stakeholders to identify the characteristics related to graduate student success in professional training and in their becoming effective practitioners. The majority of research within the field of school psychology has focused on the effectiveness of specific interventions. I am interested in exploring the degree to which personality traits and Emotional Intelligence are related to school psychology graduate students’ performance in the classroom and the field.

Entitlement and the Implicit Association Test: Over the past year I have been collecting data for a study investigating the characteristics and perceptions of overly entitled individuals. There is evidence of a recent increase in entitled behavior among college students and the population at large. I am investigating the similarities and differences between these individuals (who do not meet diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder) with analytic characterizations of narcissistic character organization. It has long been theorized that individuals with narcissistic character defend against feelings of worthlessness and insignificance. Nonetheless, paper and pencil measures reveal self-concept consistent with outward presentations of grandiosity. Previous research has been limited by its use of explicit, self-report measures. To expand upon the literature, I am exploring the difference between explicit and implicit measures of self-concept.

School psychology supervisors: I am also interested in the needs and practices of school psychology supervisors. The past decade has seen dramatic changes in the knowledge and skill sets expected of school psychologists. These changes, including greater emphasis on consultation, response to intervention and functional behavioral assessment among others have placed increased demands on supervisors to learn new skills. In addition, supervisors rarely receive training in supervisory issues. Surprisingly, little is known about the needs of supervisors. Given these issues, Dr. Flanagan from Touro College and I developed a questionnaire that assesses these topics as well as supervisors’ perceptions of interns’ training needs. We are analyzing and presenting results from a national sample of supervisors.

Grants / Sponsored Research

Awarded a faculty development grant for research proposal “An Assessment of a Social Network of ADHD Information Communication” with co-PI William Dan Roberts from Stony Brook University. This proposal employs focus groups to examine the communication networks in the diagnosis and treatment of children with ADHD with the aim of improving outcomes.

Book Chapters

Grehan, P. (2005). Review of the Children’s Test of Nonword Repetition. In R. A. Spies & B. S. Plake (Eds.). The sixteenth mental measurements yearbook. (pp. 201-203). Lincoln: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

Recent Articles

Grehan, P. & Freeman, A. (2009, 1). Neither child nor adult: Applying integrative therapy to adolescents. (IN PRESS) Journal of psychotherapy Integration

Grehan, P. (2009, 1). Shoben: Overlooked pioneer of psychotherapy integration. (IN PRESS) Journal of psychotherapy Integration

Grehan, P. (2007, 3). The homework myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing. PsycCRITIQUES

Grehan, P. (2006, 3). Surviving managed care: A treatment planner for adolescents and their families. PsycCRITIQUES

Conference Presentations and Papers

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Grehan, P., & Flanagan, R. Strangio, J., and Shin, J. R. (01 August 2008). How competent are school psychology interns? A work in progress. Presentation at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association,, Boston MA

Flanagan, R., & Grehan, P. (01 August 2008). Assessment of school psychology supervisor needs: Ongoing questionnaire development. Presentation at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association,, Boston MA

Grehan, P. (01 May 2008). Neither child nor adult: Applying integrative therapy to adolescents. . Paper presentation at the annual convention of the Society of the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, Boston MA

Grehan, P., & Flanagan, R. (01 February 2008). Supervisors’ perceptions of intern competency: Preliminary results. Paper accepted for presentation at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA

Flanagan, R. & Grehan, P. (01 February 2008). School psychology supervisor practices and needs: A work in progress. Paper accepted for presentation at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA

Other Scholarly / Artistic Work

Grehan, P., & Moran, D. J. (2005). Constructing single-subject reversal design graphs using Microsoft Word: A comprehensive tutorial. The Behavior Analyst Today, 6(4), 233-240.

Grehan, P. (2005). [Review of the Children’s Test of Nonword Repetition.] In R. A. Spies & B. S. Plake (Eds.), The sixteenth mental measurements yearbook (pp. 201-203). Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

Grehan, P. M (1998). Depressed subjects' formation of mood congruent and incongruent equivalence relations. Dissertation sponsored by Kurt Salzinger. Hofstra University.

Valenti, S. S., Wagner, K. K., & Grehan, P. M. (1993). Perception of Children’s Intentions: Adults see more than they say. In S.Stavros Valenti and John B. Pittenger (Eds.), Studies in Perception and Action II: Posters Presented at the VIIth International Conference on Event Perception and Action. (pp. 150-154) Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates Publishers.

Kidorf, G., Valenti, S. S., & Grehan, P. M. (1993). The role of expressiveness on interpersonal synchrony and rapport. In S. Stavros Valenti and John B. Pittenger (Eds.), Studies in Perception and Action II: Posters Presented at the VIIth International Conference on Event Perception and Action. (pp. 155-160) Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates Publishers.

Professional Activities

School Psychologist 1996-2004
Editorial board - The School Psychologist

Community and Corporate Leadership

Board member - Nassau County Psychological Association