Q. What is the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty Special Interest Group (SIG)?
A. The AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG is a group of AACN members and affiliates (including student members) who are building a “home” within the AACN that promotes clinical work with children. Although open to all interested AACN members and affiliates, the SIG is focused on the interests of pediatric, child-clinical, and lifespan developmental neuropsychologists. That’s a mouthful, so we use the shorthand term “pediatric” instead of creating yet another bulky acronym.
Q. Does the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG confer special certification or credential?
A. The AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG is a membership group, not a credentialing body. As long as members are contributing to mission of the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG (building a home within the AACN that promotes neuropsychological work with children) and abide by the rules of the affiliated list-serve, we’re proud to have them.
Q. Is the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG open to everyone?
A. It is open to any AACN member or affiliate in good standing.
Q. Is it open to students?
A. Absolutely. AACN Student members are just as welcome as Active, Affiliate, or Senior AACN members. Students bring enthusiasm and creative thinking. That’s why we are actively pursuing ways to make it easier for students to join the AACN more broadly, so that they can become part of the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG.
Q. Does it cost anything to join?
A. If you’re current on your AACN member or affiliate dues, you’re good to go. Like other AACN subcommittees, we are a member-driven group. The AACN is footing the bill for our online community.
Q. What’s this about an “Online Community?”
A. That’s one of the cool things about the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG. With the help of our members, we are building web pages with specifically relevant resources, and have developed a forum to promote efficient communication within the group. Our goal is to make this a truly integrated online community, and we will continue to look at other ways of leveraging technology to further the SIG mission.
Q. Another forum? Don’t we already have enough?
A. Ours is different from other forums. While the AACN and AACN Community Discussion forums have broad audiences, the AACN Pediatric SIG Forum is focused on pediatric issues. It is not intended to replace the other forums, but rather to supplement them. Similarly, the AACN Pediatric SIG Forum was not launched as competition to the Ped-NPSY list. Instead, it is meant to be a better communication conduit for members of the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG than the “reply to all” e-mail lists that have proven to be bulky and unreliable. Some members might choose to use the AACN Pediatric Subspecialty SIG as their primary way of getting and providing relevant information, but that’s really up to them. By insisting on relevance and civility in our forum, we hope to create a home for individuals who found other lists to have too much irrelevant “noise” or uncivil behavior, and consequently left those lists or relegated posts to rarely-visited junk folders. AACN Pediatric SIG Forum members agree to terms of use that outline the type of content that will NOT be tolerated. Specifically, messages or posts that denigrate or are considered derogatory to any person or organization will not be permitted. Messages that are considered offensive or unprofessional will be deleted from the forum, and the person that posted the message will be reminded about the expected conduct in the forum. A second infraction will result in temporary suspension from the group. A third infraction will result in permanent removal from the list. This rule will be applied evenly and to all members of the group, and will not favor any individual or organization over another.