University of Connecticut Health Center

Problem:

There is a need for leadership training for professionals who will serve children and youth with neurodevelopmental and other disabilities and autism.

Goals and Objectives:

(1) Advancing the knowledge and skills of the full range of child health professionals to improve health care delivery systems for children with developmental disabilities. We will provide long term and short term training to preservice graduate and postgraduate students at the University of Connecticut within the disciplinary programs of audiology, dentistry, health policy, law, nursing, medicine, nutrition, pediatrics, pharmacy, physical therapy, public health, school counseling, social work, special education, speech language pathology and family members and youth with disabilities. We will fiscally support 6 long term trainees(LTT) and others not directly supported off the grant in the above mentioned disciplines who will participate in a weekly interdisciplinary experience of both didactic coursework and practicum experiences; We will be adding, enhancing and embedding didactic and clinical opportunities to short term trainees within their school or major. (2) Providing high-quality interdisciplinary education to health professionals which emphasizes the integration of services supported by State, local agencies, organizations, private providers and communities. We will provide community trainings for state employees both within and across Connecticut State Departments of Health , Developmental Services(birth to three), and Education; (3) Providing a wide range of health professionals with the skills needed to foster a community-based partnership of health resources and community leadership. We will be using a hospital clinic site and also community sites to insure that both long term and short term trainees have access to high quality interdisciplinary service models for children and youth with developmental disabilities, special health care needs and ASD; and (4) Promoting innovative practice models that enhance cultural competency, partnerships among disciplines, and family-centered approaches to care across the state. We will accomplish this by disseminating information in our trainings on evidenced based practice for our target population., through both trainings, the use of the web and meetings. (5) Insure that families and youth are prepared to become leaders and teachers of others and are included in all training activities. We will offer a leadership LTT to families and youth every year. Activities Undertaken to Meet Project Goals: We will be offering both long term(more then 300 hours) and short term training opportunities to graduate students, community providers, families and youth. We will use the web as an information portal and will train throughout the state and UConn campuses HP2010 Objectives: Through our training opportunities we will address all 6 HP2010 objectives to enhance care for children and youth with special health care needs and their families. This will be measured annually.

Coordination:

We will coordinate training with all MCHB initiatives in CT and the region.

Evaluation:

We will evaluate all objectives and activities using MCHB formats and use both process measures and products.