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Problem:
Optimal health for children with disabilities depends on access to quality care, elimination of disparities, and family partnerships with professionals. The LEND Program at WIHD and NYMC prepares trainees to become leaders who value these goals and have the knowledge and skills to promote them.
Goals and Objectives:
Goal 1: Provide dynamic and responsive training to health professionals and trainees who will become leaders in areas related to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families.
Objective 1: Continue to recruit diverse trainees and train 18-20 long-term LEND trainees per year in psychology, nursing, genetic counseling, social work, speech-language pathology, nutrition, audiology, child psychiatry, family specialist, physical and occupational therapy, and health administration.
Objective 2: Support each trainee in completing an Individualized Training Plan and using it to guide progress during the LEND training experience into their early careers with a specific emphasis on family-centered care, cultural competence, public health approach, and systems of care
Objective 3: By the 2nd year of the project and yearly thereafter, recruit 2-3 students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) to be LEND trainees via a combination of distance learning, select LEND curriculum elements at UPR, and visits to WIHD and NYMC.
Goal 2: Prepare professionals with advanced skills to provide high quality health and related services to children with disabilities and their families, including children from underserved populations.
Objective 1: Using regularly collected feedback from trainees, faculty, and the LEND Community Advisory Committee, and information from national organizations and the literature, review and update LEND Program training curriculum and clinical training experiences for long-term trainees.
Objective 2: Provide clinical experiences at WIHD’s interdisciplinary settings, in community settings, and in the homes of families with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities with supervision by LEND faculty who model core values such as cultural competence and family-centeredness.
Objective 3: Convert elements of the LEND Program curriculum to an interactive, web-based format to facilitate recruitment of trainees from a wider geographic range (e.g., Puerto Rico) and who have conflicting obligations during the times of the regularly-scheduled LEND core curriculum.
Goal 3: Prepare health professionals with skills required to improve systems of care for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and to pursue knowledge through critical inquiry and research
Objective 1: Each long-term LEND Program trainee will complete three Leadership Projects – Family Resource Development, Family Mentoring, and Technical Assistance / Community Education, and present results to the trainee group and faculty.
Objective 2: Trainees will acquire skills essential to leadership in academic, public health, policy, advocacy, and clinical arenas through participation in the Interdisciplinary Leadership Seminar, including giving presentations, communicating in difficult situations, and grant writing.
Objective 3: Trainees will enhance their critical inquiry and research skills by participating in the Research Seminar, working on an interdisciplinary research team, and reporting study results at a poster session and in oral presentations to the Title V Program staff at NYS Department of Health.
Goal 4: Prepare health professionals who provide culturally competent care to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families and who work in partnership with families.
Objective 1: Continue to keep family-centeredness as a strong core focus of the LEND Program training curriculum, both within the Family Partnerships module of the core course and by integration of this theme throughout the curriculum; and continue to have two to three family specialist LEND trainees per year.
Objective 2: Continue to have family members evaluate LEND trainees concerning family-centeredness during the Family Mentoring Project, give presentations in the core LEND courses, and provide input on design and implementation of LEND Interdisciplinary Research Projects
Objective 3: Continue to strengthen the cultural competence focus of the curriculum with added content on health beliefs and behaviors, interactive sessions that emphasize self-assessment of cultural competence, and a culture-simulation workshop.
Goal 5: Prepare health professionals to provide technical assistance, consultation, and community education to develop or improve services to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Objective 1: LEND trainees will develop the skills and knowledge required to provide technical assistance and community education responsive to the needs of the MCH community and families by working with faculty to develop, carry out, and evaluate a Technical Assistance / Community Education Leadership Project.
Objective 2: LEND faculty and trainees will continue to work collaboratively with Title V and other MCH-related agencies and organizations from the local to the national level to provide continuing education and technical assistance to improve systems of care for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Objective 3: LEND faculty and trainees will travel annually to the NYS Department of Health to meet with Title V Program staff to learn about their programs related to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families and to present results from the Interdisciplinary Research Teams.
Methodology:
The LEND Training Advisory Committee, with input from the Community Advisory Committee, updates the curriculum of the LEND Program at WIHD annually to assure that it continues to address the major knowledge, skills and values competencies needed by future leaders in care for and service to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families. The core curriculum, based on MCHB national standards for interdisciplinary leadership training, has four components: 1) a two-semester course on diagnosis and intervention in neurodevelopmental disabilities and systems of care; 2) a two-semester leadership seminar with assigned projects that support acquisition of leadership competencies; 3) a two-semester seminar in clinical and population-based research that includes participation in an interdisciplinary research team; and 4) supervised interdisciplinary clinical training. Each trainee develops a portfolio documenting acquisition of leadership competencies. Faculty and trainees collaborate in offering technical assistance and continuing education responsive to the needs of MCH professionals and families. The importance of dissemination and collaborative relationships is emphasized through the required poster session in which trainees present their research to the NYMC and SPH community and through the annual trip by LEND trainees and faculty to the NYS DOH to meet with and present their research findings to the Title V Program staff.
Coordination:
LEND faculty participate in many collaborative, consultative, and technical assistance activities at the local, regional, state, and national levels. Examples of organizations include: New York State and county-level Departments of Social Services, Health, Education, Mental Health, and Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities; early intervention providers; NYS Developmental Disabilities Planning Council; school districts; and local, state, and national advocacy groups
Evaluation:
The LEND Program will set and meet targets for indicators: proportion of former trainees working in MCH environment in leadership roles, the value placed on LEND leadership training by former trainees, self-assessed cultural competence and family-centeredness, proportion of LEND trainees from underrepresented groups, level of collaboration, and use of CE and TA to support the MCH community. Trainees will be evaluated by faculty and families, and will continue to provide feedback on courses.
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