A successful University of Illinois at Chicago-based interdisciplinary effort to train leaders in programs that help children with developmental disabilities and autism has won a $3.3 million five-year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration-Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
The grant will be used to expand UIC’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and other related Disabilities, or LEND, program which trains healthcare providers and administrators who work with families that include children with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Since its beginning in 2008, the LEND program has graduated 50 students representing 14 academic disciplines. The expanded program this year has 26 students from 15 disciplines. The continued funding will also provide more training for community health care professionals on disability issues, especially early identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
“The program is unique because it completely embraces the interdisciplinary approach by training one or two graduate students or professionals from each of the disciplines,” said Ann Cutler, clinical assistant professor of health and human development and the program’s principal investigator. Weekly seminars bring together speakers and students from the varied disciplines — disability studies, nursing, nutrition, occupational and physical therapy, psychology and psychiatry, the family and self-advocate disciplines, public health, and social work — to foster wide-ranging discussion of issues from different perspectives.
“This is an important element of the program,” Cutler said. “It’s so rare to have representatives from 15 different disciplines in the same room, engaging in discussion.”
Admission to the LEND program is competitive. Participants are graduate students or professionals in their field. The program includes seminars, didactic and clinical training, readings, projects and other assignments. UIC partners with the University of Chicago, Rush University, Southern Illinois University and The Autism Program among other area institutions and schools for clinical training.
LEND has exceeded its initial goals by providing training to students and professionals in many areas of maternal child health; published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, books or chapters on neurodevelopmental and related disorders; and provided over 4,000 hours of tailored, special assistance to healthcare agencies, groups and professionals, in addition to other services.
Cutler said that those who have already completed the LEND program have been hired for top administrative, academic and clinical positions at hospitals, clinics and universities around the country.
“Many health care providers and decision makers don’t receive adequate training to address the diverse needs of the growing number of families with children with developmental and intellectual disabilities,” she said. LEND can change that for the better, “and make a difference for children and families.”
#For more information about UIC, visit www.uic.edu
# Source: Press Release Services - News.Gnm.es - Sept 20 2011
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