Background

Part of the role of the Bureau of Maternal Child Health (a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is to provide training grants to organizations that shape the future leaders in health care and health policy for the United States. The largest of these grants is the LEND program, which is the shortened form of Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities.

URLEND

The Utah Regional LEND, or URLEND, is an interdisciplinary program that trains professionals to move beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries to provide optimal services to child and adolescents with special health care needs. Because families are essential to well-being, this program emphasizes the role of family-centered care.

URLEND Learning Approach

Each year, a diverse set of trainees from each of the disciplines listed below are brought together with faculty and families of children with special health care needs, to form an interdisciplinary learning cohort. Each long-term trainee participates in three forms of learning: didactic (classroom), leadership, and clinical.

URLEND Classroom Curriculum

Because the URLEND services a large geographical area (Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and Idaho) trainees and faculty are co-located twice for didactic sessions during the year. The rest of the didactic meetings rely on video conferencing to bring participants together. This year's syllabus may be found on the right hand side of this page.

URLEND Leadership Curriculum

Because the goal of this grant is to train the leaders for tomorrow, leadership skills are a key outcome for the program. Over the course of the year, each trainee completes a leadership project either individually or as part of a team. Previous leadership projects may be found on the left hand side of this page.

URLEND Clinical Curriculum

One way to appreciate the complexity of care that some children require is to fully experience clinical settings that are out of one's own area of specialization. URLEND trainees visit a number of specialized clinics and medical home providers. The list of clinics available for trainees may be found on the right hand side of this page.

Disciplines Represented

Audiology
Dentistry/Pediatric Dentistry
Education
General Medicine
Genetics
Health Administration
Nursing
Nutrition
Occupational Therapy
Pediatrics
Physical Therapy
Psychology
Social Work
Speech-Language Pathology

   Application
       (PDF)

   Directories
      Faculty
      Trainees

   Faculty
       (Faculty Login)

  Black Board Vista
       (Link)

   Clinical Sites
       Clinical Services
       Pediatric Feeding Clinic
       Up to 3
       Social Language Group
       South Main Clinic
     
   Syllabus
    ( PDF)

   Seminar Schedule
       (2008-2009 Schedule)
 
   Handbook
       (PDF)

  Trainee Forms
       (Trainee Login)

   Presentation Sign-Up Lists
       (Leadership Project
           Presentations)