Conference Participation
All Trainees will attend the annual LoneStar LEND conference held in the early Fall (exact date
TBD). Trainees are also required to attend either the Texas Transition Conference, or the Baylor
Chronic Illness Conference. Additionally, funds will be provided for Trainees to attend at least one
additional conference (from a group of selected conferences) or professional development
opportunity during the program year.
Families as Teachers Program
Each Trainee will be paired with a mentor family of a child with an ASD/ND to provide an
opportunity for Trainees to experience a family’s viewpoint into the process of diagnosis,
treatment, and day-to-day life with ASD/ND. Trainees will schedule a minimum of two encounters
with their assigned mentor family prior to April 30th. In addition, Trainees will attend two parent
panels where a variety of disabilities and ethnic backgrounds will be represented. These
interactive panels will be moderated by the LEND Family Faculty members and will expose
Trainees to a variety of ASD/ND topics from the families' perspectives. Upon completion of the
Families as Teachers Program, Trainees will participate in a wrap-up session where each Trainee
reflects upon the experience through a brief presentation to faculty and their peers. The
presentation will focus on how system and service availability and/or gaps were highlighted by
the families’ experiences and ideas for services to fill those gaps. The Trainee will also highlight
how they were most impacted by the family practicum experience and how they anticipate this
will affect their practice in the future.
Service Learning Project
During the course of the LEND year, each Trainee pursues an area of particular personal interest
through the Service Learning Project. Conceptualized and completed in interdisciplinary groups of
3 - 4 Trainees, the Service Learning Project will provide multiple opportunities for trainees to
experience issues they will face in practice such as accountability, outcome-based approaches,
family-centered models, collaboration, and interdisciplinary decision-making. Each of these
components offers opportunities for trainees to enhance and strengthen their leadership skills.
Trainee groups will present their leadership project at the conclusion of their program (date TBD).
The Service Learning Project should focus on an issue in the field of disability/special health care
needs and systems change. Each project will result in production of a product (brochure, web
page, article, instructional video, etc.).
The Service Learning Project is an opportunity to integrate relevant material from LEND seminars
and take away a broader perspective of working with an interdisciplinary team.
In addition to the scheduled seminar sessions, Trainees can expect to spend an average of 8-12
hours per week on LEND activities such as clinical practicum, family practicum and other LEND
activities, assignments, and projects.