LEND Training Opportunities | UC Davis MIND Institute

Resources and faculty at the UC Davis MIND Institute, in partnership with affiliated programs at California State University of Sacramento (CSUS), will provide LEND training. Training will occur within didactic seminars, interdisciplinary case discussions, clinical settings at the MIND Institute or CSUS clinics, and community settings. Additionally, long-term trainees will participate in currently established research with a faculty mentor.

Coursework

Interdisciplinary graduate-level didactics will emphasize state-of-the-art information about services for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. Trainees will participate in seminars either online or in-person. Seminars will be interactive and led by experts in the field. Specific topics will relate to Autism and Developmental Disabilities, leadership, interdisciplinary care, systems of care, public health perspectives of care, cultural competency, family-centered care, communication skills, research, and use of technology in healthcare service. Coursework generally happen on Mondays and Thursdays and long-term trainees are expected to attend every week whereas medium-term trainees have the option to attend as many as their schedule allows.

Clinical Experiences / Interdisciplinary Training

Diagnostic evaluations and evidence-based treatment: Trainees will participate in interdisciplinary diagnostic evaluations and discussion facilitated and supervised by LEND faculty. They will also participate in delivery of evidence-based treatments with the faculty. Clinical settings provide opportunities to practice interdisciplinary skills with an interdisciplinary team, leadership skills and family-centered care, as well as cultural competency with a diverse population of children with or at risk for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and their families.

Community Partners

Trainees will have experiences in sites that serve Autism and Developmental Disabilities that focus on early childhood, school-aged children, and/or adolescents. All community training sites provide interdisciplinary service and family-centered care.

Leadership/Research Projects

All long-term and advanced medium-term LEND trainees are required to complete a leadership/research project under the guidance of their faculty mentor or other LEND faculty. Projects are completed during the course of the training year and are presented as a 15-minute oral presentation at a MIND Research Seminar Series meeting in May. Trainees may also be invited to share their poster as a professional poster presentation during the MIND Summer Institute on Neurodevelopmental Disabilities held in late July/early August.

Leadership/Research Projects should address a topic related to improving access to evidence-based, interdisciplinary assessment, treatment and services for children and young people with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families. Projects are developed in collaboration with your faculty mentor to address an area of interest for you that fulfills some of the goals on your ITP. Project may be completed within a faculty research project or program. Projects may vary in scope and topic based on individual needs and experience but should include: (1) clear hypotheses or goals, (2) operationalized procedures, (3) data collection and/or analysis (which may be performance improvement data), and (4) well-defined outcomes.

Here are some past examples of LEND Leadership/Research projects: