LEND Newsletter: Summer 2024

Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities

LEND Program

Westchester Institute for Human Development

University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities

and

School of Health Sciences and Practice, New York Medical College

LEND Newsletter: Summer 2024

Jenean Castillo, Ph.D.

LEND Program Director

Associate UCEDD Director for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Assistant Professor, Center on Disability, NYMC SHSP

The Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Program at WIHD is one of 60 federally funded programs across the country. Last month, the LEND Program graduated another incredible group of trainees including graduate students and professionals from various health and education disciplines, as well as family members of individuals with disabilities and self-advocates. Thanks to our continued partnership with the UCEDD in Puerto Rico, our graduating cohort also included two trainees from the PRUCEDD. All demonstrated their commitment to enhancing their knowledge and skills to become leaders working with and on behalf of individuals with disabilities and their families, to improve health outcomes and decrease disparities.

The trainees this year were involved in various projects and activities. Their research projects included: Supporting the Educational Needs of Children in the Child Welfare and Homeless Systems; the importance of Family-School Partnerships to ensure educational success of children with disabilities; and assessing the needs and challenges experienced by families of children with autism in Puerto Rico.

Their individualized leadership projects focused not just on their own learning and professional development but identifying areas of needs and working to address them, including identifying best practices in telehealth services for OT professionals; interviewing individuals with disabilities, family members, and dental health professionals in order to improve the sensory and environmental experiences of patients in our dental clinic; developing a resource list to support speech language pathologist working with diverse populations; and developing a very accessible handout with the step by step transition from Early Intervention to the committee on preschool education (EI to CPSE) for parents. And these are only a few of each of the 21 unique projects and learning experiences that occurred during the course of the year.

LEND trainees also participated in other training experiences, including visits to local community partners, such as the Fred S. Keller early childhood program and the Pleasantville Lab School transition program at Westchester Community College. They also participated in national training experiences, including the disability policy seminar in DC; the cultural immersion training in Puerto Rico, and presented to our state partners at the NYS DOH. It has undoubtedly been an extraordinary year for the trainees.

A huge congratulations to the LEND Class of 2024! We look forward to all the great things they will continue to do.

LEND Graduating Class of 2024

Self-Advocate: Tina Fitzgerald

Audiology: Jillian Boland

Family Specialist: Marlene Behrendt, Christine Moreno, Julia Muggia-Ochs

Genetic Counseling: Eden Brush, Andy Peralta, Dessiah Phillips

Occupational Therapy: Gabriel Agorioge, Dzenana Cirikovic, Mikhail Miller

Psychology: Francesco Caputo, Sherlenne Francisco

Public Health: Uchechukwu Igwe, Jaskunwar Singh

Social Work: Abby Zuckerman

Speech Language Pathology: Sandra Abdou, Valerie Brandwein, Amanda Nieves

Puerto Rico: Yarel Delgado Rosa (Psy); Cynthia Perez-Reyes (Ed)

The LEND class of 2024 was celebrated and honored during our in-person graduation at WIHD. This year we proudly graduated 21 LEND trainees from various disciplines, including family specialists and self-advocacy. The graduating class also included two trainees from our UCEDD partner in Puerto Rico.

Tina Fitzgerald (Self Advocate), Jillian Boland (Audiology) and Julia Muggia Ochs (Family Specialist) were voted class speakers and shared their experiences and highlights from the past year. Our guest speaker was Allison Elwell (LEND Class of 2016), Speech-Language Pathology. Learn more about Allison's professional work via her recent Life After LEND Podcast interview (see link below).

LEND trainees participated in various activities, both in person and virtually, during the year including a virtual poster session with NYSDOH, the AUCD National Conference, the Cultural Immersion Training in Puerto Rico, the Disability Policy Seminar in DC and various clinical site visits.

Virtual Poster Presentation

Castillo SEBM Team

Virtual Poster Presentation

NYSDOH

Virtual Poster Presentation

Lequia SEBM Team

LEND faculty and former trainees attended the AUCD Conference in Washington DC. Both faculty and trainees presented on their work from the previous training year.

LEND trainees Yarel Delgado Rosa (Psy) and Cynthia Perez-Reyes (Ed) from the Puerto Rico UCEDD were also in attendance and networked with other emerging leaders in the field. They described the value of shared learning spaces to promote leadership growth.

CULTURAL IMMERSION TRAINING IN PUERTO RICO

LEND Trainees Abby Zuckerman (SW), Jillian Boland (Aud) and Amanda Nieves (SLP) attended the Cultural Immersion Training in Puerto Rico with Dr. Castillo. This training is designed to enhance trainee interdisciplinary leadership experience and cultural competency through participation in a learning program at the University of Puerto Rico UCEDD. Trainees traveled to Puerto Rico for a week and engaged in various learning opportunities to better understand the successes and challenges of our partner community. This unique interdisciplinary training experience is designed by the PRUCEDD and also includes trainees from the LEND Program in Iowa.

The Disability Policy Seminar is an opportunity to learn about key issues relevant in the disability field. It was attended by Tina Fitzgerald (SA) and Julia Muggia Ochs (FS). During this 3-day training event, Tina and Julia participated in two intensive days of training and learning about key policy issues related to social security and Medicaid, the direct care workforce crisis, and the Autism CARES Act. They spent the final day on Capitol Hill engaging in advocacy and educating Members of Congress and their staff on the priorities of the I/DD community.

Highlights from LEND Graduating Class, 2023-2024

Jillian Boland (Audiology) will be a joining WIHD Speech & Hearing Department.

Francisco Caputo (Psychology) Postdoc Fellowship at Rutgers University working with first responders impacted by 9/11

Yarel Delgado Rosa (Psychology) PhD program in Psychology

Sherlenne Francisco Fitzgerald (Psychology) Postdoc Fellowship at the Koch Center Private Practice

Tina Fitzgerald (Self Advocate) will be a joining WIHD CSN Department and is also a consultant for the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV) on a project to improve services to I/DD community.

Julia Muggia Ochs (Family Specialist) has joined the AUCD Emerging Leaders Advisory Board.

Congratulations again to all the graduates!!!

Alumni Highlights

Doreen Dorcely (Social Work, 2022) is currently working as Social Work Therapist at a school-based Mental Health Clinic and is also pursuing a PhD in Social Work.

Allison Elwell (Speech-Language Pathology, 2016) recently highlighted her professional work as a speech and language pathologist at the LEND graduation as this year guest speaker, she also participated in the "Life After LEND!" podcast (details below).

Maria Teresa Garcia – (Speech-Language Pathology, 2019) has recently participated in the Peace Corps Response Volunteer Program as a Special Education Intervention and methodology advisor in a small city in the amazon in Peru.

Katelyn O'Shea– (Speech-Language Pathology, 2021) is currently working as a Speech Pathologist at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and is a Team Leader at the JCC Sunday Funday Program, serving children with developmental disabilities.

Alumni Highlights: Life After LEND!

We're excited to share our video podcast series: Life After LEND! with former trainees sharing what they are doing now and the impact LEND has had on their current path.

https://youtu.be/-qB_XkY8HEI?si=8QcI7ZzWDrrZkx0l

Please click on this link to check out our previous interviews:

We would love to hear from you. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming episode or to share any updates or highlights. Please send an email to wihdlend@wihd.org.

Faculty &Staff Highlights

Mariela Adams, MS was appointed by the Governor as a Council Member for the New York State Council on Developmental Disabilities. It is a three-year appointment.

Karla Diaz was appointed as a mentor to the AUCD National Information and Reporting System (NIRS) as part of the Lead Data Coordinator initiative.

If you would like to learn more about faculty projects and activities, including opportunities for collaborations, please send an email to wihdlend@wihd.org.

Former LEND Trainees

Please contact us at wihdlend@wihd.org to update your contact information.

If you know others who might be interested in becoming LEND trainees at WIHD, please direct them to our Website for information about the program and how to apply. To add "trainee highlights" to our next newsletter or to be interviewed for our "Life After LEND" series, please send an email to wihdlend@wihd.org.

We welcome everyone to join the WIHD LEND LinkedIn community

and follow for more LEND news and updates.