Hi all! I’ll be presenting my project in June, so I thought I’d provide a quick “glimpse” of what I’ve been doing this semester.

I am currently completing the LEND training program at the University of Washington here in Seattle. LEND stands for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopment and Related Disabilities. There are 40+ LEND programs around the country, most are affiliated with a university, but the programs are funded mainly by the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health. I am one of two nutrition trainees in our program, however there are ~20 trainees representing different disciplines, including pediatrics, genetics, speech language pathology and social work. We work as a team to evaluate children with special healthcare needs and to provide diagnoses that will help them access community and government services.

I have had the opportunity to counsel families of children with a wide variety of behavioral, medical and genetics issues that impact nutrition status. I am also seeing firsthand the public health challenges related to children with special healthcare needs, including (but not limited to) challenges with defining diagnoses, funding for support services and long term care goals as these children move into adulthood.

I highly recommend the LEND program for anyone interested in working with children with developmental delays. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and look forward to telling you all about it!