Va-LEND Trainee Poster Presentations
April 22, 2015
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| Va-LEND Trainees |
On Wednesday, March 25, 2015 Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) held its annual Research Poster Fair at the Kontos Medical Science Building at Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical Campus. Fourteen LEND trainees representing Occupational Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, Physical Therapy, Genetics, Nursing, Education, Social Work and Family disciplines presented posters based on original research or a literature review on a selected topic related to childhood disabilities.
The first floor conference room was busy as trainees hung posters, practiced presentations and waited to be joined by faculty, friends and guests in the community. Poster topics were varied and offered something of interest for all that attended. Several focused on aspects of early diagnosis and therapies for children with Autism, while others topics addressed the issues of mothers at risk for pre-term birth, phonemic awareness, Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and outcomes for children with Cerebral Palsy and Spinal Cord injuries using specific physical therapy interventions were featured.
Still other LEND trainees explored literature to determine the impact of animal therapy: small animals such as guinea pigs and dogs, and equine therapy have on intervention strategies for children with disabilities. Other topics explored included policy issues related to transition, employment and self-esteem.
In other LEND news, on Friday, March 27, 2015, a team including a Va-LEND faculty member, a current trainee and two graduates presented a poster, Getting to Know the Va-LEND Program, at the annual conference of the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) in Richmond, Va. The team included Lissa Power-deFur, faculty member in Speech-Language Pathology; Jessica Popp, trainee in Speech-Language Pathology; Meredith Heiner, graduate in Audiology; and Andrea Brewer, graduate in Speech-Language Pathology. They described their experiences with the leadership training program, and provided handouts describing the goals of the program and the coursework. The poster was well received with many interested professionals asking questions about the program and training outcomes.
