Virginia Collaborative Developmental Disabilities Trainee Exchange

April 17, 2019

In September 2018, Va-LEND at Virginia Commonwealth University was awarded a grant to collaborate with the University of Virginia in a trainee exchange program. As part of this project, Va-LEND Trainees have had the opportunity to visit an array of clinics at the University of Virginia as part of their LEND clinical hours . To date a total of eight Va-LEND Trainees have visited twelve different clinics and the Va-LEND Training Co-Directors also observed a clinic at UVA. Additional visits by LEND trainees are scheduled in the coming months. The clinics visited by Va-LEND Trainees were: Down Syndrome, DBP Diagnostic Clinic, Pediatric Neuromuscular, the Autism Clinic, and the Neonatal Clinic. The trainees had a positive experience and benefitted from the opportunity to observe other clinics at a different University.

A second major component of the collaboration is for two UVA Developmental Pediatric fellows to participate in Va-LEND Disability Policy-related seminar sessions, and to attend the Disability Policy Seminar held in April in Washington D.C. Finally, in the last months of the training year, a visit to explore resources and opportunities in a rural Virginia community will be undertaken in collaboration with UVA clinic personnel.