Trainee Profiles

Abrahim Caroci, DMD, MS, known by his friends as "Abra," is a LEND trainee in Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Rochester LEND program. He grew up in Brazil where he completed his master's degree at University de Sao Paulo before moving to Arizona where he was a research scholar studying tropical diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. After that he pursued his true passion, pediatric dentistry. He graduated from ATSU-Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health, where he also completed a Certificate in Public Health with Dental Emphasis. Abra is currently completing Pediatric Dentistry Residency at University of Rochester-Eastman Institute for Oral Health.

Abra has held longstanding interests in meeting the needs of underserved populations. While volunteering with Special Smiles, a program that provides comprehensive oral health care information including offering free dental screenings and instructions on correct brushing and flossing techniques to participating Special Olympics athletes, Abra began to understand that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are one of the most underserved populations in regards to oral health, often times due to professonals' lack of exposure to this population and a lack of training during dental school. Abra's experience with Special Smiles facilitated his appreciation for working with an interdisciplinary team which led him to discover his local UCEDD and to ultimately pursue training with LEND.

Abra believes what sets the Rochester LEND program apart is a culture of philanthropyand volunteerism. Program faculty are involved with local organizations caring for people with IDD and are able to translate the LEND academic content to practical applications while working with local organizations. The Rochester LEND features 18 different trainees in disciplines such as pediatric dentistry, pediatric medicine, psychiatry, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, social work, self-advocates, and employment specialists. The Rochester LEND program is designed to push trainees into less familiar areas that influence individuals with IDD, which is how Abra came to understand the issues around employment for people with IDD.

One of Abra's most enjoyable training experiences was the family mentorship experience. Spending time with a family with IDD helped him recognize the challenges families face when navigating complex medical and school systems and advocating for services. Abra's current research is focused on clinical transitions from pediatric to adult settings and how individuals with IDD are accessing services in their switch to adult care. Working with an interdisciplinary research team, Abra and others are in the process of developing strategies to improve access to clinical services for individuals in the transition process. Abra also has a strong interest in connecting with all pediatric dentistry providers in the state and creating an accessible list for families with children and youth with special health care needs.

LEND has shaped Abra's practice by teaching him how oral health can be influenced by other professionals and that his practice can be improved through interprofessional collaboration. He also recognizes that a team approach such as working with occupational therapists and other providers can help improve the patient and family experience. Once Abra has completed his LEND training, he intends to divide his time between private pediatric dentistry practice and local organizations and universities serving people with IDD.

Nicole Fanguy is a family trainee in the LoneStar LEND program in Houston, TX. She received her Business Management degree from Queens College in London and received her CDA certification to manage and run a private school in Texas in 2014. Nicole grew up in South Africa and moved to England as an adult. While living in England, Nicole and her American husband had two children including her older son, Landon who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of two. After researching therapies and interventions for her son, Nicole located Dr. Glen Sallows in Wisconsin who began ABA services with Landon just after his third birthday.

When her family moved to the Woodlands in Texas in 2000, Nicole continued her work as a teacher in her son's preschool classroom. Nicole has worked in the autism field since her son was diagnosed, from leading an ABA home based program for her son to working in an ABA clinic in the Woodlands. Nicole worked as one of the directors at the Learning Lane in the Woodlands and moved to Social Skills Playhouse, LLC - an ABA facility also near her home. Nicole continues to work as the public relations director at Social Skills Playhouse, and it was during the national Disability Policy Seminar Conference in April of 2015 that she discovered LEND.

Nicole now participates in the Texas LoneStar LEND program, which has a strong focus on autism. There are trainees in the program from many disciplines such as school psychology, public health, pediatrics, and art therapy. Through 40 different clinical rotations including at schools for children with autism and community therapy locations, trainees receive a well-rounded clinical education and appreciation for the many methods of supporting children and families with autism spectrum disorder.

Nicole's experience in LEND has been very rewarding. As a family trainee, she offers her colleagues an emotional and real world experience from the perspective of a parent of a child with a disability while learning and discussing professional topics in LEND seminars. Nicole shares that her interests tend to vary based on her son's needs, which currently involves transition. Her leadership project involves connecting family trainees, faculty, and alumni across different LEND programs via a Facebook group to discuss and collaborate on career opportunities after their LEND training. Like other trainees, family trainees also gain unique skills and insight in an interdisciplinary model. However, they do not always have a set path towards a career or a way to apply this knowledge. Nicole hopes to support family trainees in pursuing meaningful positions with their unique skills as a family advocate.

When Nicole completes her training, she will continue to work in her present role, spreading disability awareness and connecting families to evidence-based therapy. Her priority is to be the best advocate she can be for her son, and to give him the tools to be successful in his life. Landon has just successfully completed his first year at community college and will be going to an advocacy course at A&M University in College Station this summer.

Cindy Hensley is a Special Education trainee in the Alaska LEND Without Walls. She grew up in Sitka, Alaska, and completed her Masters of Science in Special Education at the University of Oregon in 2000. Cindy has been in the field of Special Education since 1996 and was considering pursuing her PhD. Cindy became a part of The Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities (AADD), and it was there that she met a former LEND trainee. After learning about the program, Cindy believed LEND would offer her the challenging professional experience she so strongly desired.

The Alaska LEND Without Walls is a uniquely structured training program. All LEND trainees are returning professionals who are seeking additional training or specialization. Weekly seminars are completed via telecommunication from around the state of Alaska. Three times per year, all the LEND trainees commute to Anchorage for two days of intensive face to face meetings. In the 2015/2016 LEND year there were 13 trainees representing 7 disciplines: Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Public Health, Psychology, Special Education, and Family Advocacy. Alaska LEND trainees participate in diagnostic field clinics throughout rural Alaska with a developmental pediatrician from the University of Washington. Additionally, trainees also participate in local clinics as well as field experiences that provide them with a wide array of clinical experiences.

Cindy is passionate about integration and ensuring people with disabilities have a voice and a choice. Cindy pursued a degree in special education because she found that many of the individuals she worked with were being talked about without having an opportunity to rise to their potential. Cindy holds a strong interest in services being provided in home and community based settings. She feels that LEND has greatly expanded her professional network across the nation and provided her with a multitude of resources for the individuals with whom she works. She also notes that LEND has improved the diversity of her practice and expanded her knowledge base in neurodevelopmental disabilities. Cindy is passionate about having self-advocates as a part of the LEND experience, and hopes to play a role in building this into her program by remaining a part of her local LEND and UCEDD.

Kelsey Marks is a LEND trainee and graduate student in speech-language pathology at the University of Iowa. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and completed her Bachelors of Arts in Communication Science and Disorder and Spanish at Indiana University. Kelsey has held long-standing interests in working at a children’s hospital with children with complex medical needs.

Kelsey became interested in the Center for Disabilities and Development and the LEND program in Iowa City due to a growing appreciation for interdisciplinary healthcare; she found that there were questions arising from her work that could not be answered from a single isolated profession. These questions ranged from clinical experiences such as managing challenging behaviors and supporting fine and gross motor development to systems level challenges and policy barriers that her patients faced. Kelsey’s experiences led her to LEND because she wanted to provide the best care she could both in and beyond the clinic.

The Iowa LEND program features 21 different trainees in disciplines including speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, public health, health administration, social work, pediatric dentistry, rehabilitation counseling, family navigation, and psychology. Kelsey believes the ILEND program is unique in several ways: there is a strong family mentorship experience (at least 20 hours over the course of an academic year) where trainees are taught by a family with a child with a developmental disability; health administration trainees work alongside other trainees to understand the clinical experience; and cultural competence is an integral part of the program, including partnerships with the hemophilia clinic in an Amish community. She believes the program has a strong focus the current political climate of Iowa, policy development, and how policy affects patient and family care.

Kelsey is interested in informing the general population about disability and dissolving the misconceptions that exist to promote inclusion and breakdown barriers that people with disabilities experience. Though Kelsey’s program does not yet include a self-advocate trainee, she believes that including people with disabilities in LEND programs is essential to recognize barriers and build policy that will have a meaningful impact on people with disabilities. Kelsey feels that LEND has equipped her to provide care of the whole child, family, and the community that the child lives in. Kelsey feels that LEND has equipped her to provide care for the whole child, family, and the community in which the child lives. She feels empowered to shape policy to promote inclusion in schools, community playgrounds, and employment; Kelsey believes that without LEND she would never have grown this professional passion in a traditional graduate curriculum.

Kelsey recently completed an Adapted Book project where she and her colleagues created literacy kits consisting of 20 adapted storybooks, story boards, and worksheets. Adapted books utilize small visual aids embedded throughout the book, draw attention and create interest for children by providing a more interactive experience; these books also included “targeted vocabulary” that can be used for supported learning. Her team also created the “CDD Reads” program and which offers bi-weekly storybook readings in English, Spanish and bilingual Spanish/English to model interactive book reading.

She is now applying the lessons that she learned through these experiences to clinical practice on her final clinic rotations. When Kelsey graduates from LEND, she hopes to work in an inpatient rehabilitation facility with a multidisciplinary team serving children with developmental and acquired disabilities to apply the clinical and advocacy skills she has developed.

Harpreet Nagra is a counseling psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon and a LEND psychology intern at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. She was born in India, grew up in California and Arizona, and moved to Oregon for graduate school.

Harpreet’s research and clinical interests include health psychology and reducing health disparities among low-income and ethnically diverse communities. Much of her clinical practice involves working with families to address common behavioral concerns that arise while managing neurodevelopmental differences and chronic illnesses. Her most recent interest involves reducing health inequities via research and clinical intervention design. Examples of her current research projects include understanding the healthcare utilization of children with acute pain, exploring the effectiveness of the Novel Interventions in Children’s Healthcare (NICH) program on achieving the Triple Aim, and evaluating the impact of racism on birth outcomes among Arab Americans. Throughout her career, Harpreet has consistently worked to address social justice issues relevant among marginalized communities.

During Harpreet’s training in counseling psychology she was introduced to the advantages of working within a community. LEND both models and provides a unique platform to serve children and families through this community lens by providing multiple opportunities for interdisciplinary training. The Oregon LEND program currently has 16 trainees in disciplines including audiology, psychology, social work, health administration, family consultation, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, and neurodevelopmental pediatrics. The Oregon LEND program includes a family mentorship program, research and leadership projects, and features a rigorous interdisciplinary clinical experience.

While collaborating with other LEND sub-specialties, Harpeet’s skillset was enhanced by the inclusion of a myriad of perspectives and innovative approaches to address common familial concerns. Upon graduation from LEND, Harpreet aims to continue implementing the community perspective, develop a deeper understanding of cultural competency and family-centered care, and to expand upon her strong foundation of knowledge and skills that improve health care delivery for all families.

Hyacinth Ocampo is a LEND trainee and graduate student in Occupational Therapy at the Center for Disabilities at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. She grew up in Aurora, IL, and completed her bachelors of arts in Psychology at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Hyacinth has a long-standing interest in working with pediatric populations and as part of an interdisciplinary team. She was introduced to LEND at the University of Illinois by a friend and sought out a graduate program that offered LEND training.

The South Dakota LEND includes 15 different trainees representing fields including occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, physical therapy, audiology, nutrition, school psychology, and parent advocacy. Trainees complete three core experiences consisting of 100 hours of training each in research, interdisciplinary clinical rotations, and leadership projects. The program has ties to the Native American community, including two projects that work to actively recruit Native American students as LEND trainees along with other underrepresented and underserved groups. One is the Maternal Child Health Careers Research Initiative for Student Enhancement-Undergraduate Program (MCHC/RISE-UP), a project that works in conjunction with LEND to educate and encourage undergraduate students to pursue careers in maternal and child health fields and participate in the SD LEND program. The other supports a collaborative-experiential-immersion (CEI) learning approach for at least one Fellow recruited from Sinte Gleska University, a tribal higher education institution chartered by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, into a fellowship experience at the SD LEND/UCEDD. The Fellows have access to LEND activities and LEND trainees have the opportunity to gain educational and clinical experiences within the Reservation communities.

Hyacinth's research during her LEND year involved conducting semi-structured interviews with children to understand what factors in activities make them feel well. The study was done to help educate caregivers, educators, policy makers, and health care professionals on the importance of listening to the children's voice. As part of the results, a model was created to represent the interaction between the child, activities, environment, and well-being.

Since pursuing training with LEND, Hyacinth has experienced substantial professional growth, particularly in relating to family members as a result of her experience with the parent mentorship program. Through this connection, she feels she has become more aware and considerate of the needs of the whole family she serves and recognizes their readiness to promote change through the home exercises prescribed.

When Hyacinth completes her training, she hopes to continue to practice in a setting that encourages interdisciplinary care, ultimately collaborating with families and providers to design an inclusive community that actively engages people with disabilities in a variety of activities of daily living and physical activities.

Amanda Spies is a trainee in the Emerging Transformational Leadership Program (ETLP) at the University of Miami Mailman Center for Child Development. At the Mailman Center, those enrolled in the ETLP program train with LEND trainees and trainees in the Self-Advocates Leadership Training (SALT) program.

Amanda is a community professional who had been working with Special Olympics for the past two years. She was introduced to LEND and the ETLP program by a former trainee who recommended the training experience. Amanda is one of five people selected from the local community to participate in a year-long training experience.

Amanda is passionate about working with people who experience intellectual disabilities. She is particularly interested in promoting educational reform and improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Amanda believes she has greatly benefited from her training experience. She has developed a much stronger community network spanning different disciplines, yet all sharing a similar passion. She also has found many different ways to become a leader in her local community.  When Amanda is done with her training, she hopes to continue to grow as a leader in the movement towards inclusion and acceptance for people with disabilities. Her goal is to work at a non-profit organization that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Amanda would like to move to Washington DC and continue to advocate for people with disabilities and make changes to policies that affect people with disabilities and their families.