The LEND program at the Institute for Community Inclusion at Children’s Hospital Boston provides advanced interdisciplinary training to health and counseling professionals and to families to improve their knowledge in working with children, adolescents and young adults with developmental and related disabilities. This training is multi-focused and ranges from policy issues and team collaboration to specific clinical practice and support models. Trainees develop their leadership potential to improve the status of infants, children, and adolescents with (or at risk for) neurodevelopmental disabilities and to enhance systems of care for these children and their families.

NEWS

LEND Program Graduation, 2012

FRONT: Lindsay Robinson, Stephanie Cassone, Leah Wildenger, Hailey Love, Allison Boris, Tania Maceda, Martha Kwasnik. BACK: Sara Kaplan-Levy, Amy Heberle, Becca McNalley Keehn, Cristin Lind, Kara Stock-Guild, Dani Saba, Miriam Tillinger, Kendra Liljenquist. MISSING: Amanda Griffin, Katherine Walbam

The ICI/LEND program at Children's Hospital Boston celebrated its end-of-year graduation on May 11th. The LEND fellows participated in a series of presentations reflecting on their year. The highlights included visiting families, meeting Title V program directors, working with community-based organizations, conducting research and clinical services and attending the annual Disability Policy Seminar in Washington DC late in April. The convocation featured a talk by Dr. Kass Braden, the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center's LEND program on cross cultural collaborations. She emphasized things to remember by reviewing her experiences in South Africa over years working to set up HIV/AIDS awareness programs and how these collaborations can work well and some of the pitfalls that one inevitable finds. Her theme of "finding the boundaries between what I believe is right and what others have the right to believe" resonated well with the LEND fellows and faculty.
The fellows ended the day by presenting the LEND faculty with a beautifully framed poster that along with a brightly colored image notes that "disability is not a brave struggle or courage in the face of adversity. Disability is an art. It's an ingenious way to live"

David Helm, Ph.D., with graduation speaker: Dr. Kass Braden

CBO representatives attending LEND graduation.

Cristin Lind, Becca McNally Keehn, Leah Wildenger, David Helm: "Thanks David."

David Helm, PhD, and Ludwik Szymanski, MD, from MA ICI UCEDD/LEND Receive Awards

David Helm and Ludwik Szymanski at the Children's Hospital Boston Division of Developmental Medicine awards ceremony

March 22, 2012

David Helm, PhD, Institute for Community Inclusion LEND Director, was awarded the Allen Crocker Award for his extensive commitment to disability issues. His long standing interest in working in the local communities, particularly community based minority organizations, created a great platform for linking the leadership training of LEND to real life community needs while providing a range of students (sometimes representing up to 20 disciplines) strategies on how to support policy development and community advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities and their families.

Ludwik Szymanski, MD, Director Emeritus in psychiatry at the Institute for Community Inclusion, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Children's Hospital Boston Division of Developmental Medicine awards ceremony. He was recognized for his more than five decades of commitment to psychiatry and his deep affection for supporting and improving the lives of people with disabilities.

End-of-Life Care for Children and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

It is available at https://bookstore.aaidd.org/BookDetail.aspx?bid=98.