Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disorders Training Program - The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW), in partnership with Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), proposes to establish the South Texas Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (STX-LEND) Program to increase the capacity of the maternal and child health workforce to meet the complex needs of children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD). Consistent with HRSA LEND objectives, STX-LEND will prepare graduate and postgraduate students, practicing professionals, family members, and individuals with disabilities to become interdisciplinary leaders who improve screening, evaluation, diagnosis, evidence-based intervention, care coordination, and systems of care across the lifespan. South Texas faces persistent shortages of professionals with autism/DD expertise, particularly in medically underserved, rural, border, and predominantly Hispanic communities. These shortages contribute to delayed developmental screening and autism diagnosis, fragmented referral pathways, limited access to evidence-based services, and insufficient interdisciplinary coordination. STX-LEND will address these gaps by preparing providers and community leaders to deliver culturally and linguistically responsive, person- and family-centered services for infants, children, adolescents, transition-aged youth, and young adults with autism/DD. Building on infrastructure established through UIW’s federally funded Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant, STX-LEND will integrate academic coursework, supervised clinical and community-based experiences, leadership development, research, quality improvement, advocacy, continuing education, and technical assistance. The program will recruit long-term, medium-term, and short-term trainees from medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, school psychology, public health, and social work. Family trainees and individuals with disabilities will be integral members of the interdisciplinary cohort and will participate meaningfully in academic, clinical, field, leadership, and evaluation activities. Trainees will develop competencies in interdisciplinary team-based practice, autism/DD screening and diagnostic evaluation, referral and care coordination, medical home and transition concepts, evidence-based intervention, family engagement, and systems change. Distinctive training experiences will include the Monthly Interdisciplinary Autism Screening and Developmental Consultation Clinic, a supervised team-based training site for developmental screening, autism/DD consultation, referral planning, and family-centered care coordination, exposure to and training in autism diagnostic tools, including ADOS-2-informed assessment practices, Social Attention and Communication Surveillance certification, the Autism Community Network’s NEURture Project, OLLU’s Camp Unidos, interprofessional simulations, Parent Leadership Tool Kits, and Autism Response Kits for first responders. Over the five-year project period, STX-LEND will prepare approximately 80 interdisciplinary trainees, including 45 long-term trainees and 35 advanced medium-term trainees, while also engaging short-term trainees and continuing education participants. The program will expand autism/DD screening and diagnostic training, strengthen referral networks, provide at least three continuing education activities annually, offer technical assistance to community and maternal and child health partners, and disseminate products and lessons learned to regional and state audiences. STX-LEND will implement performance measurement, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement processes to assess trainee outcomes, training quality, continuing education and technical assistance activities, diagnostic and referral capacity, and contributions to the improvement of systems of care. By strengthening the regional workforce, engaging individuals with lived experience
