The Texas Lifespan LEND Program is a federally funded leadership training program housed within Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. This program is a collaboration between Developmental Pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor Transition Medicine Clinic, and several community organizations and partners. The goal of the LEND training program is to improve access to healthcare and services for individuals with disabilities and their families by training diverse groups of professionals in leadership, cultural competence, clinical knowledge, advocacy, and interdisciplinary collaboration between health care professionals and families.
The LEND Framework is based upon the Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Life Course Perspective which is a conceptual framework that views health as an integrated continuum shaped by biological, behavioral, psychological, social, and environmental factors interacting across an individual's entire lifespan. The program was created to address critical workforce and systems gaps affecting individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities across the United States.
Texas Lifespan LEND prepares future leaders to improve access, quality of care, community inclusion, and systems coordination for individuals with disabilities and their families across the lifespan. Training emphasizes collaboration across healthcare, education, public health, community organizations, advocacy systems, and family support networks. Texas Lifespan LEND is one of only approximately 60 programs nationally.
What Makes Our Program Unique?
Lifespan Focus
Our program is one of the few training opportunities in Texas designed to address the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities from early childhood through adulthood. Through partnerships that span pediatric and adult care and community systems, trainees develop a comprehensive understanding of lifespan services and support.
Interdisciplinary Learning
Trainees learn alongside professionals, graduate students, family members, and self-advocates from a wide range of backgrounds. This interdisciplinary model reflects the real-world systems that individuals and families navigate every day.
Lived Experience Leadership
Family members and self-advocates are not only participants in the program but serve as faculty members, mentors, advisors, and leaders. Their perspectives help shape program priorities, training experiences, and future systems change efforts.
Community Engagement
The Texas Lifespan LEND Program extends learning beyond the classroom by connecting trainees with the systems, services, and communities that support individuals with disabilities across the lifespan. Through partnerships spanning healthcare, education, employment, community living, recreation, advocacy, and public service, trainees develop a deeper understanding of the factors that influence participation, inclusion, and well-being.
Strong collaborations with healthcare providers, schools, community organizations, disability service agencies, advocacy groups, public health entities, and government partners across Texas create rich opportunities for experiential learning. These partnerships help ensure that trainees learn directly from the communities they will serve and develop the leadership skills needed to advance system change and improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities and their families.
Statewide Access
A flexible learning model combines in-person, virtual, and asynchronous experiences, allowing trainees from across Texas, including rural and underserved communities, to participate.