WHY THE MTT EXPERIENCE?

Sometimes people are interested and passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families but find that their time is too limited for participation in the long-term LEND program. The medium-term LEND Traineeship provides a balanced approach to developing your expertise in neurodevelopmental disabilities while keeping the time commitment to a minimum. By completing only 40 hours (up to a maximum of 299) of activities and experiences, and focusing on LEND-related areas of interest, students in the program receive documentation acknowledging completion of the “medium-term traineeship” (MTT). Through the MTT program, we hope to encourage and reinforce a positive understanding of issues that impact children with disabilities and their families.

The MTT program is geared towards students (undergraduate or graduate level) and community members who have an interest in learning about issues impacting children with disabilities and their families. This may include students who are in a residency program, rotation, internship, practicum, fellowship, or merely taken for advancement in academic credentials through a course of study. The MTT experience provides opportunities to gain knowledge and skills in one or more areas: interdisciplinary training, leadership, advocacy, research and education, clinical work with those with developmental disabilities, family-centered care, multi-disciplinary care; and public policy.

A LEND MTT experience occurs over one year and the starting date is at the discretion of the student and individual faculty mentor. MTTs participate in some core (required) LEND sessions asynchronously which are accessed through a specific MTT Canvas site. The LEND MTT experience may also include approved activities that are part of one’s academic program that are designed based on the trainee's personal interests (e.g., community service, clinical activities, research, engagement with community organizations) that focus on LEND-related areas. Some MTTs design a project of interest or complete an advocacy project; often, these projects are presented using materials housed in the Canvas site (as approved by the LEND mentor). Details of an MTT experience are developed with a LEND faculty mentor.

ABOUT THE LEND FACULTY MENTOR

LEND faculty members represent a variety of healthcare professional fields and each trainee would be assigned to a faculty member within the student’s field of interest. Eligibility and plans for MTTs are initiated, organized, and implemented by the LEND Faculty mentor who then helps to manage and support the experience for their MTTs. The MTT Faculty mentor has specific roles:

• Helps create a format and set of recommended experiences for their group of MTTs.
• Helps to design a Leadership Plan in concert with the MTT student and helps facilitate a positive experience. Most LEND MTT faculty set up group plans with a targeted set of students (e.g., Undergraduates in Communication Science; dental students) or through a course that they teach. Your MTT Faculty Mentor is your "go to" person for helping you set up the LEND experiences. 
• Develops an MTT (Individual or Group) Leadership Plan. MTT experiences can often be individualized.                 
• Communicates with the trainee regularly to check on progress, confirm completion of core MTT activities, and more. Meets at least twice with trainee (i.e., development of Leadership Plan; end of experience).                                      
• Provides access to the MTT Canvas site to the student allowing them access to core LEND sessions and facilitates tracking of MTT requirements in the Leadership Plan.

If you are interested in the MTT program, the faculty member from your area of interest may be your first contact (see the People section for contact information). Otherwise, please contact Amy Wetmore at alw137@pitt.edu or by phone at (412) 692-6538 for assistance. 

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