History

In 2009, MCHB began funding nine Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) programs to support pediatric audiology trainees' clinical and leadership training. These five-year supplemental grants to LEND awards were expanded to include ten (10) programs in 2011 and again in 2016 to include twelve (12) programs.

The supplement aims to achieve the following goals:

• Strengthen the focus on screening, treatment, and follow-up in infants and young children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and who have or are at risk for autism spectrum (AS) and/or other developmental disabilities (DD);
• Increase the number of pediatric audiologists with clinical and leadership skills and expertise in delivering care to infants and young children with ASD/DD, utilizing these unique skills to work across disciplines better to serve children with hearing loss and their families; and
• Increase the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) systems' capacity to serve infants/children who have DHH or are at risk for ASD/DD by providing technical assistance.

The following programs were awarded the Pediatric Audiology Competitive Supplement to LEND for the 2021-2026 cycle:

• Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
• Children's Hospital Los Angeles
• Institute for Community Inclusion, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
• Institute on Development and Disability, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
• Center for Leadership in Disability, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
• Rose F. Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
• University of Colorado, JFK Partners, Aurora, CO
• University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Farmington, CT
• Mailman Center for Child Development, University of Miami, Miami, FL
• University of Utah Regional LEND (URLEND), Salt Lake City, UT
• University of Washington Center on Human Development and Disability, Seattle, WA
• The LEND Center at the University of Pittsburgh