About the Training Program
The Oregon Health & Science University received its first training grant from the Maternal and Child Health Services (Title V) in December 1967. Since then the interdisciplinary program in developmental disabilities, now the Oregon Institute on Disability & Development has expanded to become one of the premier training programs in the country. Ongoing funding for training from Maternal and Child Health Bureau, core administrative funding from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, and numerous shorter term grants from other agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Education, the Administration for Children and Families, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, enable the OIDD to carry out its diverse range of training, research, technical assistance and dissemination activities.
The Child Development and Rehabilitation Center (CDRC) is “home” to the OIDD/UCEDD and provides a rich training environment for OIDD interns and fellows within its family-centered clinics at the new Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. CDRC is an academic, service and research unit within OHSU and is unique in combining the State Services for Children with Special Health Needs and a University Affiliated Program on a university campus.
The OIDD uses an interdisciplinary approach to support the needs of all people with developmental disabilities. As a University Affiliated Program (one of 30 across the country), it has four distinct responsibilities:
- to train professional, administrative, technical, direct care and other specialized personnel to address the needs of people with developmental disabilities;
to demonstrate a full range of exemplary services that are available to persons with disabilities;
to conduct the necessary research related to these activities; and
to assist the states, regions and communities in achieving their respective objectives by disseminating information and technical assistance.
CDRC’s Child Development Clinic provides the main practicum arena for the interdisciplinary training of students. However, CDRC’s many and varied service clinics are liberally used to enhance the variety of presentations of patient and parent needs. Other community and state resources also provide valuable practicum sites.
To promote the students increased understanding of the service delivery and appreciation of the diverse service settings that families work with, the LEND project requires that each trainee spend a minimum of 20% of their total LEND time in a community setting, with supervision by OIDD faculty. The learning experiences are structured to address the individual trainee’s training needs.
Disciplines and specialty areas represented by the training faculty include Health Administration, Assistive Technology, Audiology, Child Psychiatry, Medical Genetics, Neurology, Nursing, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Pediatrics, Pediatric Dentistry, Physical Therapy, Psychology, Social Work, Special Education and Speech/Language Pathology. Each discipline has a training coordinator; some disciplines have additional staff members. Since all faculty members are committed to the interdisciplinary philosophy, all disciplines cooperate in the training of all students in the OIDD. The academic staff has appointments at CDRC and joint appointments within OHSU academic departments.
