Training Opportunities and Internships for Students
Overview
The Partnership for People with Disabilities offers training opportunities for undergraduate and post-graduate students in a wide range of disciplines. Interdisciplinary training is an essential element in the preparation of tomorrow's leaders in the field of human services. Now more than ever, effective and efficient delivery of services to people with disabilities requires teamwork by professionals from a variety of fields. This varied and collaborative interdisciplinary preparation is reflected in the background of staff and the training they provide. The Partnership collaborates with professionals with work experience in audiology, dentistry, early childhood development, nutrition, nursing, occupational therapy, pediatrics, physical therapy, psychology, public health, social work, special education, and research and evaluation.
Training Opportunities
The Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program (Va-LEND)
The Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program (Va-LEND) is an advance level interdisciplinary leadership training program. The purpose of the program is to train health care professionals and related disciplines to be leaders in the field of childhood neurodevelopmental and related disabilities. The program recruits graduate students or professionals who hold a graduate degree in the following disciplines: audiology, developmental pediatrics, nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, pediatric dentistry, physical therapy, psychology, public health, social work, special education, and speech - language pathology. In addition, Va-LEND recruits family members of children with special needs to be trainees in the program. This training program is supported by federal funds from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration.
You will find the application and contact information on the Va-LEND website at http://www.vcu.edu/partnership/valend.
The Virginia Consortium for Teacher Preparation in Severe Disabilities
The Consortium is designed to increase the number of highly skilled teachers who are endorsed in Severe Disabilities. The Consortium includes teacher education programs in severe disabilities from five participating universities: George Mason University, Norfolk State University, Radford University, University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
A common licensing curriculum, which includes 33 graduate credit hours of coursework and field experiences, has been developed across participating universities. Each class uses video conferencing technology to establish real-time, interactive, multipoint conference instruction among the five university sites.
Individuals interested in applying to the Severe Disabilities (SD) Consortium must meet the admission requirements of their selected university. Furthermore, individuals need to complete the SD Consortium application and submit it to the SD faculty member at their university.
Please note that application procedures vary for each university. However, all applicants must have passed Praxis I or the SAT/ACT equivalent for admission into the SD Consortium. For more information, visit the Consortium website at https://education.gmu.edu/special-education/adapted-curriculum-consortium/.
Internships
Information for internships will be available soon.