I was ecstatic when I received the news that I was chosen to be one of the LEND trainees from my discipline, Physical Therapy. I am interested in going into the Pediatric PT field thus LEND seemed like an amazing program that would gear me with additional information and resources about working with children/ individuals with various disabilities that I would undoubtedly work with upon completion of my schooling. However, when I say “additional information and resources,” at this point I mean “only” information and resources.
Having been in LEND for almost a whole semester and almost completing my pediatric PT course, I am stunned by how little overlap there has been with information shared in LEND and in that course. LEND has taught me an immense amount that I would never have known had I just taken this pediatric PT course. We have had just one guest lecture about school-based PT in which IEPs were discussed in very little detail, while in LEND we have received a wealth of IEP information as well as done case studies on different IEPs. We have had no lecture about language and what type of language to use with parents of and patients who may be neurodiverse or physically disabled. In fact, I don’t think that I have seen or heard the terms neurodiverse or neurotypical used in any of our lectures. Instead, they are populated with language such as “normal” vs “abnormal.” While this may be necessary in the PT field to make comparisons and come up with interventions, it is not overtly stated for other members of my cohort that this type of language should not be used with parents and children. Thankfully, we had a speaker talk about the “strengths based approach/language” in LEND and this has emphasized the importance of positive language for me I will make this a priority in my practice moving forward.
By writing this I am not trying to talk down on my program. It is a great program and I have been learning so much. In my program and other PT programs across the country, there is definitely room for improvement especially considering there are other students who are interested in pediatric PT, but are not a part of LEND. They may not learn some of the information that I’ve learned until they are on the job, or they may never learn it, which would put them and their patients at a disadvantage. Regardless, I am extremely grateful for being in LEND, and wish that this wealth of extremely important information and resources was more accessible for other students in pre-health programs, whether they know they have an interest in it or not.
