A Team Approach: How the LEND Program Can Provide Interdisciplinary Training for Behavior Analysts

Vincent et al. (2025) mapped out how behavior analysts can join LEND programs. LEND stands for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. It is a national training network for doctors, teachers, social workers, and now BCBAs.

The paper is a roadmap, not an experiment. It lists what ABA trainees would do in LEND clinics, team meetings, and family sessions. It also flags barriers like billing codes and turf worries.

The authors show that LEND sites already added ABA-specific tracks. Trainees learn to write briefs, speak up in team rounds, and coach families alongside other disciplines.

Benefits include sharper advocacy skills and faster referral trust. Barriers include different jargon and competing supervision hours.

Gasiewski et al. (2021) extend the idea. They give a ready-made model for BCBA-OT teamwork that a LEND track could copy on day one.

Pickard et al. (2024) warn that clinicians cling to old DTT habits when asked to use naturalistic methods. A LEND curriculum must build in extra practice and system support so trainees actually carry new skills back to clinics.

Glodowski et al. (2025) show how an ethics hotline helped BCBAs inside a human-service agency. LEND programs could plug in the same hotline structure so trainees learn to solve ethical problems as a team.

If you supervise students or want to boost your own advocacy, push your local LEND to add an ABA slot. Use the BCBA-OT checklist from Gasiewski et al. to plan joint sessions. Add peer-feedback drills from Fraidlin et al. (2023) so trainees practice giving feedback before they graduate. These small moves turn the roadmap into real-world skills your next hire can use on Monday.