Connecticut LEND is thrilled to welcome Ann Turnbull on Friday, September 26, 2025. Ann and her late husband, H. Rutherford “Rud,” have been presenting to CT LEND trainees for many years. Ann is the Marianna and Ross Beach Distinguished Professor Emerita in Special Education at the University of Kansas. She co-founded and co-directed the Beach Center on Disability, focusing her research on family support, family and professional collaboration, and community inclusion for people with disabilities. Ann has been a Principal Investigator on over 25 federally funded research and personnel development grants, and is a prolific writer, having co-authored many books, textbooks, articles, and chapters in the fields of special education and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Inspired by her son, Jay, who had autism and intellectual disabilities, Ann’s passion for the disability community is deeply personal. We are so excited to welcome back Ann for another LEND seminar to share her wisdom with our 2025-2026 trainees!

The Connecticut Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (CT LEND) is one of 60 LEND programs across the country that focuses on the training of future leaders from a wide variety of professional disciplines in order to improve the health care delivery system for children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. The CT LEND provides training to graduate students from audiology, nursing, psychology, public health, school psychology, social work, special education, speech language and hearing science. Self-advocates, family members and community members also participate in one year of course work, community practicum assignments, advocacy and research. The training program requires the completion of coursework (9 credit hours), research studies, advocacy projects and community practicum assignments with infants, children and youth and adults with developmental disabilities, including autism, and their families, for over 700 hours a year.