In So Many Words

I am very excited to be going to the National Autism Conference in State College, PA in a couple of weeks. I have gone three times in the past, although I skipped last year because we took a big family trip out to the Midwest to see my family as well as some Grant Wood sites.

This year Bob is taking some much needed vacation time to give his mind a break from work and putter around at home or go to the music studio while Michael is at day camp and then will be doing fun stuff with him when he gets home in the afternoon.

I, meanwhile, will be enjoying the peace and quiet of the guest room at my brother-in-law’s house and spending most of my time learning about a variety of autism-related topics. Can you tell I am looking forward to it?

One of the great things about this conference is that it brings together professionals from many different disciplines, as well as parents and other family members. The keynote speakers are often adults who have autism sharing their stories and insights. Plus, it’s only $25 for the entire week for PA parents, and they provide lunch as well as great snacks and even a continental breakfast spread in the morning.

The first year we went as a family, and Michael was able to take part in their Children’s Institute. They now give preference to children who have not been there before, so we were unable to get him in again, and I didn’t even try this year.

I’ll be sure to post what I learn, and if anyone reading this is going to be in attendance, please let me know! I would love to connect with you there.

Here are the sessions I’m signed up for. Let me know which ones you are most interested in hearing about:

• Opening Keynote with Brian Abrams
• NIH Autism Research Update (in which they tell us yet again how crazy we are for thinking autism has anything to do with environmental issues)
• Implementation Science and Practice (this is a research symposium)
• Teaching Flexibility: The Development of an Intervention for Children with ASD
• Using the National Standards Report to Inform Training Agendas
• Family Struggles: Living with ASDs
• Collaboration: The Key to Successful IEP Teams
• Practical Hints and Tips for Success at Home, School and the Community (I have heard these speakers before and really liked them.)
• Crisis Management for Families
• Innovative Use of Technology to Support Students with Autism (this is a promising practices session)
• Intensive Clinical Models Designed to Modify Behavior in the Regular and Special Educational Settings (another promising practices session)
• Closing Keynote with Deborah Lipsky

P.S. I just remembered that this year they are going to be posting the handouts online instead of handing out copies at the conference. They aren’t all up yet, but you can check it out if you’re interested in seeing any of them. This change is ostensibly to save paper, although I think the main reason is the handout trolls who would sneak into the sessions they were interested in but not attending to snatch the handouts, making it so there weren’t enough for the people who actually had signed up for the session. (Now there’s an interesting study in group behavior!)

Related Posts:

• Ready and Waiting
• Unraveling the Mysteries of Motor Planning #NAC15
• Day 2 Update #NAC15