Saturday, June 6, 2009

Attention: Convention

If you're heading to the NDSC convention in July/August and you blog, please take a moment to check out this site.

DS Bloggers

A group of Sacramento-area moms has banded together to work on ensuring that we can all pick each other out in a crowd. They will be making special nametags up for all that choose to participate. [I had the pleasure of meeting up with these ladies - +1! - over the weekend. More on that later.]

Also, the registration deadline is quickly approaching, so please sign up soon if you want to come (I'm including myself here). It's a pretty pricey endeavor, but everyone I've spoken with says that it's well worth the sacrifice.

I think I'll be in training for work in Phoenix that week (with Playette in tow - we are so going to melt), but should be back in time to meet up with BD and attend the Pre-Conference sessions. As of this moment, I'm thinking that we're going to opt for the ST-related sessions, which means we'll be hearing Libby Kumin and/or Sara Rosenfeld Johnson speak on Friday.

Speech is a really big one for us right now and I'm second, third, and fourth guessing our current approach almost daily. I know I'm doing the best I can with the information that I have, but this is so difficult.

More difficult than what any parent goes through when thinking about things that will affect their child long-term? Maybe not. But it's hard for me to say since I only have one child. The thought that we may be setting her up for failure is horrifying.

When Playette walks in to a room, people see her disability. It's one that's almost instantly recognizable. What I would love is for her ability to communicate to contradict some all of the low expectations some people will immediately bestow upon her. If she can communicate well, she can explain herself, she can stand up for herself, she can build relationships.

I'd really hate to screw that up.

4 comments:

Monica Crumley said...

It was great meeting you, the hubs, and the little miss. What a cutie! I hear ya in terms of not wanting to mess things up. I've always said the communication gap will be the one thing that probably breaks my heart the most. Thanks also for the mention of our DS Bloggers venture. I hope many many will take us up on this fun idea. See you there!

Tricia said...

Oh man! I wish I could go this year. We had a good time in Boston last year.

I wonder where it will be next year. Hopefully someplace I can go!!!

Jennifer Horner said...

Hi Crystal,
Wes, Viv and I will be going to the convention and the early workshops on speech too. I feel like it is definitely the most important thing, I want Viv to always have extra speech therapy. If she cannot get her point across then I feel like she will be overlooked in the world. See you in July!

Lisa said...

I've heard that both ST workshops are great. Gary and I registered for them (he's going to one, I'm going to the other). But I did hear that you can meander the halls and move between sessions :)