Apraxia-Kids Parent Conference
Back Home and Introduction of Notes
Well, I have been home for a week. Work and other priorities seem to be consuming me, but I thought I ought to start putting all my notes in order. After being in Pittsburgh for the weekend and seeing 400+ people who share my concerns, hopes, and desires for children with Apraixia I am ready to hit the ground running. Or at least I like to think so.
When I arrived home from the conference my husband and son were waiting for me at in the baggage claim area. When I saw Holland my eyes brimmed with tears. It had been an emotionally charged weekend and I was ready to be the world's best speech mom. I gathered him up in my arms and totally lost it. As I cried he patted my back and repeated over and over "hey, Mom". It was a touching moment. My poor hard working husband was ignored for a good three minutes.
We went home, and I immediately started to push Holland more. I had so much information at my disposal, so much knowledge, I knew we could drill words and work on sounds and still get along. Well, that was a euphoric misconception. By bedtime Holland had had enough. He wouldn't repeat words or say them correctly, he was burned out with the "new" mommy. Therapy rolled around in two days and he was stilled burned out, the "new" mommy was a drag. So I started to back off just a little, but still by Wednesday therapy was too much and the "new" mommy was getting to be tiresome. So, we are back to where we were before I left for the conference, no home practice. I still have plans for setting up some home practice, but I need to be a bit more sneaky.
Yesterday, our order from Super Duper arrived. Ned's Head was packed into the car for our speech therapist and we broke out the new game "I Spy a Mouse In the House". Fun, but turns out I don't have the heart to push the speech issues. Holland is doing well, but I just don't understand how you take the knowledge you gained from "Making Home Practice Fun" and really do just that. We have our new game, we have a new pile of books from the library, we have a mom who is ready to charge, and still we are pretty much where we were before the conference. Our most exciting news is I managed to hire our school therapist to "tutor" Holland over the summer. Anyway, what was the point of this rambling? I seem to have forgotten. Oh yeah, I was going to post my notes for the conference. The first ever Parents Conference on Apraxia!
My notes wouldn't be complete without mentioning the fact that all the people at the conference were wonderful, not just the organizers, but ALL the people. All the parents, all the professionals, all the staff, everyone. My first Apraxia Conference encounter was with Cheryl Linklater another parent who came to conference all the way from a small town near Edmonton Alberta Canada. Cheryl was gracious enough to hang out in the Pittsburgh airport for an hour so we could share a hired car back to the hotel. Cheryl is a true gem. She is nice, intelligent, and great to hang out with, but I didn't know any of that when I decided to share a ride with her. That was the bonus I got for putting myself on the line in an uncharacteristic way. Thanks Cheryl for being a pal during the conference. I regret never meeting up with Alene and Ron form Northern California. We were to meet at the shuttle on Friday morning, but it didn't work out. I was busy just trying to figure out what was going on and everyone was so nice that I am sure they met up with plenty of people. Anyway, I just wanted to make the point that all the folks attending the conference were open and friendly and very approachable.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express across the river from Desquene University. It was a quick ten minute walk to the University with 210 (yes, I counted them) stairs thrown in for good measure. There was also a shuttle service provided by the hotel. That was great when the weather took a turn for the worse on Saturday. I want to add that the location for the conference and the surrounding area made for a good walking friendly environment.
Now, MY NOTES. These are notes, not detailed narratives, but if you have the presentation materials it might make some sense. The majority of notes came from the sessions where therapy play activities were discussed. There were tons of good ideas being mentioned the whole weekend.
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