Re: What a great conference!!! Loved it!!!

February 21, 1970

, Dr Agin and Jeanne,

You are all such a source of inspiration. The conference was

wonderful. I am awed by the amount of dedication each of you possess.

Our children are better off with all you are leading the way. The

information that was presented was insightful and very useful. If anyone

out there gets an opportunity to see them speak, please jump at it!

Regarding the letter that posted about a child writing to a

teacher, I think it is a wonderful idea. As a teacher, I always hear

parents telling me about how their child is special, but this letter

really hits home. I would highly recommend helping your child write a

letter like that.

Kate

April 28, 2004

Hi all,

I just wanted to thank all the professionals, parents and grandparents

who attended the conference. I can tell you each time I attend a conf

I learn so much. I am in the process of re doing my conf notes. I also

was truly honored to be in the same room with those distinguished

speakers including (Dr Agin, and ) and met so many nice people.

Jeanne Buesser

President, Apraxia Network of Bergen County

> Just wanted to say quick that it was so awesome to see some of you

> again -and meet others from here for the first time! It was an

> honor to be speaking at a conference with such distinguished

> speakers such as Dr. Silver

> http://www.ldonline.org/article.php?id=52 & loc=4

>

> Thanks to the learning disability association for hosting us and

> having such a class act event all the way around!

>

> There were many amazing speakers but since I have limited time just

> want to comment on one. Dr. Silver gave an incredible talk about

> raising a child with any type of learning disability of which he

> includes speech impairments. He said these are all " life long "

> impairments -but quickly added that as an MD -he himself suffers

> from a learning disability which is why knew what type of medicine

> he would do best in. It's not that you can't accomplish all others

> do -and more, it's just that " the brain is wired differently " and

> always will be -so being aware of the pros and cons of each

> individual will help each rise to their highest potential.

>

> One bit of advice he gave in his amazing lecture is that instead of

> us as parents advocating for our children -it's taken more to heart

> most times if the child advocates him/herself to the teacher.

Tells

> the teacher why it's best not to call on him, why she will do

better

> working with a computer in class -etc. When this happnes -this is

> the " type of child " who shows the world he is aware of his

> differences both pros and cons - and can excel not only in school -

> but in life.

>

> Being we deal with primarily communication impairments here -

> certainly most of our children would do much better in this type of

> personal advocacy if it came in the sense of a letter written by

the

> child -or written " by the child " with help from a big person.

>

> I can't wait to do this for Tanner next year -what a cool idea!

> Here is a brief off the top:

>

> Dr. Mrs. ,

>

> My name is Tanner and I have grown up with a speech impairment that

> I've learned to overcome. I'm able to understand everything said

to

> me and have no problem with my hearing.

>

> I wanted to share with you a few strategies that I have found

helped

> me to be a top student in all of my classes the past few years

> through first grade. I may at times have trouble saying certain

> words even if I know what the word is in my head, and what the word

> means. Please keep that in mind if I read outloud from a book, for

> those are the times my speech may be a bit more choppy, when I have

> to speak " on command " or under any stress. It would help me if

> there will be things that I will be expected to read outloud in

> class if I could have it before hand so I can practice.

>

> and etc.

>

> Young kids probably can't actually write the letter yet themselves -

> but for those like my '7 year old going on 17 year old Tanner' and

> other older kids -they can either write it themselves -or they can

> add to the letter the parent writes for them if we ask them what

> they want included.

>

> To those that were there at this conference -like you Kathy since

> you are a mom and also a kindergarten teacher (who played hooky and

> took the day off from school!) What do you think of " our kids "

> writing a letter like this?!

>

> We also had the amazing opportunity to speak with international MDs

> who traveled to this conference who are interested in research on

> our population of children -and learning more and more! It's great

> the speech professionals are on board -but now that the medical

> community is getting interested much more will be done soon in the

> sense of research -long overdue we may add.

>

> We have some surprises in store for medical awareness for speech

> impairments and apraxia to be announced within the next month or so

> that Dr. Marilyn Agin let the cat out of the bag about at the

> conference...for those that missed the conference and what I'm

> talking about -I still want to keep it under the hat for now. But

> stay tuned!

>

> Our children will have a voice, Thanks to people like all of you

for helping!

>

> =====

>

April 29, 2004

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Comeon ...give us a spoiler

or two...

" We have some surprises in store for medical awareness

for speech

> impairments and apraxia to be announced within the

next month or so

> that Dr. Marilyn Agin let the cat out of the bag

about at the

> conference...for those that missed the conference

and what I'm

> talking about -I still want to keep it under the hat

for now. But

> stay tuned! "

June 2, 2004

,

Can you tell us about Dr. Agin's medical awareness surprises yet?

kiddietalk wrote: