2009 National Conference on Childhood Apraxia of Speech

I went to the CASANA* conference and the only tangible thing I got was a wristband that says “Every Child Deserves a Voice.” Boy, the learning and memories, though! They will change our lives. I have so much to say, and I’ll be writing about a lot of it in the coming days. Next year’s conference will be in Pittsburgh, so maybe that’s more convenient for your family, and you can start planning for that. I seriously can not recommend it highly enough. Having a huge room of people all with the same intent (“How do I help my child/my client/my grandchild with apraxia?”) feels so different. They all understand.

Just to show how intense it was, these are the lectures I attended, each 1.5 hours long. Note the veritable listing of Who’s Who in the Apraxia World as presenters:

• Session 104: Effective Strategies for Your Next IEP Meeting
  (Charlie Fox)


• Session 201: Multi-Sensory Therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Having Fun while Building Speech (David Hammer)


• Session 302: Enhancing Social Language Skill Development in Children with Apraxia of Speech (Margaret (Dee) Fish)


• Session 401: PROMPT: The Nine Key Treatment Components and Their Use with CAS (Deborah Hayden)


• Session 503: Incorporating Phonemic and Phonological Awareness in Speech Therapy to Improve Speech and Literacy (Amy Skinder-Meredith)


• Session 601: The Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Approach: Shaping Successive Word Approximations (Nancy Kaufman)


• Session 701: Introduction to Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing for Speech Motor Learning (Kathy J. Jakielski, standing in for Edythe Strand)


• Session 803: Planning for Preschool and School Age Transitions for Children with CAS (Sharon Gretz and Kenda Hammer)

Much more to follow.

* Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America. I call it apraxia on my blog, but the real name is CAS, Childhood Apraxia of Speech. That differentiates it from the other major form of apraxia, which occurs in adults after a stroke.