Thursday night, I made a road trip down to Huntsville to attend Sam Houston’s 5th Annual Student Council for Exception Children Conference: Meeting the Needs of All Learners, which was held on Friday, Feb. 29th–Leap Day. Simply getting to hear Dr. Temple Grandin [arguably the *most* well-known and outspoken Aspie alive] speak, combined with the reasonable cost of the event, I just could not pass up this opportunity.
The conference was well done and Dr. Grandin was a great keynote speaker. I was thoroughly impressed. She made a point of stating that we as ASD parents and educators need to draw the line between simply rude behaviors (think laughing at a fat person in the grocery store) and those truly caused by issues with AS (think sensory issues which drive a child over-the-top.) It was empowering and helped me to know that we are on the right path with our precious boy. While we don’t let Ethan get away with being a rude little $#!^, we also understand when he cannot handle certain things and do all that we can to help him cope. It is a delicate balance, but we’re constantly learning and currently maintaining.
I now have two titles, written and personally inscribed by Dr. Grandin, in my ever-growing ASD library!
A bonus: The wonderful Sam Houston SCEC chapter President and Conference Co-Director, James Williams–a young man living with AS himself, kindly offered me the opportunity to donate a couple copies of ALL BETTER which were used as door prizes. I received good feedback from a few attendees about the book and felt honored to support this conference!
Thank you James and the SCEC for such a fantastic opportunity and for hosting such a great conference.