Autism Conference

We attended the second annual St. Mary's Autism Conference in Alexandria, LA, this week, and spent some quality time with A and T. The conference was organized into small "break-out" sessions this year, and those sessions were more practical and less theoretical than last year. However, I spent most of last year's conference working the parents' group table, so I didn't see all that much of it. I got some hope renewed this year, seeing the miraculous results achieved by a couple of intensive autism programs with which some of the presenters were affiliated. We also received some affirmation that some of the things we've been doing intuitively actually have scientific support. It's astonishing how far applied behavioral psychology has come; it's infuriating how difficult it is for parents to afford the best of these programs. Fortunately for us, St. Mary's is moving in the right direction with its programming, but the autism center there is still in its infancy.

Meta-blogging note--Blogger finally allowed me to switch to the new version, so I can label and organize my posts. Yay!