Sunday, March 4, 2012

FXAWS Annual Conference

February 25th was our (Fragile X Association of Washington State) annual conference held at Seattle Children’s Hospital.  It was a very successful conference with keynote speaker Louise Gane from the MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) at UC Davis.  She is very personable, interesting and informative and was well received during the two hours she spoke.  In the afternoon we heard from Dr. Gwen Glew who practices pediatric developmental behavioral health and pediatrics and is the director of the Fragile X Clinic at Children’s, Hower Kwon who specializes in the assessment and treatment of psychiatric and developmental disorders of childhood and adolescence and Norma Gunnerssen, a special education teacher from the Edmond’s School District.  At her conclusion the four speakers sat in front of the attendees and answered questions for an hour.  Philip had been sitting on the front row throughout the day.  When the questions began he turned around and noticed I had a handheld microphone that I was taking around to those who were asking questions.  He was out of his seat in a flash. 
I let him take over. 

He and Clark were a tremendous help in loading and unloading the van with handouts for the attendees, available books and media for a display and many other things and then, at the end of the conference, taking down and then hauling it all out to the van.  Then once we got home, they carried everything upstairs so I could put it all away.  They are a great help!