Monday, January 30, 2012

Down Syndrome Conference

Over the weekend Jason and I were able to attend the DSG's annual conference.  It was AMAZING.

We were totally blown away by the two keynote speakers, both self advocates and both doing some awesome stuff.   One living on her own, drives, has a full time job for the past 11 years WITH benefits and represents not only herself and her family but the down syndrome community very well.  The other, another amazing young adult, is a Special Olympic medalist 4 times over.  He swam with Team USA this summer in Athens and shared his trip with us.  These two reminded us to dream big for our girls.

I learned loads about how to improve working memory and some new strategies to teach the girls reading.

The best part is that you can have access to all these tools too for FREE, oh I love free, educational stuff.    Go HERE to visit the Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County and check out the Learning program.  They have literacy and math ideas.

They have sight word readers you can download and print for FREE, math ideas and other daily learning ideas.  You only have to register and all their materials are open for your use.  They also have online communities to help you if you so desire.

Jason learned about how to include language into your play routines and better uses of technology, like our iPad to improve the girls skills.

A huge thank you to our DSG for putting on such an awesome conference.  Another huge thanks to my sister who stayed home with all the kids so that Jason and I could attend.  Not sure who had a more enjoyable day us or the kids, everyone was happy as a clam when we arrived home. =)

1 comment:

Becca said...

I can't say enough about DSFOC's Learning Program. Sammi's amazing ability to read comes from their teachings and materials. So great that you got so much out of the conference - I would have loved to have heard those two self-advocates, but I suspect I'll be hearing plenty next summer at NDSC.