NDSC Conference

We attended the NDSC conference this past weekend. There were so many great workshops. I especially enjoyed the moms sharing session that was led by Kathryn Soper, the editor of Gifts. There were about 40 moms of babies under two at this session. We also attended various workshops on early communication, speech development and advances in research on Ds. I was pretty appalled to learn that so little money is actually spend on Ds research (The figure we were given was that only approximately $40 is spent per person with Ds compared with an approximate $30,000 spent on research per perspn with Cystic Fibrosis). Despite that, the scientific community appears to be making some progress with some really promising research.
We walked away from this conference feeling a little more educated and a little overwhelmed with all of the information. However, it was wonderful to see so many high functioning adults with Ds and to meet so many other wonderful families of children with Ds. We especially enjoyed meeting several of the other Ds Bloggers. (Thank you Monica for organizing a lunch and providing us with Id badges so we could find each other) Overall it was a great experience. Here are some of the pictures we took this weekend.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson delivered the welcoming address to all of the conference participants.

Joaquin gave Joey a big kiss during Mayor Johnson's address.

Jen, Hector and Joaquin at the reception after the opening address.

Joey was wiped out by the end of the day on Friday!

Saturday morning we started all over again. Here Joey and I are with Catherine and Max. We knew them, at least felt like we did, from Catherine's blog. Max is four days older than Joey. Turns out Catherine is also from my home town of Escondido, California. We attended the same middle school and high school and our parents live anout two miles away from each other off of the same street! How strange is that. We hope to see Jerry, Catherine and Max again sometime.

Jen and Joey at the banquet we attended on Saturday night.

The banquet was a little hectic and quite crowded, but once we were able to find a table we had a good time. Here Tony, Joey and I are with Jen, Hector and Joaquin.

Joaquin licking, I mean kissing, his buddy Joey. Sooooo Cute.

Here Joey is playing with a 16 year-old girl we met at the banquet. Before the banquet several adults with Ds came up to him and were plating with him. He became so animated with them, laughing and blowing raspberries. It was so very cute.

Joey on Sunday morning, enjoying the workshop we attended by Dr. Libby Kumin on early communication skills for children with Ds.

Before everyone left on Sunday we got together with Brennan, Joaquin, John Michael for a quick photo of the babies.

It was very difficult to keep them together, and they soon began to escape.

And then one of the moms and babies.

We cannot wait for the conference again next year in Orlando. We figure if we start saving now then maybe we can afford to go!