Girl With A Funny Accent

Recently I've had a few people ask me about my feelings towards speech therapy. I can't just pinpoint it onto one specific emotion though. My feelings towards speech therapy changed over time. My feelings were dynamic, as anyone's would be after 12-13 years of attending speech therapy. In Elementary School, in the early days in particular, I enjoyed attending speech therapy. I was dismissed from class, which I thought was cool, to go play games with an old lady named Ms. Weinstein and sometimes I'd get a prize at the end. All I had to do was say a few words, she'd correct me, but I got to play games and win little prizes. What kid wouldn't like that, right? Even after school, I'd go to CSUN and privately meet with a speech pathologist, where it was the same thing. We'd play a game, I'd say words, and get a high-five or maybe candy afterwards. In 4th or 3rd grade, my feelings started to change. The change in emotions was due to realizing t

My very first CASANA Conference for Childhood Apraxia was this past week from July 6th through the 8th in Paradise Point, San Diego. CASANA relocates the annual conference to different cities across the United States. We do not yet know where the 2018 Conference will be, but hopefully we find out soon! As far as this years conference though, I really didn't know what to expect and for those who have not attended before, I'd like to provide some information as to what my family, friends, and I did for the conference. There really was something for everybody! Also, full disclosure, there's never enough time nor energy to do EVERYTHING at the conference. It's an extremely fun, and exhausting weekend. The highlight though is the people you meet from all over and all different stages of their Apraxia journeys. Anyways, here's how our weekend went: Thursday, July 6th 4:30PM: Reception Outside on this patio next to the gorgeous bay with the sun setting an

CASANA, also known as the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America, is the only non-profit exclusively dedicated to combating Childhood Apraxia. They are a small, but strong and ever-growing non-profit organization. They have hosted annual conferences in years past across the nation, but I had never attended until this past weekend.  From July 6th through July 8th, I was in the beautiful Paradise Point, San Diego attending the CASANA National Conference where there were around 300 attendees. There were people from all over-Canada, Brazil, and 37 different states. Meeting people of all ages from all over with the same common ground was simultaneously overwhelming and beautiful. But, I was not only at this conference to attend. I came to this conference to speak. I promise I will blog later about the WHOLE weekend, but I'd like to personally share my experience speaking at such a venue. My mom and I had applied to be speakers and lead a 90 minut