We're at it again...us moms who apparently have nothing else to do with our days but to tackle planning another national conference. The staff of the Attachment Disorder Network (ADN) officially announces that the 2007 Parenting Traumatized Children conference will be held at the historic Elms Resort in Excelsior Springs, MO, August 2-4, 2007. (outside of Kansas City, MO)

Why am I telling you this?

First so you can check out the truly awesome location of this historic mineral springs spa and mark your calendar to join us.

And second, because perhaps you or a therapist or adoption/attachment professional... more

The ADN Conference was (from the perspective of the conference chairperson) a flurry of activity that started out on a high stress note and ended in the blink of an eye.

People tell me that it was incredibly informative, completely relaxing and so much fun. I do remember seeing and feeling some of those things...but can hardly wait until next year when I can still be in on the learning and fun, just not at the center of it.

Seems like all weekend long I ran from room to room with my notepad making "Notes to Self" about things that needed to be done. Now... more

It's happening! On Wednesday, I'll load up the car with the hundreds of boxes (ok, it only feels like hundreds) and head to Simpsonwood where over the next few hours people will arrive from all over the world.

I am VERY excited, nervous, overwhelmed, exhausted, thrilled, tired, apprehensive and overjoyed all at once! The details have been tedious, but the enthusiasm from all of the people who are coming is contagious!

I spent the better part of Saturday frantically working on my own workshop presentation, "Helping Traumatized Chidren Success in Public School."... more

More than one parent has told me that coming to the ADN Conference is likely to be their only VACATION for the year. Sigh...sad but true, parenting challenging kids leaves little available time or funds to take "real" vacations. Not to mention the difficulty in arranging for child care of children who are not easily cared for.

That is why the ADN conference committee is working hard at planning fun social events and ways for attendees to relax and truly ENJOY the conference. Let's face it, the topic...Parenting Traumatized Children...can be depressing. Our children... more

With the ADN conference less than a month away, I'm getting more excited by the day! We get several inquiries a day, and it thrills me when people are so excited about coming.

One of the presentations I'm looking forward to is the Friday afternoon keynote (and Saturday follow up Q&A session) with Adoption Blog's editor, Nancy Ashe. Nancy is an adult adoptee and, as she explains it, "attachment-affected" individual. She has struggled with many of the issues that our special children stuggle with. Hearing it from her perspective will be invaluable.

One... more

I've been trying to highlight some of the great speakers/workshops of the Attachment Disorder Network's upcoming conference on Parenting Traumatized Children. But one of the best features of this conference has to be the location! I went there last week to inspect the rooms we were assigned and the second I pulled on to the property, I felt my blood pressure drop.

Simpsonwood Conference and Retreat Center is a beautifully wooded area next to the Chattahoochee National Park just north of Atlanta, GA. Nestled in the suburbs, once you're there, you... more

One of the workshops I'm looking forward to at the upcoming ADN Conference is entitled, "Medical Solutions for Problematic Behaviors". It will be presented by Dawn Rossi, an awesome mom of a daughter who has made great strides using biomedical interventions to help overcome her developmental delays and attachment issues.

I'm looking forward to hearing what Dawn has to tell other parents about her journey into treatments that were originally designed for children on the autistic spectrum, but are proving beneficial to children with a variety of neurological and... more

One of the most exciting parts of the upcoming ADN conference for me is the chance to meet many cyberspace friends I have never laid eyes on before. The world of adoption and the special needs of internationally adopted children has brought me squarely into cyberspace. In fact, I probably know many more people by their screen names than I know people by their faces.

It was 1996 (a whole decade ago) - the summer that the Olympics were here in Atlanta, that we began pursuing international adoption. The final spark that ignited the pursuit for me (I had always been drawn... more

As I was editing the ADN Conference program this morning, it struck me that our three keynote speakers are all slated to deliver such positive messages. How awesome! Parenting challenging children is rarely punctuated with positives, yet reading these description, here are adoption/attachment disorder veterans planning to infuse HOPE into the conference attendees.

The conference will be opened by Nancy Thomas, an internationally-known therapeutic parenting specialist. Nancy is founder of Families By Design, an author and trainer.... more

Ok, the posts under this category "ADN Conference" may sound like shameless plugs for the Attachment Disorder Network's (ADN) upcoming Parenting Traumatized Children conference, but they are much more than that.

First off, it is hard for me not to blog about one of the most important events in my life at the moment (right there behind LuLu's due process hearing). And it is much more fun to write about this conference, than the due process hearing - because, let's face it, that's down-right depressing. I mean, who wants to read about a school system denying a disabled child the chance at an appropriate education? And parents who are, perhaps foolishly, pushing... more