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Hernando Today

Conference Aims To Inform About Special-Needs Students

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: January 14, 2009

WEEKI WACHEE - When Stacy and Harry Walsh found out their son Gavin had a form of autism called Asberger's Syndrome, it was the beginning of a journey up a steep learning curve.

"We just felt completely lost," Stacy says after the diagnosis four years ago. Gavin was 6 years old.

Part of the challenge of raising a special needs child is ensuring those needs are met at school. It can be a frustrating experience that often ends up as an adversarial situation between parent and school. The Walshes saw that firsthand.

Gavin is "thriving" now, though, and now Stacy Walsh is a co-director for a local group offering a two-day conference this week aimed at familiarizing parents, educators, advocates and attorneys with the laws governing special needs education and working with school officials to ensure the best possible learning environment for children.

Pete and Pam Wright will speak at the event that runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Glen Lakes Golf & Country Club, 9000 Glen Lakes Blvd., Weeki Wachee. Registration and continental breakfast begins at 8 a.m.

Admission is $125 for parents & teachers; $175 for couples & professionals.

Not a small sum, Walsh acknowledges. But the Wrights are nationally respected speakers.

Pete Wright is an attorney who specializes in special education law. Representing a family, he won a landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993. His wife Pam is a psychotherapist.

Every participant gets to keep two textbooks that will be handed out during the conference, she said. Breakfast and lunch are also provided.

As well, 20 $50 scholarships are available on a first come, first-served basis, thanks to a last-minute, anonymous donation, Walsh said.

The conference is organized by Special Students of Hernando, a local support group, in a partnership with the Hernando County School District's Exceptional Education Department.

Special Students was formed a couple of years ago by Nikki Pierce in June of 2006 after her daughter Kaitlyn, now a fourth grader, was diagnosed with dyslexia.

"I just felt there wasn't any place for parents to get the information I was needing," Pierce said. "It just blossomed from there."

The Web site, specialstudentsofhernando.com, now gets hundreds of hits per day.

The group often meets parents who come to them "in crisis mode," frustrated by experiences with school officials, Walsh said. The group works collaboratively with the school district to address the problem, and tries to educate parents to head off future issues.

"We try to help parents understand that butting heads doesn't achieve your goals and to work to together with the district and the teacher for the good of the child," Walsh said.

The conference, the first of its kind for the group, is a way to do that on a grand scale, and getting the Wrights in Florida is a major coup, Walsh said.

When Walsh began her research, one of Pete Wright's books was among the first of the hundreds she eventually read, "and one of the best," she said.

But the conference will also provide another benefit, said Walsh, who has attended similar events in the past.

"It's such a wonderful place to network and meet other parents," she said. "I reached out to parents, and that's where I learned a lot."

"For everything you get out of it, it's a bargain," said Pierce, who attended a Wright seminar last year. "To have it here in your backyard is an opportunity you shouldn't miss."

If you go

WHAT: Two day conference on special education law and advocacy for parents, educators, advocates, attorneys and professionals.

WHEN: Friday, Jan. 16 and Saturday, Jan. 17; 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, with check-in and continental breakfast from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

WHERE: Glen Lakes Golf & Country Club, 9000 Glen Lakes Blvd., Weeki Wachee.

ADMISSION: $125 for parents & teachers; $175 for couples & professionals.

CONTACT: Special Students of Hernando, 352-584-5512, or 232-1239; online registration available at www.specialstudentsofhernando.com.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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