SHAV Conference 2016

CSDS first year graduate students at SHAV 2016

This past weekend I had the pleasure and opportunity to attend the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia’s (SHAV) annual conference from March 17^th-19th. This was my first time attending the conference but I wish I had attended sooner. It was so powerful and inspiring to see over 600 professionals all interested in the same field and who are working to serve the individuals in their specific area of expertise in the most effective way. I loved the collaboration that took place during the sessions. Although there was a main speaker for each session, in most cases the presenters welcomed comments and tips from professionals in the audience. This created an interactive presentation and produced a feeling of collaboration that is so evident in the field of speech language pathology. There were many different sessions that covered a wide variety of topics during the weekend. I attended sessions that included information about creating better readers and developing the most effective vocabularies for students using augmentative and assistive communication devices to sessions about licensure and the clinical fellowship experience and even a session about NICU feeding and what information to use in an early intervention setting. The best thing about these sessions is that they were all extremely practical and contained information that I can use with my current clients or that I know that I will use with future clients. When the conference came to a close, I found myself thinking that I cannot wait to attend next year and for many years after that. I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend the SHAV Conference 2016