Alternatives for Special Kids (ASK!) has a limited amount of
scholarships available for its upcoming conference in Irvine, California
on May 8 - 11. Alternatives for Special Kids Conference, Workshops,
Exhibits, and Consults is by far the largest conference of its kind.
ASK! brings together world-wide expertise in hands-on approaches to
dealing with the tough challenges that our children with special needs
face. This is not a conference about reporting the latest research, but
instead, ASK! 2003 will help parents and professionals to readily
improve the lives of their children.

ASK! scholarships will allow families and professionals to both work and
consult with over 120 speakers who will present 220
presentations/demonstrations and 75 more concentrated workshops. The
eight tracks of the conference range from Healing Therapies, to
Technologies, to the Best of the Resources. Presentations span from
healing acquired and traumatic brain injuries, to mobility and body
control, to g-tube nutrition, to learning, to unscrambling children with
multiple issues, to alternatives and resources for teens. Presentations
are geared for children ranging in age from infants to teens and focus
on a broad range of physical and cognitive challenges.

There are partial, full, and full-working scholarships (one
parent/friends volunteers in exchange for the other attending the
conference) available. ASK's goals are to:


1. Reduce the time it takes to piece together the right puzzle that
can best help our children.
2. Create meeting spaces where professionals, parents, children,
and manufactures can
collaborate to problem solve the hurdles that our children have to
struggle through.
3. Educate the public to alternatives that can improve the lives of
children with these tough
challenges and to bring to the public resources that can enrich the
family.

ASK! also offers a very exciting Kids Care / Conference that runs at the
same time for both the children with special needs and for their
siblings. The Kids Conference includes many age and ability appropriate
activities. There are also workshops for teens that range from careers,
to dealing with emotions, to ways of helping in the dynamics of a family
with a special needs child. In addition, some of the main conference
speakers in the arts, music, movement, and adaptive sports will work
with all of the children. The Kids Conference will provide professional
nursing care.

With three weeks to go, ASK! is also looking for assistance in getting
the word out. We have add cards, brochures, and other publications
available. We also have a shortened version of this post.

For additional information, view our Web site at www.4healthykids.org
<http://www.4healthykids.org/> , e-mail darien@..., or call
401.315.0590. The full list of topics will be posted this weekend.
Scholarship requests should be submitted as soon as possible.

Darien C. Small
Alternatives for Special Kids
darien@...
Irvine, California
May 8-11, 2003
"Doing the best that we
can for our children."




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