2012 Family Conference
The 10th Annual Statewide Family Conference will be held March 9 - 11, 2012 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton. Our theme this year is "All Under One Umbrella - Super "Conference"AgilisticExpialidocious."
This year, families have a special opportunity to purchase underwritten tickets and see the Broadway performance of "Mary Poppins" at the Fox Valley Performing Arts Center! JANICE FIALKA from "THE DANCE OF PARTNERSHIP" will be our opening keynote presenter. This presentation will focus on strengthening parent/professional partnerships to help children achieve their greatest potential. This session will help to enhance insight and understanding of things that complicate and challenge a working partnership and identify practical strategies which promote partnerships. HAROLD JOHNSON from the Deaf Education Teacher Preparation in Michigan will be our closing keynote presenter. Bullying, abuse and neglect have a negative impact on all children, and children who are deaf/hard of hearing/combined vision and hearing loss can be especially susceptible. This presentation will focus on how our children are impacted, and will provide parents with the initial awareness, understanding, and resources that they will need to prevent, or at least recognize and report instances of bullying, abuse and neglect experienced by children.
Costs:
- Family Conference Registration Fee: $150 per family
- Extended Family / Childcare Provider: $ 50 each additional individual
Family Conference registration fee can be paid in full OR in three monthly installments of $50 each, December, January and February. ALL registration fees are due by February 24, 2012.
Partial scholarships are available through WI Families for Hands & Voices. NEW THIS YEAR: You MUST be(come) a WI Hands & Voices member for your scholarship application to be considered. Please go to the "Join Us" tab on this website to join or renew your membership. Please click here for the scholarship app. All scholarship applications need to be postmarked by the deadline of February 3, 2012. NO scholarship applications will be processed after the deadline.
For all the Conference details and necessary forms, please go to:
http://www.wesp-dhh.wi.gov/wesp/out_famcon.cfm
We look forward to seeing your family in March!!
If you have any questions about the Statewide Family Conference, please contact Laurie Nelson at 608-822-3756, leave a message at 1-888-656-8556 or email at laurie.nelson@wesp-dhh.wi.gov.
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ADVOCATE PARENT/PROFESSIONAL LEADERS (APPLs)
WI Families for Hands & Voices is proud to announce that we have collaborated with WI FACETS (WI Family Assistance Center for Education, Training and Support) to offer advocacy support to families of children with hearing loss, ages birth-6. We are currently recruiting Advocate Parent/Professional Leaders (APPLs).
APPLICATION DEADLINE: September 16, 2011
FACETS Orientation: October, 2011, exact date TBD
Please contact Monica Dull, APPL Coordinator, at 608-239-6713 or dullfam@gmail.com with any questions or comments.
>> Description of Advocate Parent /Professional Leaders (APPL)
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Parent Match
As you know, parents of children with hearing loss provide invaluable support to each other by sharing experiences, frustration, knowledge, and joys. There is a common bond between parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Yet, many times parents are not able to discover this bond as they don’t know where to turn to find other parents facing similar situations.
As a Wisconsin Families for Hands & Voices member you are invited to participate in our new Parent-to-Parent matching program. We will start by collecting information on the enclosed form. Depending upon your choice; we will then send you information from another family that matches your request, send your information to another family, or do both. This sharing of information will allow families to contact one another on their own. The information collected will only be released to other parents in the program.
If you are interested in being part of this exciting new project, click here to join.
