Back from the Best Conference Ever

Seriously, that was an amazing conference. I loved everything about the experience. I flew into San Antonio last Tuesday as my parents drove into town to pick me up at the airport. We made it to the hotel and it was a beautiful historic hotel. I loved the gorgeous antiques. It was so unique. My room opened out into an inner courtyard surrounded with lush tropical plants. My room was on the end and separated from the other rooms by a non-used fire escape stairwell. It was so quiet and private. The beds and pillows were amazingly comfortable, and again, it was furnished with antiques. There was a separate sitting area that lead to a hall with the bathroom and on towards the bedroom. It felt like home.

The next morning we checked out the free breakfast and to our delight, we feasted on eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, fruit, orange juice, and coffee. We walked to the conference an hour early because I forgot to print out the schedule. So we wandered around the Rivercenter, which was a shopping mall next to the hotel and riverwalk. My parents explored the riverwalk, art galleries and shopped while I sat in on two, three-hour sessions a day. I had a whole hour and a half for lunch and we would grab food and sit on the patio right on the river, surrounded by music and lush plants, followed by leisurely walks or shopping.

The first presentation that I went to changed my whole life. Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but I discovered that someone was using IRT to develop neuropsychological tests and examine the effects of ethnicity, language, and reading to test bias. It was riveting. And now I have a direction for my dissertation. I'm going to see if I can gather data from my new neuropsych externship and apply IRT and SEM to neuropsychological results of different populations (e.g., dementia, comorbid psychiatric patients, TBI). The results also showed that controlling for reading level significantly attenuated the differences in performance for ethnic groups, which supports my idea that reading instruction has an impact on cognitive development.

The other talks were not as life-altering, but still good. I spent the late afternoons with my parents, who were having the time of their lives as well. Overall, it was an amazing trip. I loved San Antonio and I actually think I'd love to live there at some point in my life. The Riverwalk was a delight, the sights and sounds were exciting and invigorating, the food was fabulous and there was such a nice feel to that place. I hope there will be another conference in San Antonio sometime soon.