I'm thinking about attending this years SENG conference - has anyone attended prior conferences? If so, how helpful/informative did you feel the conference was in understanding your DC? And how many of the resources were for parents, rather than educators or clinicians?

This year's conference is reasonable distance for me, but the registration fee is higher than I expected, plus I would have to take time off work. I just want to know if it's worth the time and money, for a parent that is trying to figure out their DC.

We went and really enjoyed it. My daughter enjoyed the children's activities and I really enjoyed the talks. I picked up a lot of useful business cards and my daughter gained a pen pal.

That being said, it's expensive enough that I would only go if it were in a convenient location. I had to make an effort to get there last year, but it was still reasonably convenient. It's too far this year, so I'm hoping maybe it will be in a more convenient location next year.

While financial decisions are highly personal... IMO, $325 for 4 days of seminars and networking is a good investment, especially since your child is young and you can leverage the information you receive there, for many years going forward while raising your giftie.

The event program brochure may often read like who's-who in gifted services, and may be worth keeping as a go-to directory for several years.

Hearing the presenters in person may give instant insight, as your gut may tell you which areas to pursue for further information about your unique child.

You may wish to begin with attending a "gifted 101" type of seminar (often led by Carolyn K of "Hoagies Gifted Education Page") as this is a good place to meet other parents who are starting out. Here you may find your "tribe" in other parents to bond with and keep in touch over the years.

I went a few years ago. At the time, both of my children were homeschooled and so we had no issues with school placement or advocacy, which a lot of the sessions were about. Many of the other sessions were about emotional issues in gifted kids, which wasn't a concern for us at the time either.

I attended a session on homeschooling gifted kids and it was heavily skewed towards unschooling. I would have preferred a more balanced presentation.

There were two sessions that were quite good, one about twice exceptional kids and another on radical acceleration and early college entrance.

Now that I've been dealing with school and emotional issues relating to giftedness, I would probably get more out of the sessions.

apm and Kai - thanks so much sharing your experiences. I am dealing both with school advocacy (just starting) and emotional issues, so I guess I should go to the conference! DS5 is too young for the children's program, however.

indigo - I absolutely agree with you that $325 is very reasonable if the conference helps me understand and support my DS (heck, that's way less than we've spent on testing and various parenting books!) I just was worried that it would be very commercial (ie. presenters trying to sell their latest book or program) or not as geared toward parents.

They have some vendors with books, but not many. I didn't feel like it seemed commercial at all. I had a chance to ask lots of questions and obtained a great deal of helpful advice.