Update from AACAP Conference in New York City - Oct 24-29

An update from Robert Samery - VP PAAO, who attended the 57th AACAP Annual Conference in New York City this week with PAAO President - Jill Egizi.  (AACAP stands for the "American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry" and is the pre-eminent professional association of many court appointed evaluators and behavioural assessors.)  In photo below Jill and Robert are shown engaging in discussion with one of the attendees at the Conference.  As a Board, we decided it was extremely important that PAAO be present at this event to help make the case for including PAD in DSM-V (the influential Handbook and Manual for Professional Psychiatrists).   We received tremendous assistance from many members of PAAO's Advisory Board including: Dr. Amy Baker, Dr Richard Sauber and Dr. Michael Bone (also Dr. William Bernet who despite not being on the Advisory Board was instrumental in pitching Jill on our involvement).  All  made themselves available throughout the Conference taking turns answering queries and even helped staff our information display.

[We are asking all PAAO Supporters for their help in covering the US$5,000 we have budgeted for this exhibition space and associated promotional materials.  Each conference attendee received our regular brochure and some extra material about PAAO.   Our two board members who attended, setup, staffed the display and "spread the word" all paid their own conference expenses including travel, lodging and incidentals.  I am going to boldly suggest a very generous donation of $100 per PAAO supporter.   (But of course, everyone must decide what they can afford.)  As PAAO runs such a tight ship unless we recoup this expense, we will not be able to fund any other upcoming events.  All are important in gaining acceptance of PAD for DSM-V.  And remember, PAAO qualifies for a charitable tax receipt in either Canada and the US, where ever the donor is resident.]

Here is Robert's dispatch:


Hello all,

From rainy New York I can report the following from the AACAP conference.

After a tiring day of both delayed travel, and heavy setup on Tuesday,
Jill and I met back at the exhibit hall this morning. We seemed to be
talking to at least 1 person interested in PA issues throughout the
entire day. We were helped enormously by Michael Jeffries, who is an
extremely articulate advocate.

We a small portion of the 4700 delegates at the conference, and they
came from all points in N. America as well as the UK, Sweden,
Portugal, Spain, Brazil, France, Peru, Costa Rica, (and I may have
missed a country or 2).

Of those that spoke with us, most were aware of the issue, and a few
were happy to learn there is a name to what they have been seeing.
Many also expressed a real joy in seeing that we were even on the list
of exhibitors. That gives me a tremendous confidence in knowing that
we have done a great deal of good by even just showing up.

I'm sending you a picture of Jill, Michael and me speaking to 1 of the
many who came by to hear about what we do.

I'll try and send more of an update tomorrow.