i am here with 2000 people. After a half day I already have a headach trying to absorb presentations. the keynote was by Ruth Feldman who talked about the importance of bonding, of social reciprocity and synchrony and the involvement of oxytocin in this, which means that there is abiological component to human connections and intimacy.

the second session I attended was about the vaule od friendships across the life span. There is data that proves this. The most upsetting data shows how isolated adults are who have both ASD and ID. Esentially they have no friends (that is different than companions) and no activities. Research shows how intervention and specifically coaching of preschoolers through adolecence has a significant impact on enabling development of friendships. This was a good follow up to key note which says that humans need intimate relationships to have full lives

More later after battery recharge.