Zumbathon Raises Over $700 for P.A.N.

According to one participant, the Zumbathon benefit for the Portland Aspergers Network held this past weekend raised over $700 for the organization. For those of you unfamiliar with PAN, they are a support organization for parents of children with Asperger's Syndrome. Among other things, they host regularly scheduled game nights to help children with Asperger's meet each other in a relaxed atmosphere, provide an online forum for parents, and bring in guest speakers to their parent support group meetings.

To learn more about PAN or to get involved, you can visit their website at http://www.aspergersnet.org/.

Field Trip Tomorrow

We will be taking the students on a field trip to Hollywood Bowl tomorrow, May 11. While we love having fun with the kids, our primary purpose in taking them out and about town is so that we can work with them on appropriate public behavior and teach them some of the skills they need for using public transportation. So, while your son or daughter may try to convince you that they don't need to come to school because "they won't be learning anything anyway," we'd like to remind you all that this is a required school day just like any other.

Cost for the field trip is $8 per student. This covers shoe rental and three games of bowling. School lunches will be available as usual, and the Hollywood Bowl lunch counter will also be open for students who would like to buy something a little different. As with all of our field trips, we are willing to cover the cost of the field trip for students who cannot afford it. Cost never styands in the way of your student's chance at participating.

P.A.N. to Host Zumbathon

A "Zumbathon" to raise money for the Portland Aspergers Network will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm this Saturday, May 8. The event will be taking place at the New Day Center for the Arts (formerly Day Music), 5516 SE Foster Road in Portland. It's not only an opportunity to raise some money for PAN but also a chance to meet other parents, family members, and friends of those with Asperger's Syndrome. And, of course, it's a chance to get out and dance, dance, dance!

For more information about the Portland Aspergers Network, you can visit their website at http://www.aspergersnet.org/.

Spring Break II

Here at LEC students have second mini-Spring Break in the form of a four-day weekend at the beginning of May each year. Originally, "Spring Break II" was included in the yearly calendar in case we needed to make up days that had been lost earlier in the year due to school closures. However, teachers have come to rely on this break during that long stretch from Spring Break in March through Memorial Day at the end of May. These days, if we need to make up time, teachers are willing to consider any other possibilities besides losing their mini-vacation.

This year, students will have Friday, April 30 and Monday, May 3 off from school.

Thunderbucks

If you're the parent of one of our students here, you may have had your son or daughter come home talking about Thunderbucks and you may be wondering exactly what a Thunderbuck is. Here at LEC, students have the option of helping out with afternoon chores around the school--sweeping up the main room, stacking chairs, emptying garbage cans, and such. In return, students are paid in Thunderbucks that they can spend in a student store of sorts we've set up in our upstairs offices. Thunderbucks can be used to purchase healthful snacks, toys, headphones, batteries, school supplies, and other items, and students earn one Thunderbuck for each chore they participate in.

Most students don't seem to participate in it for what they can purchase, though. Many of our students never spend the Thunderbucks they earn, and students seem to appreciate the recognition for a job well-done that a Thunderbuck represents. Many students have opted to "donate" theirs to the Oregon Humane Society, with the school making a donation of one dollar for every Thunderbuck the students contribute. Additionally, the program director has agreed to match students contributions dollar for dollar. So far this year, this amounts to over $100 that the students have raised!

Spring Break

LEC will be closed the last full week of March (the 22nd through 26th) for Spring Break. This Friday, March 19, will be an early release day. Students will have an early lunch and then be heading home at 11:30. If you have any questions, give us a call at 503-771-7508, and have a great break!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Here at LEC we have several students on the autism spectrum, and we'd like to recommend a novel to those of you interested in seeing the world through the eyes of a teen on the spectrum. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 novel written by Mark Haddon that is told from the first person perspective of a fifteen year-old high-functioning autistic boy.

In the novel, the teen, Christopher Boone, attempts to solve the murder of a neighbor's dog. However, as Christopher pursues his detective work, the story takes surprising turns in which Christopher must come to grips with his family's history. Along the way, Christopher describes his way of seeing the world, discussing everything from why he loves numbers to why seeing four cars in a row of a specific color can either make it a Very Good or Very Bad Day. Rarely has a novel provided reader's with such insight to what is often an otherwise enigmatic way of viewing the world.

We highly recommend it for any parent or adult looking to understand how the world may appear to someone diagnosed with autism or with Asperger's Syndrome in particular.

No School Monday

In observance of President's Day, LEC will be closed on Monday, February 15. Students and staff alike get to enjoy a three-day weekend. Forgot where you put your school calendar and want to keep in touch with the days your student has off? Give us a call at 503-771-7508, and we will send another copy to you.

LEC Closed Monday, Feb. 1, for Teacher Planning Day

LEC will be closed this Monday, February 1, for a teacher planning day following the end of the second quarter. Teachers and other staff will be on site to complete grade reports and prepare for the third quarter, which begins February 2nd. Students get to enjoy a three-day weekend.

LEC Promotes Teacher to Special Educator, Hires New Math Teacher

A short time ago, our Special Education Coordinator, Susan Raat, moved on from LEC to new endeavors. This provided our current math teacher, Sandy McGregor, with the possibility to pursue her long-term goal of moving into the special education field. Sandy came to us two years ago after putting in a year with Serendipity Center, an area special needs school. While Sandy works towards adding a Basic Handicapped Learner's endorsement from Portland State, she will be working under the close supervision of Program Director Doug Rogers who currently holds a special educator's license.

As Sandy's replacement, we would like to welcome Tim Eagan. Tim's most recent work has been with the Perry Center, where he taught a variety of subjects. He also has a considerable amount of experience providing one-on-one support to students with special needs.

Supported Online Education

With the coming of the second semester at LEC, we will be offering supported online education courses to a select group of students. The two students are both 11^th graders and will be taking classes that we would otherwise be unable to offer.

There are many opportunities for students to enroll in online courses outside of LEC, but what we are offering is a different plan. The state only requires that students participating in K-12 online education meet with an instructor twice a month. For our students that is simply not enough support. The LEC model for online education places students in a regular class of up to eight. The online course provides the curriculum, but the teacher provides the encouragement and additional academic support that our students need.

Access to Odysseyware online courses has been granted to us through a very generous donation by AllPrep Academies and Early Colleges. Odysseyware is probably the best known and most widely used K-12 online education provider in the US and offers approximately three-dozen different online classes at the middle- and high school levels. The courses offer text-to-speech support and multimedia instruction, a necessary component for our population. Students who do well on pre-assessments for each course only need to complete targeted lessons and units rather than the entire course, allowing students who have fallen behind on their credits to recover credits at a faster rate.

The development of this online education component will allow LEC to provide services to students in 11^th and 12^th grades for the first time in its history. Of the two students initially piloting the program here, one is specifically slated to earn the credits necessary to receive an Oregon Basic Diploma from his school district based on credits earned at LEC. A similar process could be used for students working towards modified diplomas, and we are involved in discussions with the Oregon Department of Education to determine whether or not it is a viable option for LEC to provide the diplomas directly.