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!