? on wording absence note HF autistic 7 yr old missing school for WDW...

[Nik's Mom]

You are not going on vacation. You are providing an educational opportunity for your child. Approach going to Disney as an opportunity to work on math skills (counting money, making change, etc.), science, social studies (Epcot and AK) reading skills (reading signs and maps) and social skills (waiting in line, interacting with other people, eating at restaurants, etc.)

Encourage school to consider this a field trip. Good luck.

That is exactly what we did. For example, if the CM told us to go to #3 aisle for POTC ride, we had our ds fine the correct #. Or we might have him say hello to a cm to practice social skills. He even said hello in Japanese while visiting the kidcot station. A wonderful cm taught him how to say it. We had a picture taken while he talked to cm's, etc, then put it in a journal and described what he learned. It was great for him because he is such a hands-on learner!

 

[Napria]

Just curious, what school district on Long Island are you in? We used to live in Huntington and moved to Georgia the summer after my son finished kindergarten. DS has Asperger Syndrome, but at the time we didn't know it. But he did have an IEP because he had a neonatal Stroke and was getting services through Early Intervention from the time he was 3 months old.

Now he's in a self-contained program for ASD kids in our district. In Georgia, school districts are the same as Counties, so it's a different ball game, but the bottom line is due to the no child left behind act, our school district has implemented a strict policy that after 5 unexcused absences the parents will receive a warning letter and the social worker will pay a visit. After that (I'm not sure if it's one more day or five more days), fines and/or inprisionment are imposed. Stupid or not, that's the policy that our district imposed to stay in compliance with No Child Left Behind and be able to continue to receive federal funds.

We have a trip planned for October and I'll be taking the kids out for exactly 5 days. I went to the program director at my son's school this past spring and the principal at my daughter's school as well. Both understand our need to take the kids out of school, but both cautioned me not to take the kids out for any other unexcused absences for the remainder of the school year and make sure I get the excuse notes in immediately upon their return should they need to be out any other time for sickness or any other excused absence.

Have a great trip, and don't worry too much about trying to make the trip any more "educational" than you normally would. For all this country's talk about "family values," the powers that be don't seem to get the necessity of spending quality family time together, where each family member can relax, have fun and enjoy each other's company for more than a few minutes at the dinner table each night!