The Great Disney Do-Over—PTR for Aug 2010 - UPDATED 8/2 - Page 17 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I know I thought it was weird that WS never had EMH listed, so I started a search, and that is what I found out. I don't know why they always just list them for FW. But yw!
We have less than 40 days before our trip! This trip and my planning are consuming my time! I am off in the summer, and always want to get caught up on little projects around the house, but I find I am wasting my time getting distracted with WDW planning! (and of course, trying to design the most perfect way to organize my great plans to make then useful and accessible while at WDW!).
This weekend, I asked DH for time "alone" time (I am getting a littel over-stimulated with little voices and little hands on me all the time). HE asked what I would do...I sheepishly admitted I would use it for WDW planning. He said, "so let me get this straight...you want some time away from the kids so you can plan the perfect family vacation for us and the kids?" Yeah, sounds a bit ironic...
We had a garage sale last month and we made about $500. Unfortunately, our sale seemed to be the target of a thief, as we were $200 short at the end of Day 1. (Our sale included 4 families, my friend had the jackpot with $800+ in sales). We all took a "piece" of the loss and after that disappointment, we could not bring ourselved to open the sale another day...so all the stuff is taking over our garage and I keep promising DH I will finish the sale...I am hoping to make another $200 to use for spending $ on our trip...
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We have less than 40 days before our trip! This trip and my planning are consuming my time! I am off in the summer, and always want to get caught up on little projects around the house, but I find I am wasting my time getting distracted with WDW planning! (and of course, trying to design the most perfect way to organize my great plans to make then useful and accessible while at WDW!).
This weekend, I asked DH for time "alone" time (I am getting a littel over-stimulated with little voices and little hands on me all the time). HE asked what I would do...I sheepishly admitted I would use it for WDW planning. He said, "so let me get this straight...you want some time away from the kids so you can plan the perfect family vacation for us and the kids?" Yeah, sounds a bit ironic...
We had a garage sale last month and we made about $500. Unfortunately, our sale seemed to be the target of a thief, as we were $200 short at the end of Day 1. (Our sale included 4 families, my friend had the jackpot with $800+ in sales). We all took a "piece" of the loss and after that disappointment, we could not bring ourselved to open the sale another day...so all the stuff is taking over our garage and I keep promising DH I will finish the sale...I am hoping to make another $200 to use for spending $ on our trip...
HAHAHAHA!!! I would have never thought of it that way, until you DH put it that way! It makes total sense to me!
SO sorry about your yardsale theft. That is awful! Hopefully you can make some more at the next one.
40 days!! Holy moly, your getting there!!!
All caught up again. Sounds like great plans you have!! And so sorry about somebody stealing from you at the sale!! Mommies all need their "alone" time and being able to do that and plan for WDW - sounds like great alone time!!!
The phone rang at 5:45. It was our wake up call.
I asked the kids if they still wanted to get to MK early.
DS was the first to realize what I was saying. He popped out of bed, encouraged his sisters to do the same, and soon they were all getting themselves ready for the day. When we heard the start of bickering, we reminded the kids that we all have to work together to make the plan work. Nothing more was needed. We ate a quick breakfast in the room as we got ready and were walking out our door before 7am. We were taking a cab to MK.
It was Thanksgiving. It was the last full day of our trip. We arrived before the park opened. I was trying to think of what I would say at the Guest Relations office once we made it through the gates.
Christmas music was playing. I was overcome with emotion as I entered the Guest Relations office. I spoke with a wonderful cast member who was more helpful than I ever would have imagined.
I cannot say enough wonderful things about CM Melanie, who was working in guest relations that day. Her kindness and compassion changed not only our vacation, but also our family. I was pretty emotional and embarrassed when I approached the counter that morning. I did not really know what I was asking for as I started telling Melanie the story of our Disney experience thus far. I had done enough research to know that Disney wants to do help create a magical experience for all. We had brought along our daughter's IEP to use if we needed it, but we expected our daughter who “looks normal” to have a very “normal” experience with the family.
I told Melanie what a powerful and positive force the Princesses have been in Hannah's development. She loves princesses. When we realized that she respected Cinderella, Snow White and the rest more than mom and dad, we started using their stories to teach Hannah lessons on manners and social interaction. She learned how to be a good friend from Belle, and she learned how to be kind to animals from Snow White. Whenever she was having trouble complying with a request, we could ask her to think about how Cinderella may act in this situation, and once she could determine how a princess would act, she was able to change her behavior or attitude to match what she thought a princess would do. Although just in kindergarten, she has an amazing ability to read and understand words, but she resisted "formal reading," until we started introducing princess books. With the help of princess books and stories, Hannah started kindergarten reading at a 3rd grade level.
After two years of living in a "kingdom," you can imagine how excited we were to let her finally meet the princesses in Disney. The first four days, although filled with many wonderful moments, had more frustrations and melt downs than positive interactions. When Hannah would behave strangely in line, her older brother would scream at her, and her little sister would copy her, in adoration. It was embarrassing and stressful for us parents. We avoided many of the lines that were too long for Hannah, and by doing that, further angered the older brother who just wanted to go on rides.
Melanie gave us the disability pass (GAC) and explained how we could use it. Melanie also took the time to arrange a special "character greeting" for Hannah. Unfortunately, DD is not a fan of the "fur characters" so we were not able to take advantage of that opportunity. But we were overwhelmed by the gesture! When I left, I was so emotional it took me almost an hour to explain the experience to my husband. I did that while waiting in line for Dumbo.
As we went to stand in the next line, my husband suggested we try the disability pass. I was reluctant, since the lines were not very long yet. I relented. We showed the pass to a cast member who directed us to the disability waiting area.
For the first time that trip, we were able to wait like a normal family. DS was not yelling at Hannah for being "crazy." We did not feel the stress of trying to control her behavior. With more space to move, and less waiting time, the 2-year old was not copying her sister's behavior. The freedom we felt was amazing. We no longer had to rush, causing more stress for everyone in the process. We got to stop and look at things, and play on things, and take pictures-- things we did not take time for in the days before. At the end of the day, we were not as exhausted as we had been at the end of the previous days. Our last day at Disney was the first day our family truly experienced "the Magic." Melanie gave us the gift of time, so we could slow down and enjoy Disney.
We grabbed our FPs on schedule, so the boys could make their “fun rides.” Me and the girls spent a lot of time “doing nothing”--we played on the playgrounds, explored Mickey and Minnie’s houses, met Ariel and the princesses, and went on a few “girly” rides.
I just found this TR and haven't finished yet, but just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying this. Well, not enjoying how stressed out you were, but how you are making everything turn around well for your beautiful family.
My DD ( 2 1/2) is on the spectrum and has been doing really well with her issues, but every year at Disney I am never sure what to expect.
You mentioned bringing your DD's IEP, if you needed it. What is that if you don't mind me asking? Does it ave something to do with Early Intervention services?
I love how you related the princesses into her social interactions, smart idea.
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I just found this TR and haven't finished yet, but just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying this. Well, not enjoying how stressed out you were, but how you are making everything turn around well for your beautiful family.
My DD ( 2 1/2) is on the spectrum and has been doing really well with her issues, but every year at Disney I am never sure what to expect.
You mentioned bringing your DD's IEP, if you needed it. What is that if you don't mind me asking? Does it ave something to do with Early Intervention services?
I love how you related the princesses into her social interactions, smart idea.
I'm off to read more of this TR.
Great job!
Linny,
Sorry to jump in here and answer Shelly's question. But thought I'd give some info untill Shelly gets here, as my DD has global developmental delays and was in early Intervention from 15 months to 3 years and then attended the public preschool program from 3-5 until she went to kindergarten this past year.
An IEP is an Individualized Education Plan that is set up with the parents and the public school. It gives the child certain rules that the school must follow and goals for the child to (hopefully) meet by the end of the school year. Examples of "rules" can be, sitting in the front of class, having visual aids to help learn, different therapies the child might receive in school, etc.
It is almost the equivelent of the EI goal sheet you fill out with your EI therapist each year.
I assume because you ask, your DD is in EI. What a GREAT program!!! I am truly thankful for all our EI therapists help. I just loved her!! She ended up being my DD preschool aat. teacher in her first year of preschool, as she got the job just months before my DD was due to attend the preschool. That was quite nice and a definate bonus.
If you ever want to get the GAC, I was told you do not need any paperwork, you just explain to the CM what the issues are and what is needed to help your child. I did bring a note from our doctor, just in case. So I think Shelly was very smart to bring her IEP, but whether she actually needed it, she will be able to tell us. Good luck in all you do and to your DD!! EI, an IEP and the ILC (intensive learning center- my DD special education class, which she is in, in ADDITION to her regular classroom) are excellent programs and have helped my DD temendously!
Linny- (disclaimer: I must need to vent--not enough adult time this summer--this post got too long for the question!)
Thanks for reading my TR!
Sparky explained the IEP. It was interesting for me to read about the educational acronyms from other parts of the country. I thought IEP was the standard!
Good for you for getting intervention services for your DD early! It will make all the difference for her! My DD did not have her educational assessment until 3.5. Until 3, we just thought she was "shy", "independent", and just had more extreme temper tantrums than other toddlers. Besides, she was CRAZY smart, so that made it easy to not be concerned about the other things. She was also incredibly verbal, but once I started doing the research, I realized they were not "original speech productions" but instead parroting things. She has an amazing memory, so can learn and repeat anything. Again, this masked what was really going on. Those things also fed my "parent ego" as my 2 year old had a huge vocabulary of songs, poems, and movie lines, knew her letters and was starting to identify sight words.
At 3 is when her behavior started to stand out. I am a school counselor with an educational psychology background, so I was ot in denial once I recognized the patterns. We had the medical assessment first, and then approached the school for the educational assesment. We got her services for the 1 year of preschool prior to Kindergarten. She just finished kindergarten and has been doing great in school. The structure really fits for her. By the end of kindergarten, most of her "direct services" has been discontinued, but she continues to have classroom accommodations (like Sparky described) and she checks in weekly with her case manager and meets with the social worker for social skills training (individual and group). The big thing is that the case manager has a say in picking the classroom teacher. She can pick a teacher who is aware of the needs of ASD kids and can provide the STRUCTURE that she needs while also challenging her academically. I wish we could clone her kindergarten teacher!!! It has made a huge difference. Some skeptics in our life look at it as part of the normal development and think she would have gotten this far without the intervention. Impossible. Hannah responds to directions and instruction from "teachers" differently than us. It is not because she does not respect us, or we do not provide consequences (as I have heard from others--but if that were the whole story, all of our kids would have these issues and they certainly do not). In Hannah's world, everything is black and white. In fact, the "better" she was in school, the more challenges we have at home that night. We have seen this in particular when there was a change in structure at school (assembly, sub, afterschool activity, etc.). Its like it took all of her energy to do what she needed to do and she falls apart in her safe place (home).
I brought the IEP to WDW because I read it was good to bring papers/notes from school, Dr, psyche, etc. Of course, I did not plan to use them...But I thought I would need to "prove" something to get the GAC. I envision people trying to "scam" one...Not sure how far you got, but if you get to the last day, I describe how I approach the CM at MK Guest Relations desk...With the state I was in, I would not have needed any paper to prove that I (and my family) was having a tough time! LOL!
Linny- (disclaimer: I must need to vent--not enough adult time this summer--this post got too long for the question!)
Thanks for reading my TR!
Sparky explained the IEP. It was interesting for me to read about the educational acronyms from other parts of the country. I thought IEP was the standard!
Good for you for getting intervention services for your DD early! It will make all the difference for her! My DD did not have her educational assessment until 3.5. Until 3, we just thought she was "shy", "independent", and just had more extreme temper tantrums than other toddlers. Besides, she was CRAZY smart, so that made it easy to not be concerned about the other things. She was also incredibly verbal, but once I started doing the research, I realized they were not "original speech productions" but instead parroting things. She has an amazing memory, so can learn and repeat anything. Again, this masked what was really going on. Those things also fed my "parent ego" as my 2 year old had a huge vocabulary of songs, poems, and movie lines, knew her letters and was starting to identify sight words.
At 3 is when her behavior started to stand out. I am a school counselor with an educational psychology background, so I was ot in denial once I recognized the patterns. We had the medical assessment first, and then approached the school for the educational assesment. We got her services for the 1 year of preschool prior to Kindergarten. She just finished kindergarten and has been doing great in school. The structure really fits for her. By the end of kindergarten, most of her "direct services" has been discontinued, but she continues to have classroom accommodations (like Sparky described) and she checks in weekly with her case manager and meets with the social worker for social skills training (individual and group). The big thing is that the case manager has a say in picking the classroom teacher. She can pick a teacher who is aware of the needs of ASD kids and can provide the STRUCTURE that she needs while also challenging her academically. I wish we could clone her kindergarten teacher!!! It has made a huge difference. Some skeptics in our life look at it as part of the normal development and think she would have gotten this far without the intervention. Impossible. Hannah responds to directions and instruction from "teachers" differently than us. It is not because she does not respect us, or we do not provide consequences (as I have heard from others--but if that were the whole story, all of our kids would have these issues and they certainly do not). In Hannah's world, everything is black and white. In fact, the "better" she was in school, the more challenges we have at home that night. We have seen this in particular when there was a change in structure at school (assembly, sub, afterschool activity, etc.). Its like it took all of her energy to do what she needed to do and she falls apart in her safe place (home).
I brought the IEP to WDW because I read it was good to bring papers/notes from school, Dr, psyche, etc. Of course, I did not plan to use them...But I thought I would need to "prove" something to get the GAC. I envision people trying to "scam" one...Not sure how far you got, but if you get to the last day, I describe how I approach the CM at MK Guest Relations desk...With the state I was in, I would not have needed any paper to prove that I (and my family) was having a tough time! LOL!
Great explanation Shelly! I ws interested to hear about a case worker, and am now curious myself if any condsideration is given when DD teacher is chosen, or whether she is just grouped with the rest of the class. I will now have to find out about that.
I too brought a doctors note describing my DD needs, just in case. I thought of the scamming that could occur and wanted to be prepared as well.
Glad to hear how wonderfully your Hannah is doing! I have been very happy with the help my DD has received. What an advatage you have of being a school counselor!
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Here in MN, a "Case Manager" is the special education teacher that manages the individual education plan (IEP). They also provide direct service where appropriate. "Case Worker" refers to the social services system through the county or other agencies. We are fortunate in that her needs do not rise to that level.
Here in MN, a "Case Manager" is the special education teacher that manages the individual education plan (IEP). They also provide direct service where appropriate. "Case Worker" refers to the social services system through the county or other agencies. We are fortunate in that her needs do not rise to that level.
LOL I knew what a case worker was, I just misspoke. I meant case manager. I guess that is what they call the Spec.Ed. Director/Coordinator here. I will need to look into that. Thanks for the....notion....
Wow!!! Love your PTR. I am "mom" to two children with ASD( one is my DS almost 3, the other my niece 4 -my sister is very ill and I've taken over as caregiver for both of them)I am enjoying reading your plans as I am also staying at BC this year and our schedules are similar although we are driving down from PA.You will be in Disney about a month before me and I feel like maybe your experiences will give me a heads up as my son seems very similar to your daughter. Keep up the reports. It's nice to see someone else can relate!! Thank you. I can't wait for the next installment.
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"Sparky"(My first trip.)
(Our sale included 4 families, my friend had the jackpot with $800+ in sales). We all took a "piece" of the loss and after that disappointment, we could not bring ourselved to open the sale another day...so all the stuff is taking over our garage and I keep promising DH I will finish the sale...I am hoping to make another $200 to use for spending $ on our trip...
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When we heard the start of bickering, we reminded the kids that we all have to work together to make the plan work. Nothing more was needed. We ate a quick breakfast in the room as we got ready and were walking out our door before 7am. We were taking a cab to MK.
We did not feel the stress of trying to control her behavior. With more space to move, and less waiting time, the 2-year old was not copying her sister's behavior. The freedom we felt was amazing. We no longer had to rush, causing more stress for everyone in the process. We got to stop and look at things, and play on things, and take pictures-- things we did not take time for in the days before. At the end of the day, we were not as exhausted as we had been at the end of the previous days. Our last day at Disney was the first day our family truly experienced "the Magic." Melanie gave us the gift of time, so we could slow down and enjoy Disney. 
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