Knew it was too good to be true (school bus)

Post Reply New Topic

When our AS/ADD 12YO son told us in September he wanted to take the school bus to and from his new school we were worried to say the least. His consultant warned us not too but we thought lets try, and to be honest it has been really successful. We have been thrilled at how well he has coped and he has really enjoyed being more independent. That is until today, he came in from being dropped off soooo upset, he could hardly speak and his tics (which we haven't had in months) were back He was somewhere between, furious, sad, embarrassed, he just stayed in his room for over an hour to calm down.
Turned out he couldn't get a seat and had to stand the whole way home and got bounced all over the place. He thought that 2 older boys were staring at him (probably because of his tics) and he got into a shouting match with them. We told him to ignore people who upset him and just focus on trying to stay calm, very difficult in this situation. Am going to contact school tomorrow to make sure he gets on the bus first and gets a window seat. Problem is will this make him stand out more? Things had been going so well, hopefully its just a blip

Anyone out there got bus issues..?

Wait a minute, I would check state law first. As a former school bus driver, it was illegal here for me to operate the bus while a student was standing. I think there is more to this than meets the eye here. If the school bus driver did make your son stand, then I would raise hell on that one.

We have had bus issues! Once there was a sub driver who told DS to get off at a wrong stop miles from home. DS knew better than to get off of the bus, but was so freaked out that he wouldn't speak. The bus driver got frustrated and finally called in to the yard, where they told him that he was to drive DS home. poor kid hit the door and had a HUGE meltdown.

The bussing is so sketchy as to knowing what to expect, the we ended up just driving him. It's too bad because the extra independence would be great for him, but for now he's just not ready. BTW - the bus ride was 45 minutes in the AM and 75 minutes in the PM, we live 9 miles from school.

School buses aren't allowed to move when the occupants are standing. This is something you should bring up as a serious problem to the bus driver or principal.

i believe foobabe is from northern ireland, and they do not have the exact same school bus laws as we do here in the states. i was curious about this tho so i looked it up, it seems in northern ireland they ended standing and '3 for 2' (seating 3 children in a seat made for 2) 2-3 years ago, but it is still allowed in some circumstances. and apparently there are no age limits governing how old a child must be to stand on the bus ride.

foobabe, i would definitely contact the school and see if accommodations can be made in allowing him to always be seated. he may stand out more for getting preferential seating, but which would be worse, standing out or another day like today? im pretty sure he stood out today a lot more than if he got to board the bus first.

i would also look up the school bus safety requirements in regards to standing on the bus. just from the tiny bit of looking it up i did, it sounded like they werent allowed to stand except in specific circumstances, which may not have applied today. it would concern me that the buses were possibly not following safety guidelines. i apologize if this isnt the correct info for where you live, i think its right but cant be positive as i am not familiar with your area and the school system. this is the document i found about the guidelines, it also gives instructions on how to report use of the 3 for 2/standing exception which you may want to do, especially if your son was that upset about the incident. http://applications.doeni.gov.uk/public ... ocid=16103

HI Guys - Thankyou so much for all your comments - I really appreciate it (love WP!)
I was so upset I hadn't even considered the whole legal issue on standing. Son was still upset this morning so I rang the school frist thing and got to speak to the principal, and here is a potted version of our (V long) discussion.

I explained what happened on the bus and that an AS child would get very upset about stuff that wouldn’t annoy us. We weren’t getting at the other boys as they probably don't fully understand AS and we understand that our son over reacts when stressed and it is something we are working on with him. The principal said he only wants our son to be happy going to, from and during school. He will speak to the bus crowd about understanding and respect and he will ensure that he is first on the bus and in a seat from now on.
I also mentioned that we wanted him to use his Ipod on the bus (to help him filter out noises and to help relax) but he won’t because of school rules , the principal said he will personally tell him that he can use his Ipod on the bus if he likes. He said they have a lot of AS kids in the school, and, like us he would like to see him to continue to use the bus. Feel a little bit happier so hopefully going home today will be easier. I mentioned the safety issue with standing and he said the bus company had sent the wrong bus - hence the overcrowding.

Aurecrayon - Thnak you for the link, your right we are from NI ("Norn Iron" as we locals call it ) I wasn't aware of the 3/2 rule so I'll be looking into this further.

Many Thanks

I am so angry
My son came home from school today and there was an other incident on the bus!
A big kid of 15 was teasing my sons friend and when my son intervened he got alot of verbal abuse. The big kid then sang all the way home "wheres your yellow bus" to my son. He is very upset and I am furious
Will be phoning the school first thing in the morning - thought we had sorted this out after the last time