FoggyRock General Forum

Hi Lisa-
That is tough decision.  My son's bus ride in the a.m. would be about an hour long--even though we are only 15 minutes away from school--so I drive him myself for now.  It means that my morning is chopped up, but I really don't think he would do well with it...The ride home is 30 minutes, and it seems to be short enough to be manageable. 

What are your choices?  Is there a summer program closer to your home?  Can you appeal for staff to accompany your son to a summer camp program?  One year, my son's school ran his program at a little local summer day camp on a farm.  He participated with the kids when appropriate and worked on other tasks with his school staff during another part of the day....Or, could summer staff come to your house?
Or could you carpool with another parent to drive the kids there for a shorter commute?
Could you meet the bus somewhere else along the route after they have picked up other   riders?

Good luck!

hey lisa,
stephen is on the bus for 45 minutes in the morning and about 30 minutes in the afternoon, depending on the traffic. his school is 15 minutes away from here.
i could drive him but it's easier for me if he rides the bus and he enjoys the ride anyways.
i think with richie, you need to find out what your options are. could you possibly get something closer to your home??

Our son Stephan was on a bus route that was quite rural and was on the bus for about an hour and a half even though we were literally 5 minutes from the school itself. I finally got the bus route and we drove it. It went everywhere. Stephan loves the bus, never complains or cries. But I still didn't think it was fair that just because he was a good rider that he should sit on the bus for 90 minutes. So we called an IEP meeting, invited the bus route supervisor and she got a lesson in Autism and did re-route so that his time on the bus was more tolerable. It's tough to convince some folks just how long is too long, but 90 minutes was my total limit!!

Thanks everyone....I spoke with the coordinator....and part of the problem is the school district is Huge, but also rural...in that its made up of several suburbs/towns.
I did find out that he would have the same bus driver that he has had all year...so that made me feel a bit more comfortable about letting him ride the bus...and I'm not sure how long he is going to be on the bus just yet.
I also have a few other issues...at first they were going to just send him, with out any therapy and I said why is that...so I got them to add in Speech therapy for the summer...so now my only hurdle, is getting them to provide his one on one aide...which is currently in his School Year IEP....but not the summer IEP....because we havent had a summer school IEP meeting....and this is my first year of doing the summer school thing....so I'm learning that they do things a bit differently and less formal.
But I was told to put all my concerns in writting and send them into the coordinator.
So I'm still not sure how this is all going to turn out.
noaholiviaian - my son is now 11 years old...and I just started letting him ride the bus last year....LOL...I am way the over protective mom!

Hi.  Just like many of you we have avoided long bus rides as much as possible.  We live in rural Maine and almost EVERYTHING is a long ride away.  One of the things I believe is important to consider is whether your child actually enjoys bus rides.  Several of the responses say that they have children who do like the ride.  Our son, however, HATES, the noise of the bus, the crowed, closed in feeling, the bumping around, the slippery seats, etc.  He can barely tolerate rides in our car so we weren't too surprised about his reaction to the bus.  Anyway, in our case, there was no way that we could have Benjamin stuck on long bus rides.  Our decision has meant that it is more difficult for us to access many services but I think that we did make the right decision.  Maybe you could try riding with your child and see if everything works out ok or what doesn't work and if anything can be modified to make it ok.  Good luck!--lisadianne

My son is on the bus 30-50 minutes  each way.  He usually takes a nap.  He is good on the bus and enjoys it.  The legal maximum in California is 90 minutes one way.  There is an
aid on the bus just in case.  All the kids riding the bus have autism.  In the course of 7 years they have been in 1 minor accident and had 1 flat tire.  In the accident the bus didn't even have a dent but the paramedics came and checked all the kids out.

I am glad, yet stunned at the numer of responses you have received regarding this topic.  My son rode the bus for two years , about an hour each way, without incident.  Then the driver retired and it became a nightmare.  Needless to say, we drive him both ways (even though our daughter rides the bus) and he is much happier at the end of the day.  I think the bus driver is the key to successfull bus transportation.   Our son also fell asleep on the bus during this nightmare period and was taken to the bus yard in the mornings several times, yet we were never told.  Well until the driver started giving him behavior write ups for sleeping.  That is also when it came to light that when he fell asleep in the afternoons the driver had the other children on the bus wake him up before his stop by screaming in his ear.  This came to light when our daughter (who is 3 years younger-age 5) told us that was the reason he was upset when he would get off the bus.   After a meeting the very next morning the driver said that they were unaware of the fact that he had special needs, so you have other children treat their peers in this fashion if they don't have special needs?  Amazing!  The part that bothered me the most was that my son had been going through this and when asked why he was upset, he couldn't even tell me!   He loved riding the bus the previous years and then all of the sudden he hated it.  I learned a valuable lesson.     I guess what I am trying to say, is just be sure he is happy with the bus ride and that you have OPEN communication with the driver.

We live out in the middle of nowhere, so Jaymes has an hour bus ride. my main issue with it is diaper rash, from sitting in wet or poopy diapers on the bus. He loves to ride, so it's  actually a lot of fun for him. He is on a regular bus though (we had an ESE bus in Florida, but not here in NC) and his driver on the way home doesn't even watch the kids- there's 14 year old boys teasing the little ones. Jaymes came home with severe bite marks on his arm, that actually scarred. No one could ever tell me how it happened, and it was never really addressed.

My oldest nolan loves taking the bus to and from school. He's been doing it for 2 years now. His younger brother likes taking the bus too. They both get quite upset if we pick them up from school. I've had a couple of verbal warning from the bus driver that my youngest will not stay seated in his seat...Well he has ADHD..(we just found out last week) The are only on the bus for about 20 minutes.

Interesting...How long does it take to get to the school? I think you were legite in calling about it being that late...and finding out what was up with that....I'm really not sure how long is too long...but at that age...I would think that an hour and a half would be pushing it ....if it were my child. I hope you get it worked out soon.