School Bus Safety

Since kindergarten, Andrew has taken a special lift bus to school everyday.  The first year, his older brother rode with him. Since then, he's gone "alone," and thrives on the independence. While we miss the chance for him to socialize with other children on the neighborhood bus, Andrew has made great friends with some of the kids who ride with him, as well as his bus drivers and aides.  Thankfully, we've had mostly good adults help him each year.  And our driver for middle school is fabulous (just ask Andrew!).  Still, the tragic incident in New York City recently is a dangerous reminder of just how vulnerable students like Andrew are on school and public transportation. We do what we can to make sure the driver and Andrew feel comfortable and confident together, but you can never be too careful.  Still, here are a few things that work for us:  

1) write into the IEP that driver must come to our house BEFORE school begins each fall:  meet Andrew, learn about his power wheelchair; practice securing it onto the bus and loading Andrew on and off; 

2) develop transportation goals,  such as independently boarding the bus and navigating into his "riding position" on his own; 

3) complimenting the driver and/or aide to tranportation management and school district administration when they do something thoughtful, smart or competent (it's a hard job, and everyone deserves some praise); 

4) asking Andrew constantly about his bus ride to and from school to elicit information that we may not be getting from a driver; 

5) asking school personnel to work closely with the driver/aide to ensure everyone is aware if Andrew has had a particularly difficult or terrific day 

6) requesting that any substitute driver be announced to us in advance, even if it's an early morning phone call before school (enables us to prepare Andrew and, if we're not familiar with the driver/vice versa, to arrange alternate transportation for Andrew -- I drive).  

Clearly, this list is not exhaustive and additional input from blog readers would help us a lot.  Do you have any suggestions for making the school bus safer?