Need to decide whether to let DD ride bus for Kindy

I'm really, really torn on this and hoping for some help. Tomorrow night is Kindergarten round-up, and they sent home papers for us to fill out and turn in tomorrow night. One of the forms is regarding transportation... will the child ride the bus or be driven. DD is about 45" tall and 31lbs (lost a little weight again). I've heard that compartmentalization is beneficial for kids that are the size of an average 6 year old or 1st grader. She's no where near that, weight-wise. Height-wise she might be close. I'm assuming Kindy buses do not have harnesses.

Then there's the other issue of her epilepsy. Fortunately her seizures are pretty well-controlled, however, she does have one now and then. I don't know if there is an aide on the bus or not. Obviously the driver won't notice if she has a seizure, so she'd have to have an aide. I assume this is something that could be written into her IEP, but I really don't know. Not only does someone need to see her, but I'd also be worried about her not being in a harness. When she has a seizure, she usually goes completely limp and falls over. She also has the impulse control/attention of a fly... she can't sit still for anything.

She has never ridden on a bus before. Her preschool class offers bus transportation but I opted to drive her. She says she really wants to ride the bus next year, but then when we go onto the bus (her teacher lets her get on when her preschool classmates arrive if she wants to see, she has done this twice), she totally freaks out. It's been a while since she's been on the bus to check it out, so maybe she wouldn't react the same way now. I really don't know.

Ugh, I don't know what to do. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

I didn't let DS ride the school bus until this year (3rd grade) so I definately understand where you are coming from. I don't think I would allow a child her size with no bus experience and a serious medical condition ride the bus. Maybe first grade when she is a little bigger? There should be a field trip or two this year and you can ask to ride with her (I would think it would be allowed given her Epilepsy) and show her how to sit properly.

That is just my totally unprofessional mommy opinion. Someone smarter on this subject may prove me absolutely wrong.

I am just curious does she qualify for the special needs bus. My son 3.5 has a iep and goes to special education preschool and he rides on the short bus for special needs kids. The short bus has seat belts (lap belt only) or you can install a carseat on it. My 3.5 year old wears a E-Z on harness on the bus, there are also regular carseats and some schools have the stars harness system.

If she cant ride on that bus and its a regular big bus I think I would also drive. She is very light and no bus experience. when my son was in kindy they went on a field trip and the nonbus riders had a very hard time staying sitting correctly. He is 7 now and still has a hard time but he is not a bus rider. Now my 3 year old loves the bus but he would not be on it either if he was not in a harness system

She is currently in a special needs preschool class (this is her second year). They don't have a different bus for the special needs kids (well, one bus has a lift for a wheelchair bound student, but otherwise, they are the standard school buses). The preschoolers do have harnesses though. I have no idea if there's a separate bus for the elementary special needs students or not.

On one hand, I don't want to put her on the bus yet because of her size and epilepsy. On the other hand, I don't want to let her ride for the first time later down the road, when she'll be the only one who doesn't know how to sit properly on a bus. Also, I want her to be able to do what the other kids are doing, and she is starting to pick up on differences.

I really don't know what to do, but I'm leaning toward driving her.

Well, I spoke to the transportation dept. last night at Round-Up. They weren't all that helpful. Basically said they have no aides or harnesses after preschool age, but they might be able to work on something. They said to contact the head of transportation. Then I spoke to the school social worker and she said she'd recommend trying to get her on the bus for her own confidence and to "fit in" since that's what she wants to do. She said it should be fine to get an aide and a harness (or at least just an aide) in her IEP. We're supposed to have an IEP meeting at the end of the school year in June, so I guess we'll see. At this point, I'm leaning toward just driving her though, then if she's bigger, letting her go with an aide (no harness) next year.

Even if you decide to driver her, make sure the use of a harness and aide get written into her IEP. That way, the process will be in place if you should need to/want to have her ride the bus.

Usually there is a separate bus for special education students. This bus will stop at each student's home vs. a more central "bus stop."

flipper68 said:

Even if you decide to driver her, make sure the use of a harness and aide get written into her IEP. That way, the process will be in place if you should need to/want to have her ride the bus.

Usually there is a separate bus for special education students. This bus will stop at each student's home vs. a more central "bus stop."

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Thank you! That's a very good point, I didn't even think of that. :thumbsup: I'll be sure to get it included in the IEP in June, that way I can still change my mind later if necessary. I also didn't know that about the special ed bus. I don't know if my district does that or not. We're a very small district (one elementary, one middle, one high school).

we are also a small town one school for K-5, one for 6-8 and one for 9-12. special ed students get a small bus and it come right to my door. They do it for the preschool kids to which s what my son is but I have a friend with a boy with autism and the bus goes right to his house

Oh okay, that's good to know. Thanks!