3 year old disabled boy left on freezing bus for 5 hours

[borderslass]

words fail me

jesus christ. taht poor poor child. he must have been terrified, starving, freezing and very uncomfortable as he undoubtedly would have needed to use the toilet or have his nappy changed in that time. it makes me so unbelievably sad that he went through that. some really stupid comments below taht article aswell.

Sounds horrific, I don't see how you can't notice him on a 12 seater minibus.

the thing that is keeps ringing in my head is that he can't speak and was probably trying to tell them as they were all getting off and teh fear setting in taht he was being left alone. i cannot imagien how frightened he would have been. i hope he ahs forgotten about. i really hope so.

Poor poor little boy! And some of the comments from people on there just highlights the level of extreme ignorance people have, or perhaps they are just over-reactionary and don't think things through clearly.

This is a classic:
"WHY was a 3yo disabled child put on a minibus by his mother.
WHY couldn't she drive him to school.
WHY is the child not sent to a special school.

• Paul, Wyong, NSW, Australia, 29/11/2010 23:18"

Clearly ZERO level of understanding of the situation yet feels impelled to comment. However, as I know the area he is from, I can safely say that I am not surprised - if we had the DM over here, it would be an area where it was rife, alongside the Sun.

I don't know how they would be able to help him get over it - if he is still having nightmares (and who could blame him?), it would be so hard to deal with! If he was a NT 3yo, it would still be very hard to deal with so I can only imagine it would be much worse for a SN 3yo.

I do think the bus driver should take some of the responsibility for not checking his bus though - it's not as though the child was hidden under a seat, he was strapped in!

I do hope they end up sacking that "carer" - he/she has been guilty of serious negligence, which should surely count as gross misconduct and be punishable by sacking. Anything less would give the wrong message.

Utterly horrifying, poor little child he would have been so scared. It must have been awful being cold but the consequences don't bear thinking about should it have happened on a hot day.

I can't understand why the school didn't account for him given that there was no message from a parent saying that he would be absent.

I'm a bit surprised that his 7yo brother who had been sitting nest to him didn't mention anything to anyone.

Juuuule you can't lay the blame on a 7 year old boy when there were several supposedly responsible ADULTS whose job it was to make sure these children arrive at school safely.

The 7 year old could have have learning difficulties too.

The minibus was taking children to a what they call 'special school', juuule. That means all the children have learning disabilities/difficulties.

For all you know, the 7yr old is also severely disabled and non-verbal.

I'm not blaming the 7yo. I just thought it strange that he hadn't shouted up. I know any of mine would have done if they thought one of their siblings was being left behind. I hadn't realised from first reading that the school was a 'special school' and that it may have been possible his brother had difficulties too.

I do agree that any escort should have been fully aware of who was in their charge and known where they were up to the point of handing over responsibility and care of them to the school.

It is a special school. The older brother almost certainly does have significant difficulties. Ds2 loves his sister with all his might but he couldn't tell me if someone was setting fire to her.

Our instinct to blame mothers is really quite over whelming isn't it?

HE may not have noticed really though.
He may be used to getting off the bus and being taken into school while someone else unstraps his brother.
It is entirely possible that the bus ulls upn at school, 7 year old gets off and doesn't see his brother again until the end of the day on the bus back.

I know. Because the child has disabilities, he doesn't have the right to go to nursery? The mother should keep him at home? Isolate him from the world?

Other children get to go to nursery, why not a child with disabilities?

Perhaps it's the bus thing? Maybe people think that children with sn shouldn't travel to school by bus? Dedicated bus. With support workers.

I suppose waving your child off onto a bus or taxi is neglectful.

I think it is not actually about blaming mothers. I truly think it is about disabled people. Lock em away. Institutions. Let's not force nice normal people to endure the horror of knowing the disabled are oooooooout theeeeeere...

Poor little boy and absolutely shocking that anyone could think of blaming anyone other than the escort. I am not personally familiar with the role of an escort but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess their sole responsibility is to "escort" the child to where they are going

at Nancy going out on a limb with escort job description.

Yes, they are there to assist to the child and to meet their basic safety/ security needs for the course of thevjourney.
They are as mixed a bunch as any group of people who earn minimum wage- ish salary and need no qualifications
Some are bloody astonishing, kind and sensible. Some are useless lazy fuckers. As apparent we have no say.

I have had drivers and escorts who I will be grateful to forever for their kindness and consideration. There are some I would shudder to leave a cat with. I witnessed one escort slap a child with autism for not answering her.

Oh that's made me all tearful, poor little thing.

My mum is a school escort all be it with teenagers and I know a damn good one. I know this because the parents love her and she has an excellent rapport with the children and teachers at the school.
However, the tales she has come home with of escorts who sit in the front of the bus ignoring the children and worse that I had better not go into. its shocking.
That poor little boy, what a horrible thing for him to endure it's no wonder he experiencing nightmares now.
I can't help wondering though why the school didn't wonder where the child was enough to ring and ask the mother particularly since the older sibling was in school. They are outraged and rightly so but it didn't twig with them at all?

it is not the Mums fault and most definitely not the 7 yr old brothers fault.
the fault lies with the people who should have been looking after him
the escort
the driver
the school

I find this especially worrying as we are just in the process of signing DS2 up to start at the SN school in April, he will get the bus.
Naively perhaps i had assumed he would be properly looked after by an SN-trained person (maybe from the school?) whilst out of my care.
School runs with DS1 in one direction & DS2 in the other will be a nightmare but maybe i'll have to figure something out.

agree with 2shoes. although primarily the escort's job, the driver and school should also double check.

Justkeep

Ds2 started travelling to school with bus/ escort age 6.

The taxi firm is organised by the Lea and they are just firms that have chosen to operate within that specialist area or who have a few dedicated drivers and escort.

The escorts and drivers are not specially trained but should be police checked and are often nice, interested, helpful and kind people
Ds2s driver for the last 2 years was just brilliant.

Don 't be anxious about it but equally don't assume that they are trained or will understand your Childs needs.
I have perfected polite insistence and I complain immediately if I am unsure about anything.

We all love our children but there are simply not fully qualified trained staff who will sit on a bus for an hour for minimum wage. It has to be filled in 'shit we have to grit our teeth about '.

Most of the escorts we have had have reminded me of my mum and have done a very good job. Just don 't hesitate to speak up if you are concerned

Find the "care" worker responsible. Strip naked and tie to a tree outside in the snow for a bit. I'd bet they wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Would a nursery section normally phone the parents if the child didn't turn up though? As it's not "real" school and attendance isn't compulsory, why would they do that?
I don't know if it is different with Special School nurseries - is it?
Or would they just assume that the child wasn't well or had some kind of appointment that day?

I am not being contentious, I am genuinely curious as to whether most 3yos' absence (NT or SN) would invoke phonecalls in either direction.

That's so upsetting, the poor little boy. He must have been so frightened. Not going to read the comments under the article.

thumby - with NT children it would be very unusual for them to be on council provided transport to nursery, usually it would be parent or other relative/childminder doing the dropoff in person, so the issue wouldn't really arise where they could go missing.