school run?

[elliejjtiny]

I was just wondering if anyone can help me. I have DS1 aged 4 with mild ASD, DS2 aged 2.5 with profound hypotonia and hypermobility, non walking and in a special needs buggy and DS3 due in january.

DS1's school is 1.5 miles away, our closest school. DS2 still fits in a normal buggy but he just flops over and when I mention to OT or physio that his SN buggy is awful, wont go on the bus, almost impossible to fold and I can't use it for new baby as well I just get the "this buggy is best for his posture" speech and the "don't you even care about your child at all?" stare.

Transport services have said DS1 isn't entitled to transport to school as at his age he should be able to walk up to 2 miles to school. DS2 doesn't qualify for a motability car until his birthday in April (if he hasn't had a miraculous recovery by then) but even then I can't drive yet (have applied for lessons from the family fund). Houses near the school cost more to rent than DH earns in a month and DH has aspergers which makes him completely clueless about how hard this is going to be.

I've got a sling so I could carry baby in that and push DS2 in his buggy but I think after a few weeks of that I'll either be very fit or completely exhausted. Everyone else I know in this situation is either housebound or their DH's don't work but I can't be housebound when I have to take DS1 to school. Any ideas?

Phone up your councillor and ask for their help with school transport dept.

On a purely practical note, do you get HB? You could look at the Local Housing Allowance rate for houses near the school, and work out if it would be viable with HB as top-up.

Does DS1 get DLA? If so, does he get the Low rate mobility component? Could that help with the cost of a taxi?

Could you ask a childminder to do the school run, so that you don't have to go out of the house with all 3?

Would a double like this
www.twinsuk.co.uk/products/100848/mountain-buggy-double-special-needs-pushchairs/ work for DS2 its claims to be suitable from birth - 7, don;t know how supportive it is tho?
Probably no better on the bus than your current SN buggy but may be easier to walk with than using a sling and current buggy. The brand seem to be pretty robust.

Thanks

Like a lot of services they all seem to focus on the child in question's needs and ignore the rest of the family. So school transport will look at DS1 and say he can walk that far, while ignoring DS2 and DS3. Wheelchair services look at DS2's needs and ignore DS1 and DS3.

DS2 has the phoenix patron buggy at the moment. I was actually looking for a link and found that the tom cross country stroller now comes as a tandem with either a car seat or toddler seat on the back. We were offered a choice between the tom and the phoenix when we first got DS2's chair so fingers crossed they will swap our old phoenix for the tom tandem. We have a phil and ted's double which we use when phoenix buggy is waiting for repair (goodness knows what we'll do when DS2 grows out of that because the phoenix seems to break down a lot) so that is another option in the short term.

I will also ask our counsellor about school transport. DS1 gets no DLA at all as his ASD is fairly mild. DH's Aspergers is a lot worse and he gets nothing so I didn't see the point of trying to claim for DS1.