Advice needed from parents of ASD secondary school children re bus transport

[herdiegirl]

Currently trying to decide which secondary school to put first for my DS1 who has high functioning ASD. We live within walking distance of an ok school. However, I prefer a school on the other side of the city which I think he could do really well at. My concern is he would have a long day and would need to catch a bus to the school.

Looking for any guidance or opinions from parents who have experienced school bus transport with ASD kids.

Does anyone have ASD children that have coped well with the bus journey? Or am I mad to be considering this? x

DS2 walks to school rather than taking the bus, but my general advice about everything to do with secondary would be to practise, practise, practise, and also go through what to do in different eventualities. What should he do if the bus doesn't turn up? What should he do if the bus breaks down? What should he do if he loses his bus pass / bus money?

I have been totally wowed by DS2's ability to adapt to secondary school and to develop the various skills required. However, we did have to put in a LOT of practice and algorithms for different eventualities.

Thank you for your replies. DS is fairly capable and can manage to walk to school. He goes on ahead of me and I follow with his little brother, so can always check he's got to school ok. This has proved very straight forward so far. All part of prepping him to be more independent.

We are having another look at both schools in the next week during a normal school day, rather than an open evening, to hope to get a more realistic feel of the schools. Am hoping this can help me decide.

Head is swimming with this decision.
It's the noisy bus which is making me undecided and him being more tired as a result. x

Bear in mind that if it isn't what the council would deem the nearest suitable school, they won't offer any help with school transport - so you'd need to check whether he would qualify for a place on the school bus and whether you'd have to pay.

I was going to say that sadly in my borough transport is only provided for special school pupils

Am aware that we will need to pay for transport. There are specific school buses for various schools in the city I live in and it is a grammar school area, so lots of children take a bus to school.

I am willing to pay for transport to school, its just whether it is justifiable and worth the effort. Hope I am making sense! x

Am aware that we will need to pay for transport. There are specific school buses for various schools in the city I live in and it is a grammar school area, so lots of children take a bus to school.

I am willing to pay for transport to school, its just whether it is justifiable and worth the effort. Hope I am making sense! x

How stressed does he get in noisy environments? How much longer would the journey add to his day?

The amount of noise he can take varies. For example, discos are always out for him, but other times he copes ok with a reasonable amount of noise. A lot of it depends on the sort of day he is having. Am not certain, how much extra time it will add to his day yet. It is very difficult to find out up to date info from the net at the mo. Am hoping that when we visit the school on Monday, they can give us a clearer indication of this.