Transport to school for moderate autism

[LittleMy20]

I am really torn as to whether transport to school is s good idea for my child who is going to an autism provision within a mainstream school. He is very verbal, able but repetitive, anxious and socially inappropriate. I initially thought I would just take him myself as it’s not far but a teacher suggested transport as he can be very difficult to get in. Can anyone tell me whether they think transport has been a help or a hindrance to their autistic children in terms of their confidence and happiness in school? Many thanks.

He’s five and just starting reception.

For me the big question is will he have to share the transport with another child.

This has two impacts (i) The children may be incompatible meaning they either refuse to get in the taxi at all (that was ds2) or arrive at the school very stressed (that was ds1). (ii) It can extend journey time considerably - for ds1 an extra thirty minutes each way for what was already and hour long journey - not great.

With a child as young as five and almost certainly if the taxi is shared they will probably provide an escort but at least in our LEA they have zero training in children with SEN.

This reads a bit negative with respect to taxi as it worked fine after an initial settling in period when they were transported on their own. It probably would have worked even shared if a bit of thought had been put into which children were compatible with each other.

I would say that you know him best and you automatically saying to yourself that your going to take him is probably the best decision. Going to school is a big step for any child and if you can do it then I suppose it will ease the transition? You could always consider it later down the line say next year?

My DS is 6 & has just moved to a SS, he’s in year 2. We opted for school transport as we are about a 20 mins drive to school. We said on the paperwork that a taxi would prob b best as our son can get violent & aggressive but unfortunately they’ve decided to put him on a mini bus with 11 other kids!!!

It’s only the 3rd day of school & already there’s been an incident with another child. My son is highly verbal too but really can’t explain how & why the incident happened, all we know is that he spat & cursed at one of the escorts 🙁

I’m so upset with the whole thing I really don’t know what to do as don’t have the full story.

If your DS can get very emotional or has meltdowns easily then have a good hard think about whether transport would work for him. I knew my boy would enjoy getting the bus initially but I think the novelty is beginning to wear off. It’s made my life easier as I don’t have to do the school run & so I’ve more time to spend with my toddler but I’m not sure it’s fair on DS1.

It’s a hard decision to make but we also deserve a break!!