That's great that the bus driver did a trial run and met your son before the first real trip to school. Amazing and wonderful.
No school district I've heard of is likely to hire additional staff to ride a bus - many find the cost of instructional aides in classrooms to be beyond their budgets. I did ride with my son to preschool for a while, on his little bus. The difference individual drivers made was huge.
I also rode the big bus a few times. There are always children who are protective of smaller ones, and most are good natured well behaved children who are just trying to get to school without incident.
My son developed insulin dependent diabetes when he was seven, and his classmates and others students were much more aware of symptoms of dangerous low blood sugar, and more likely to remember he had diabetes and that the symptoms had to be treated, than adults in charge who were often distracted enough to forget and attribute the symptoms to being a seven year old boy.
So, assigning a mainstream buddy to ride with a child with a disability might work well when we do want our bus drivers to keep their eyes forward and on the road. Even better to have a series of buddies to take a week each month so a circle of friends naturally forms.
When I told my son's classmates that he needed to wear a jacket in cold weather, many of them started taking time to put on their jackets while they were reminding and encouraging him to do so. I think he was as helpful to his classmates as they were to him. And of course that continues.
Pam W
SE of Seattle
Safety Risk and Childhood Disability Peer Mentoring Programs and Childhod Disability Friendship, Inclusion, and Childhood Disabilities One of the things we did to help was to watch the bus loading and unloading process, and then drive the probable route that the bus would take.
It also helped when the new bus driver did a trial run and actually came to the front door so that the two could meet.
While I'm pleased that accessible buses have much more safety setups in place, I still feel that there isn't full safety unless there is an additional person "on board" to be available for help and also emergencies.
One of my biggest fears is that my son would have a seizure on route. The seizure can be silent but deadly. With eyes focused on the road, the bus driver is likely to not even notice.
I also have a vivid memory of another child arriving to school with hands that were absolutely freezing. He'd dropped his gloves, couldn't tell anyone, and he would he tell anyway? I don't have to tell you that the bus was unheated and it was a freezing cold day.
I suspect that having an extra person on board would also make the loading and unloading process go that much more quickly too. Since that would likely save the bus company money, you'd think that would help, no?
Anna