To some, the first day back to school can be scary and nerve wracking, but for a child with autism it can turn a child's whole world upside-down if things don't go according to plan and schedule.
My 11-year-old stepson has various ‘labels’, but they are all on the autism spectrum. Part of his little quirk is that he needs repetition and a regular schedule. We did our part and gave him enough warning about school starting, repeated door locking steps and what time he needs to be out of the house by, which is the same as last year. We got him prepared by taking him to his regular bus stop so he knows that it is the same one he took last year. Then the big day: the first day of school came.
He left at precisely 8:25 a.m. He did his door locking routine and walked to the bus stop in the rain and waited. He waited for 30 minutes before I came to check up on him to make sure he had been picked up. To my shock, he was still there, teary-eyed, confused and wet from rain.
I told him that maybe the buses weren't running till Sept. 1 and that I'd drive him. Luckily, I took that day off work to see the kids off on their first day of school or he'd still be standing there. Or worse, he could have hopped in a stranger’s car, or walked – potentially getting lost and definitely being late for school.
I dropped him off at school and breathed a sigh of relief, because I knew that he'd be in safe hands; dropped off safely and precisely at 3:45 p.m. at his regular bus stop. After school I waited and waited and finally by 4 p.m. he walked through the door completely a-fluster and informed me that he had been dropped off at the wrong bus stop. Luckily, we had walked past this bus stop many times so he knew how to get home, but if it had not been a bus stop on our regular route he would have gotten lost.
Thursday morning arrives and we keep our fingers crossed. My husband and I had to work so I asked if my mom would watch for him. She went through his regular routine with him and then waited at his bus stop with him. She waited and finally she saw his bus about to drive right by him so she flagged him down. My stepson was supposed to get picked up at 8:31 a.m., but instead he got picked up at 8:46 a.m. and wouldn't have gotten picked up at all had my mom not been there to wave the bus down.
This is a letter to express my frustration and anger with the St. Albert school board and their transport company. It is you who needs to do the due-diligence to make sure that the bus drivers and companies you hire know their route and know of special-needs children on it and are not leaving children behind or forgetting to pick them up. I'm trusting you to take care of my children and so far you've failed me three times in two days. You have not returned our phone calls when we called and complained, and seem to not care. And these are the people I entrust my children to five days a week, 10 months out of the year?
Kirsty Murdoch, St. Albert
