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Getting the bus

ParentingAutism

We've finally just came up with a solution to getting my daughter to and from school. Once again, today she isn't in school. The taxi company takes forever to reply and I have a really bad feeling they won't give her a taxi but we'll find out. She knows this and is adamant to be in school. We've decided that she will need to get the bus to and from school everyday until we have a taxi, if it happens. It takes 40 minutes on the bus and a 10-15 minute walk to school so she needs to leave early every morning.

The only issue we have is, I message the school every morning asking if she's in, because sometimes she's not due to staff absences, and they get back to me when they know the situation, around 8:30 but when's she's getting the bus, she will already be on the way to school. I will be discussing this with school but they aren't answering my calls so far. We are going to try the bus tomorrow so she knows what it's like because I'm avaible to get her if it goes wrong. It's a very high anxiety situation for her and means a new routine. It's all new to her.

I'm worried because she struggles with self regulation and has severe anxiety and I won't be there to help her because I'm an hour away working. I'm hoping the staff can meet her at the bus stop and be with her until she's off/on the bus. We've had situations where she hasn't reached school because of anxiety, meltdowns or other reasons. I'm just worried. I'm sorry for always bothering and I feel guilty for wasting your time. I have no one to talk to about anything so I vent it all on here  I hope it's OK. She's struggling with her mental health and the stress of everything. 

Parents

  • Vent as much as you want on here and there's no need to feel bad about it.

    You have been concerned about your daughter not coping well with a change of taxi driver. Using a bus would potentially involve a lot more changes, which your daughter might struggle with. Buses are often delayed and your daughter may not be able to sit where she would like to. 

    Buses are often sensory nightmare environments for autistic people. I hate using them for this reason. The noise from the other passengers in particular but there can be other things such as lights and smells.

    A lot of what happens will be outside of her control and may lead to heightened anxiety as well as sensory overwhelm. These things could trigger a meltdown or panic attack whilst she is on the bus. 

    The other thing I would be concerned about is that her entitlement to a taxi may be withdrawn if the services deem that she is able to use the bus.

  • in reply to Autonomistic

    Yes, I just realised all this today and we aren't going to do the bus. We are hopefully going to hear about the taxi by the end of the week so fingers crossed. If it doesn't work out with the taxi, then we have a huge issue. She has suicidal thoughts and self harms when stressed and not having a taxi, I do fear the worst. Thanks for this xx 

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