Busing hitches a strain for autistic girl
The Autism News | English
Excitement over the first day of school turned to misery for an autistic girl when her bus was nearly an hour late to pick her up.
And on what bus carriers say was a relatively smooth first day of classes, a parent complained of a lengthy hourand-a-half ride to school for her nine-year-old daughter that required her to get up before 6 a.m. to get ready.
Emelee Miller, 6, is severely autistic and was accepted into a Grade 1 special-needs program at Wildwood Elementary School.
The Calgary Board of Education offered her curb-tocurb bus service. She requires a special harness and an aid on the bus.
When the First Student Canada bus company couldn’t arrange for a special-needs bus to pick her up Thursday, it offered to send a taxi.
When told that wouldn’t be suitable, the bus company arranged to have a regular bus with specialized seatbelts to come after it had completed another run.
This meant Emelee would be picked up at her West Springs home in the southwest about 8 a.m. and would be late for school.
After 45 minutes of waiting, Emelee finally broke down.
“It was pretty dramatic,” said her mother, Elaine Miller. “When the bus wasn’t there and she had waited patiently for 45 minutes, she basically had a meltdown. She took off her clothes, started freaking out.
“When her schedule is not going right, that’s her reaction with the autism.”
The bus did arrive, but without the proper seatbelts, however, the driver’s daughter agreed to sit with Emelee and she arrived at school over an hour late.
Miller was preparing to make sure everything went OK after school, when a First Student special-needs bus dropped Emelee at her door at 2: 30 p.m.
“That was a surprise,” said Miller. “That was the bus she should’ve been on in the first place.”
She said First Student also contacted her, offering to build a specialized harness for Emelee that she can carry with her.
“I’m feeling better. I’m just anxious about what’s going to happen (Friday),” said Miller.
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