Last week was 3-year-old Levi Vidal's first day of school. It was surely one filled with much excitement and nervousness for him and his parents as first days typically are. Only his had a nightmare ending that they could have never imagined happening -- that should have never happened.
Instead of coming home on the school bus in a timely manner (his parents estimate the ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn should have taken about 40 minutes), he instead endured a hellish five-hour ride. While on board, he was given neither food nor a bathroom break, and he was terrified. Can you even imagine a 3-year-old forced to sit on a bus that long? Making matters even worse -- Levi is autistic.
His mother, Serena Vidal, described to the New York Daily News just how traumatic the experience was for him.
He was delirious, starving, and in his full diaper. It’s insane, heartbreaking. How can you treat kids like that?
The school bus company doesn't seem to have many answers besides just saying they often encounter problems during the beginning of the school year. That's so not good enough.
And Levi, tragically, isn't the only student to be affected. The paper found another autistic boy, 4-year-old Efraim Shapiro, who was forced to endure a three-hour bus ride last week in New York during which he urinated on himself twice and was "dropped off wet and shivering." Other complaints have been reported as well.
It's as heartbreaking as it is infuriating, and someone needs to do something to prevent it from happening again. It shouldn't happen to ANY child, but especially when it comes to children with special needs, who may not have the same coping skills as typical children, extra care really should be taken. And where was the humanity in this bus driver? Did he or she really not think a child would need food or a restroom after five hours? It's inexcusable any way you look at it.
It's frightening enough to put children who can't always speak up for themselves in the care of others, and it's stories like this that fuel all of our parenting fears and make us want to keep our children by our side always.
Has your child ever been in a scary situation like this?
Image via KB35/Flickr
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Comments 228
I would just like to say my son has been riding a bus since he was 3. He started at a school that is 20 mins away in Hamburg because of hearing loss up until he was 3 had speech delay. Never has my son ever been treated like this he loved his bus drivers at first step, and then now he rides a big bus because his school is still over in Hamburg because that school district actually works with students who have speech delay and ADHD, the school district i am in told me to stop trying with my son (when he was 4) and to give up all hope of him ever doing anything. His bus driver is sweat, she picks them up at the bus stop (his bus is only for Crossett kids and only goes to that bus stop) and takes them straight there. She talks to the parents if the child is acting up and i am perfectly happy. Sometimes parents can not pick them up if they are far away i know i couldn't i have a 24 year old car and it does great to get around town but like when he was 3 it could barley make it to the store so to get my child the help he needed he had to ride a bus. I think the blame falls on the bus driver, bus garage and the school district and that something should be done! That being said, Has it been said why the child was on the bus for that long? And most schools have special need buses for children with Autism and that why wasn't he on a bus like that. My sympathies to the parents and that child!
My son was 3, and has autism, and was forgotten about on the school bus for 2 hours!!! Should have been a 25 min ride. This was in Chester County, PA...On The Go Kids bus company! They wanted to just re-route the driver, but I got the police to do an investigation and she was fired. He went to school in the afternoon, and the bus driver drove him to school, never let him off the bus, then picked up the AM kids, drove them all home, then realized my son was still on the bus! It was in the 90's that day. Thank goodness she didn't decide to take a break and park that bus.
@randelle....if you go to other countries you will see any school aged child (kindergarten on up) 100 percent on their own from morning until night. You see 5 year olds navigating through mass crowds in china, hopping into a mcdonalds for lunch, then catching a public bus back to school, and handling their own money of course. Just becuase we don't "normally" put 3 and 4 year olds on a bus in America does not mean they aren't capable, it really is a simple thing...get on, sit, get off.