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
Tie-Dye for the Fourth of July!
Mom Survives Horrific Domestic Abuse
Kim and Kanye's Baby Name Predictions!
Moms Love Birthday Parties, Too!
Comments 228
oh WOW ! those bus drivers should know their routes by heart before even stepping foot on a bus . let alone a Special needs bus!
What are the rules for bathrooms anyway? :-/ I mean, it's unfortunate that occasionally some of the youngsters have to 'go' badly and end up peeing on the bus but...those accidents happen even in schools with bathrooms nearby. School buses don't have bathrooms on them and where would they stop even if they knew a child had to go? In this pedophile-paranoid culture can you imagine the uproar over a bus driver taking a child that wasn't their own into a Starbucks washroom? If s/he wasn't getting crucified for the pedophile aspect then it would be over the fact that s/he left all the rest of the kids on the bus unattended to do it.
I just don't see how bathroom breaks in general for any child - disabled or not - are really feasable. It's sort of your child's responsibility to make sure they go before they get on the bus and after peeing their pants once or twice most of them learn pretty quickly to time things.
Why did it take them five hours to track him down? If they knew he was supposed to be home in 40 minutes and that he was taking the bus, I would be tracking the bus down at 55 minutes past and checking things out...not four or five hours after he was supposed to show up. I don't quite get that part of this story. If your child is supposed to be on the bus then you check the bus FIRST and if the bus somehow doesn't show up at the stop/drop-off point then you figure out where it went by calling the school and/or bus company and go there or figure out what's going on within about 10-20 minutes of it not showing up. :-/
Hell, I am angry about my 3-year-old daughter's dance teacher calling her a baby and making her sit in the corner sobbing horribly - and I'm a tough momma - but I can't IMAGINE having my child go through this!! I am just seeing article after article after article these days where kids are being abused, neglected, TORTURED, etc... by both parents and school systems. Just got done reading another article where a 4 year old was given TWO root canals in the art room at school without anesthesia! What is WRONG with people lately??
What are 3 and 4 year olds doing on school busses anyways?