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
Reading some of these comments, it makes me really sad that people don't stop and think about circumstances in other peoples lives. One commentor has already shown a very good reason for why she has to put her young kids on the bus, who is to say that this childs parents don't have just as good of a reason? We do not live in a perfect a world nor is the world black and white. I hope that they are investigating why this happened and are making obviously necessary changes to their bus policies. It breaks my heart reading these comments about children being forgotten on the bus. That should be a rare occurance :(
mamabunny2010 - I don't know where you are from, but in most places, children start preschool at age 3. It is not idiotic and they don't go all day. I myself had to go to daycare. It is never too early or too late to start learning.
nonmember... are you sayin that the handicapp that can't talk for themselfs are stupid ...well good for ur child but not every child isn't like ur's just cause these boys couln't talk for themselfs and they used the bus seat for a toilet that's how they get punished is taking them on long bus rides that's totally fucked up if it was there child do ya think they would be pissed off cause someone did the same thing to there kids i'm pretty sure they would
My son has autism...... this is the reason I drive him to school. The bus company and the school both told me I am foolish to drive him, its in his IEP that transport is covered. No way in hell. It won't happen. I will drive him every day or walk on the days we dont have access to a car. Its not to far of a walk and there is a trail through the woods so we aren't on busy streets. I can not put my special needs child's life in the hands of others in that way. ITs just to much responsibility for people who are not trained for it.
Some of these comments are ridiculous. What do you think they do in special needs pre-k? Its essentially play and group therapy (and whatever other specialized therapy that child needs) It teaches them how to use a routine so they don't get shocked when integrated into a regular classroom. Not all schools offer specialized classes, so if you want your kid to get services to improve their quality of life you're going to send them wherever it is. Sometimes the bus is the only way. Thank goodness we've only ever had good experiences with drivers and bus helpers. I can't believe people are blaming this on the parents. Educate yourselves.
my 6 yo son has PDD-NOS which is a form of Autism. He is in a regular public school in a regular class. He rides the bus with everyone else. But during our team meetings with the school the bus driver is brought in so she knows how to deal with him if he ever has a tantrum while on the bus. he sits in the front seat so she can keep an eye on him. He rode a bus to a special preschool when he was 4 because the preschool was 40 minutes away from my house. That said, 5 hours is a long time, I get that this was in New York and the traffic is horrible but the bus driver should have radioed the garage and let them know to call the parents. Anything past 15-20 minutes late and i'm calling the garage. There was only 1 time that i had to call and the bus was 30 minutes late, i was actually on the phone when the bus pulled up. There was a problem with another child and the bus driver had to pull over to calm the child down.
Disgusting that this would happen to any child