Understanding parents' concerns about their children with autism taking public school transportation in Los Angeles County.
Amber M Angell, Olga Solomon
PMID 29153001WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with autism described school bus rides becoming unsafe when substitute drivers and aides did not know their children by name.
The children were briefly lost, and trust in school transport broke, even though families still valued the bus for independence.
Key findings
01Two children with autism were temporarily unaccounted for on school buses.
02Parents linked school bus travel to independence and community participation, but also expressed safety concerns.
03Bus staff sometimes did not know the child, and staff said an aide could not be kept without a child need.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The findings come from a small qualitative study of parents' accounts, and the authors state they are not intended to generalize to a large population. The sample was limited to bilingual Latino parents in Los Angeles County, so it does not show how these issues look for families of other racial or ethnic groups. Only nine families in the study sent their children on the school bus at least one way; two families did not use school district transportation and one did not indicate, so the transportation themes rest on a subset of the larger ethnographic study. The paper does not test whether bus aides, nametags, or other changes prevent children from being lost; it reports parents' experiences and district responses. The current analysis is drawn from a larger study about autism-related services, and transportation safety emerged during that study rather than being the original focus.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include an author conflicts-of-interest or funding declaration. The publication types list NIH extramural, non-U.S. government, and U.S. government non-P.H.S. research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that school buses are unsafe for all children with autism. It describes two temporary incidents and parents' concerns in a small qualitative study, and the authors say the findings are not intended to generalize to a large population.