Parents of children with autism might be glad, or mad, to hear of the latest news by the American Psychiatric Association, which is reviewing its definition of autism and related disorders such as Asperger syndrome.
According to The New York Times article, the proposed change would consolidate three diagnoses — autism, Asperger syndrome and “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified,” also known as P.D.D.-N.O.S. — under one category labeled autism spectrum disorder. This narrower definition would essentially eliminate Asperger syndrome and P.D.D.-N.O.S. from the manual.
Under the current criteria, a person can qualify for the diagnosis if he or she exhibits six or more of 12 behaviors, many of which student transporters have undoubtedly encountered. Under the proposed definition, the person would have to exhibit three deficits in social interaction and communication and at least two repetitive behaviors, a much narrower menu.
So much would be at stake for some families affected by this proposed definition change, such as limited educational services that includes transportation to and from school. This comes at a time when school budgets in general are being stretched to the limit. The article states that tens of thousands of people receive state-backed services to help offset the disorders’ disabling effects.
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We must admit that covering news can sometimes be a downer. We find numerous reports of school bus drivers being accused of molestation, driving under the influence, criminal charges — you name it. Unfortunately, positive news doesn’t always make the headlines, but when they do, we like to share it with the industry because there are still good — in fact great — school bus drivers out there.
Take 69-year-old Joyce “Fay” Dalton, who drove students to and from Hurt Elementary in Hurt, Va., for 40 years. She retired this week, as reported in an article by the Altavista Journal. But on a positive note, Dalton represents those bus drivers who are people-persons; those who are passionate and dedicated to their job and to the students who ride their bus.
The article stated that Dalton won’t be slowing down anytime soon. She will work two days a week at a fitness center and continue to volunteer in her community and church.
“This will help me spend more time with people,” she said.
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From the U.S. to South Africa, we pay tribute to a Durban school bus driver who was killed during a hijacking of his school bus that had disabled students. According to a Jan. 20 article, hijackers got on the bus after the last child to be picked up — a 10-year-old girl who suffers from cerebral palsy — got on the bus.
The hijackers pushed the girl out of the bus and then demanded the keys from Kemraj Balgobin. The 57-year-old refused to hand over the keys and demanded that they let the children go first. When Balgobin reached for his gun, the hijackers shot and killed him. None of the children were hurt, but they witnessed the shooting and received counseling.
Balgobin’s relatives say he died a hero. We agree.
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The Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington released a study this week that aims to provide a clearer road map for school districts and charter schools interested in working together to improve educational options. Parker Baxter, manager of CRPE’s district-charter collaboration project, told us that this cooperation definitely should include transportation services.
Baxter said a good example of how this should work can be seen with Denver Public School’s “Success Express” shuttle service that was first launched last spring to bus students from the far northeast part of the Denver metropolitan area to choice schools.
The program expanded at the start of the current school year to allow all students in the far northeast and near northeast communities to board school buses at any stop and ride it to their participating school of choice.
“This is a good example of a collaboration that recognizes that school choice needs to be managed thoughtfully to ensure equitable access for all kids,” Baxter told School Transportation News. “New approaches to school transportation like the circulator in Denver are a critical part of that work.”
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Food for thought: Apple announced it is coming to market with a new K-12 e-textbook to bring more interactive learning experiences to schoolchildren. With the school bus increasingly being thought of as a mobile classroom, how might this affect student transportation, especially from the perspective of on-board student behavior.
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Xerox in the school bus business? Well, a subsidiary of the aforementioned Fortune 500 company, is attempting to to be. ACS, which was formed two years ago when Xerox acquired Affiliated Computer Services, is marketing its Cross Safe photo enforcement product for school bus illegal passers.
And in doing so, ACS announced results from a survey it conducted recently with Harris Interactive with findings that two-thirds of U.S. adults over age 18 support laws that allow the placing of cameras on the sides of school buses to help ticket motorists. A company representative told us that the biggest challenge to widespread adoption of school bus cameras to catch illegal passers is the need for enabling legislation.
“Superintendents, transportation directors and PTAs need to push for that,” said ACS’ Chris Gilligan.
The online survey of 2,112 adults also found that 77 percent agree that fines and other penalties should be increased for violators.
This comes after the American Automobile Association wrote a piece in the Huffington Post last month that also supports school bus cameras for this purpose.
