Sooner or later, every difficult child...

[tiredmommy]

meets a bigger difficult child. Duckie's is in 5th grade and named "S". They ride the same bus. He's the kid that asked her if she knew the "f" in kindergarten. He has pushed Duckie and her friend E in the aisle. He has called her names. He is a well-known difficult child with a capital "G".

The bus aides and driver have done the best they can to deal with a difficult child. But he crossed my line today.

Duckie had stood up when the bus came to a stop to wave good-bye to a friend who was getting off the bus. She heard S say "Hey! Let's aim it at Duckie!" Now, Duckie is naive enough to not know that was her clue to duck. She looked up toward the front of the bus and got hit by something in the forehead. She didn't get a good look at it because it bounced away from her. She was startled but not hurt (just a little red mark that faded within a half hour of her arriving home). I'm especially miffed that the aide and driver didn't see or hear anything so they told Duckie it must have been an accident!

I called the principal and left a vm. She called back within the hour and assured me she will get to the bottom of it by going on the bus in the morning. She will also talk to S's principal (they attend adjacent buildings). She was concerned that Duckie was hurt... I told her no, though he could have easily hit her eye. She agreed that it was best to address this before someone gets hurts the next time.

 

[Wiped Out]

TM,
Poor Duckie-give her a hug from me. I'm glad the principal is taking this seriously and hope they are able to get the situation under control.

 

[Kjs]

I am glad they are taking this serious. A good, very good friend has a son (difficult child big time. Aspie - not social at all) He gets picked on every day. Kids take his books, flash drive, write with marker on his jacket. Take his jacket....She(friend) lets it go. Says he has to learn to deal with it.

by the way - she won't get him help. Denies there is any problem. Says he needs to learn to live on his own. he is going to be 14 this month. Never had a single friend. not even one to talk to. Eats at school all alone. Takes all his books and locker items to every class because kids break into his locker. Very book smart, but very naive.
Can't ride a bike - has no desire to. Swings on the swing set, alone. Can't tie shoes.
Only wears stretch pants because of sensatory issues. No jeans. Eats very few things. This boy is sweet. But he didn't even talk until he started kindergarden. Nothing. Many other issues...but back to the subject. Her school does nothing.

MY kids school told me the kids have a right to get TO and FROM school safely. If someone is bullying him the principal will KEEP that person at school and will need to be picked up by a family member.

 

[timer lady]

TM, more than bullies I detest bus aides & drivers. They tend to get locked in their thoughts or there are not enough aides to watch what the heck is going on right under their noses.

We've had more than our runarounds with transportation & lack of aides on the bus (sp, ed transportation are to have at least 2 aides on the bus; husband & I have waited many times for a late bus due to the police being called to have an uncontrolled child taken off the bus ~ a couple of times they were my children.)

I'm glad you & principal are getting to the bottom of this. Hate bullies ~ somehow they get their payback in the long run. Doesn't help Duckie today though.

 

[tiredmommy]

Thanks everyone. Duckie is okay, just glad she didn't get hurt. She was upset about the aide and driver, though. I can understand the driver not seeing anything, he's driving! But this aide is pretty new to this route and things have deteriorated behavior-wise. She doesn't enforce a seating chart, therefore troublesome kids tend to bunch together and cause trouble. The last two aides managed to keep order and addressed issues as they occurred. Even Duckie said this about the aide: she's a real nice lady but she doesn't keep the kids in line so well.