Report: Bus driver hit autistic boy
By Nadine Parks
A school bus driver has been suspended from his job after he was accused of striking an autistic boy while the child was getting on the bus last week.
Jayne Ellicott, principal of Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School, told Charleston police Sept. 11 that a school employee witnessed the incident. The school is on Wallace School Road in West Ashley.
The employee saw the bus driver strike the 11-year-old boy with his hands after the child was being uncooperative while getting on the bus, a police report said.
The officer wrote in his report that he interviewed the child and did not observe any signs of abuse. He also spoke with the child's teacher, who said she had not observed any signs of abuse or abnormal behavior, the report said.
"It should be noted that (the child) suffers from autism," the officer wrote.
The boy's family declined to comment.
Charleston police are investigating the incident, but it was not immediately clear whether the bus driver has been arrested or if he will face charges.
The Post and Courier learned about the case late Thursday, and investigators were not available.
The driver, a Durham School Services employee, was suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation, said Dave Brabender, Durham's regional vice president.
Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postand courier.com.
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moonpie (anonymous) says...
Autusim is so mis-understood and often someone thinks the child just isn't listening to them. When its much more.
September 19, 2008 at 6:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ImaginePeace (anonymous) says...
This bus driver had no right to strike this child. It's his job to get them to school safely. If he had a problem he should have gone to a school administrator or asked for the on-site security (police) officer. That's the proper way to handle it. The teacher that witnessed it should have tried to help the bus driver (if he/she didn't). Most children with autism don't recognize "right and wrong" they are just reactive by nature. I feel for small children in our society...they aren't valued at all...neither are the elderly.
September 19, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
abitskeptical (anonymous) says...
ImaginePeace--children are very valued by many, but I agree that the segment of society that does not cherish & protect them selflessly has been growing for a long while now.
Perhaps that is why we have so many angry folks these days.
Not excusing their angry behavior at all...just trying to imagine what it must feel like to grow up not feeling safe or loved.
September 19, 2008 at 8:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
abitskeptical, look at that group you mention. Since the pampered, overindulged me-generation of which I am part, young people have increasingly been pampered, overinduldged, etc. Many in these same succeding generations are having and raising their own now and have not learned self-denial. It will get worse, I think. Today's young'uns, in the main, are even more self-indulgent.
September 19, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Lovely_One (anonymous) says...
I used to work on a bus with autistic kids and we had to literally tie some of them down (in seat belts, of course) because they would jump out of their seats and yell all willy nilly. This child was probably displaying the "normal" behavior for a child with autism.
The driver should not have hit him. I wonder if the driver is trained to deal with children like this. I doubt it and if that is the case they need to learn because these children are so much different than those without the disability.
September 19, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
2formomma (anonymous) says...
I am the mom of a son who has autism. It tears me apart to read that something like this has happened. What parents of autistic children need to place in their childs IEP is to have anyone on the school staff, bus personnel, etc that deals with their child on a daily basis be required to attend at least one workshop a year on autism. Autism is a very misunderstood disorder due to the varying degrees of the disorder on the spectrum. No one child with ASD is the same. It is not some disease that can be "cured". There is no cure. Persons with autism are taught to cope with their disorder. Sometimes it gets the best of them. Especially after a long day of trying to be good, work hard, be accepted by their peers and to "fit in" at school.
I would like to know why there is no monitor on the bus or why the child does not ride a bus with a monitor. I have my 6 year old son on a bus with a monitor (in our school district they do not have a monitor on every bus) because we don't know what might happen from day to day with his behaviors.
September 19, 2008 at 8:49 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
There are certain degrees of autism. They don't say how severely this child is impaired, but if his condition is severe I don't think he would have been allowed on the bus without supervision.
That being said, I still can't see any reason for the driver to strike the child. If by "uncooperative" they mean that the child was being violent, then the driver should have restrained the boy until help could be obtained.
September 19, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gococks1985 (anonymous) says...
I have a dear friend who has a son with autism, for him he knows right and wrong, but not until after the fact. For him and many others with this, it's black and white. There is no exception to the rule here. People today often think that they can control their actions, but there are sometimes when they just can't control them. Often times, there are other medical conditions that coincide with the autism. Durham should have properly trained the driver how to proplerly deal with this situation or put a "shadow" with the child.
September 19, 2008 at 9:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DoaMM (anonymous) says...
CB wrote:
"Excellent Driver. I'm an Excellent Driver. Wapner comes on at 6...."
Now I'm gonna have to go get the movie. That crap is stuck in my head...too funny, dude!
September 19, 2008 at 12:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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