FIRST TAKE Special Considerations WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY |
RYAN@STNONLINE.COM T
his month’s cover story seeks to shed light on a perplexing issue for many student transporters and school therapists nation- wide. It’s so confusing, many in the indus-
try might not even realize what the exact challenge is or what it even looks like. Te issue certainly taxed this reporter. It pertains to revised wheelchair and tie-down stan-
dards designed to ensure student passengers are properly restrained to reduce potential injuries and fatalities in frontal crashes, rollovers and side impacts. To accom- plish this, wheelchair manufacturers that wish to be in compliance with WC19 crash-test standards must offer an optional wheelchair-anchored lap belt, or a five-point harness for children weighting 50 pounds or less. Te trouble is, as we report, these options are not
readily available, certainly not the optional lap belts. Te wheelchair manufacturers are saying they offer the equipment but aren’t actively marketing it. Why? Te law of supply and demand, and they have yet to see the latter. Tat’s what several companies told the Rehabil- itation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America’s Committee on Wheelchairs and Transportation at a meeting last summer. But two experts we spoke to said student transporters and school therapists most often don’t know what to ask for. Many couldn’t even pick the equipment out of a lineup. So we decided to include a couple of questions in this
month’s survey on transporting students with disabilities. While we didn’t publish in these pages, lo and behold, the results showed that two-thirds of our readers who responded to the questions said they indeed know about the availability of wheelchair-anchored and crash-test- ed lap belts, or harnesses for smaller children, that are compliant with the WC19 standard. OK, so we went
the next step and asked how many operations are actu- ally using the restraint system. Fifty percent confirmed they are transporting students in wheelchairs with the wheelchair-anchored lap belt that has been crash tested and is compliant with the revised WC 19 standard. But how can that be if wheelchair manufacturers are saying they’re effectively not making the equipment available? Most likely, some readers are confusing the issue with positional wheelchair lap belts. So this month’s OT/PT Forum at the TSD Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, is timely, as a panel of transportation, wheel- chair and school therapy experts will hold a discussion on the topic and challenges it presents, complete with a demo of the new wheelchair-anchored belts for attendees to see. In other stories this month, we preview the new “Bus in the Classroom” program developed at Newport-Me- sa Unified School District in Southern California to promote learning and independence for students with disabilities by teaching bus safety rules alongside special educators. It’s a novel and common-sense solution that is relatively easy and cost-effective to implement. But even better, initial results are showing the program is highly successful. It also will be a focus of this month’s TSD Conference. And if you are headed to Louisville, be sure to down- load the free TSD Conference app to find workshop details; plan your daily and weekly schedule; meet the presenters; access maps of the hotel, trade show and local area; and receive onsite notifications. Even if you can’t make it, we invite you to download the app to tap into some of the educational and networking power of the TSD Conference. Maybe you’ll even be able to absorb some much needed strategies or even tips to help your special education operations become even safer and run more smoothly and efficiently. l
Ryan Gray Editor-in-Cheif
10 School Transportation News • MARCH 2016
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