dards-based approach was widely recognized and supported by the transportation community.” Te program forms a close bond between special needs
educators and the drivers who present the information, detailing the curriculum and receiving feedback to best teach the students involved. Te benefits reach far beyond the classroom for
instructors involved. Te training cultivates a mutual respect between special educators and transporters, and the drivers involved gain more knowledge and skills to serve their students that they take to their transportation departments. In addition, routes run more effectively and efficiently since students are more prepared to board and exit the bus properly. Much like life, though, prepping special needs kids for
tackling transportation has a few restrictions. More in terms of logistics, Meslin stressed. He offered the instance of training students in wheel-
chairs, as their need may vary in terms of impairment. Te Bus in the Classroom, Meslin stated, hasn’t successfully taught the program to an “entire class of students who are significantly physically impaired.” “Since the intent of the program is to develop transpor- tation-related life skills, it’s likely it won’t be as successful
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with students whose disabilities are so severe that they can- not function without constant adult support,” said Meslin. “Similarly, for students that are equipment dependent, the program can only teach life skills that would apply to that student. For example, the student will still be dependent upon the driver to load and secure him or her on the bus even though some public transit operations allow or require people in wheelchairs to load themselves.” As with everything, these are only minor hitches to an otherwise important endeavor for school districts and transportation departments to embark upon, as Meslin noted, “We have seen significant benefits for students with special needs in a variety of age ranges and with a variety of disabilities; however, the curriculum has not been tested for every disability.” He suggested that while the program does not teach all
the skills that might be associated with independent adult transportation, the Bus in the Classroom constructs the necessary foundation for self-sufficient future. Te more advanced “stranger danger” topics, as Meslin put it, are left to the life skills classes and adult transition programs. l
Watch the archived webinar “Transportation: Tink- ing Like an Educators” at
www.stnonline.com/go/84.
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systems since 1965 34 School Transportation News • MARCH 2016
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