Ride the bus

#bus#ride#transport#travel#sit still

Strangers elbow to elbow, a sudden beep at the doors and a bus that rolls on whether or not a child has settled. These steps make the trip readable in advance, from waiting at the sign to pressing the stop button.

A child sits on a bus seat holding a pole, with a bus visible through the window.

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Ride the bus

A child sits on a bus seat holding a pole, with a bus visible through the window.

A smiling child sits inside a yellow bus by the window holding a pole.

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Sit on the bus

A smiling child sits inside a yellow bus by the window holding a pole.

A smiling child sits at the front of a yellow bus seen from the front.

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Ride the bus

A smiling child sits at the front of a yellow bus seen from the front.

A smiling child sits in a seat inside a grey bus holding a pole.

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Sit on the bus

A smiling child sits in a seat inside a grey bus holding a pole.

A girl with a backpack rides in a yellow bus holding a pole.

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Riding the Bus

A girl with a backpack rides in a yellow bus holding a pole.

About this visual support

The bus is one of the few places where a child sits in the middle of a world they do not steer. Sounds arrive without warning, bodies press in just centimetres away, and the timetable does not care that a child needs a moment longer. For many it becomes the hardest part of the school day, long before the first lesson.

Visual support moves the unpredictable into something a child has already seen. When the steps show how to wait at the stop, board, find a seat, hold on and press the button in time, a child knows the order things come in even when the fellow passengers are new every time.

A concrete tip is to pair the trip with a picture of a set place to sit, near the driver or by the window, so the choice is already made before the crowding starts. For a child who is easily overwhelmed by settings beyond their control, a predictable seat can make all the difference. Put the trip in Routined and the steps travel along in a pocket, even when the signal is poor. The app can be tried free for fourteen days.