Mom says son with autism wasn't put in car seat on bus to school

BROCKTON, Mass. — A Brockton mother said she's frustrated after her 3-year-old son, who has autism, wasn't restrained properly on the bus to school in his car seat.

Careena Coy’s and her son, Benjamin, recently moved from Quincy to Brockton, where they enrolled in the Gilmore Early Education Center. He is 3 years old, nonverbal and requires special accommodations.

“The bus showed up Thursday. There was no monitor on the bus. That’s a huge concern for me because he’s very active,” she said.

She also said the bus didn’t have seatbelts to properly accommodate her son’s car seat.

When Benjamin got home from his half day at Gilmore, she said she noticed unusual marks on his body and his diaper hadn’t been changed for several hours.

"He’s got a lot of behavioral needs. He needs intense therapy by people who know how to handle him," Coy said.

Coy admits the some of the marks were faint, but any mark is unacceptable, she said, and took her concerns to the school officials and DCF

DCF confirmed that they are investigating.

The Gilmore Early Childhood Center is part of Brockton Public Schools and specializes in serving children with special needs.

"The Gilmore Early Childhood Center  has an excellent reputation and has served thousands of special needs students. Our staff is highly trained to address any situation and we pride ourselves on working closely with our parents," said Brockton Public Schools in a statement.

With the mother's claims, Brockton Publics Schools said, "This was a new student to Brockton attending school for the first time last week during half-day sessions. As state mandated reporters, staff would have brought anything of concern involving this new student to the school nurse and other staff, had there been anything."

On FOX25 News at 5, hear from the mother about her concerns for her child and others. 

Cox Media Group