Why a GPS Tracker is a Must-Have for Your Special Needs Child at School

Updated on August 3, 2022

 

A post by AngelSense, a GPS & voice monitoring solution designed for children with special needs.

Learn more about how AngelSense’s GPS tracking device can help improve your child’s safety and well-being.

---

Children with special needs often require around-the-clock supervision. One of the reasons for that is their tendency to wander, which is a constant source of stress and anxiety for parents. This concern becomes even more pronounced once they are of school age and parents lose control over a large part of their day. Parents worry that their child could run away from the safety of their classroom. Additionally, they worry about possible incidents of bullying and abuse commonplace in the school environment, especially when it comes to special children.

We recently polled a group of AngelSense GPS Tracker customers asking them how they benefit from it throughout the school year. The answers were amazingly consistent, and revolved around three main areas: school bus safety, wandering prevention and knowing exactly when your child is due to arrive home. The bottom line was always the same – AngelSense keeps children with special needs safe and provides peace of mind to their parents.

As one of our customers shared with us:

Our user responses can be categorized into 3 main areas:

 

1. Ensure your Child’s Safety and Well-Being on the School Bus

The ride on the school bus was cited as the number one cause of anxiety among parents relative to school. There are a lot of different reasons for this – school bus staff may not be equipped to deal with special needs children, deviations from the regular bus route can cause distress, and school bus bullying and abuse are widely reported.

To address the problems of potential bullying and abuse on the school bus, AngelSense features a listen-in capability. This allows you to make a one-way call to the GPS device worn by the child and hear if your child is well and what’s happening around them. This feature has proven invaluable to many parents.

As an AngelSense user and mother of a 13-year-old boy with autism told us: “Last year we were first integrated into a regular public school. At the start of the year I noticed that my son was very reluctant to go to school and was resistant to getting on the bus. I used the listen-in button on our AngelSense to check on him and actually heard him sounding agitated and a lot of noise all around him. It turns out that a couple of older kids had been taunting him. I knew exactly what was going on so I could take it up with school authorities and get it taken care of.”

For a special needs child so much is entailed in the school bus ride. The child has to get on and off in two directions, be left off at the right place, get from the bus to their classroom, etc. While these are seemingly simple actions, so many things can easily go wrong.

 

To make sure your child’s bus ride is safe and that all is well, you see the route they are travelling to or from school, at what speed, what stops were made and how long each stop was. The minute your child gets on the bus, your AngelSense application shows you that they’re in transit. You also know exactly when and where your child got off the bus and when they safely entered the school premises or arrived at home.  All of this can easily be viewed on a timeline in your application that is updated every 30 seconds.

As an AngelSense customer and mother of a 7-year-old girl with autism told us: “Recently, I was following my daughter’s route home from school on my AngelSense and I suddenly saw that she got off the bus a whole block away from our house! I rushed over and luckily she was just standing there on somebody’s front stoop…I shudder at the thought of what could have happened if I hadn’t known where she is and gotten there as quickly as I had…”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]In addition to the listen-in functionality, AngelSense’s newly introduced AngelCall feature allows parents to talk to their child anytime anywhere, without the child having to “pick up” or click anything.

So in addition to hearing the child’s surroundings and checking whether he or she is in danger, parents can be “by their child’s side” and calm them down when they need their support. They can also give care instructions to aides or others nearby should the need arise.

2. Prevent Wandering from School Premises

Wandering is always a cause of concern but even more so in the school environment, where children are surrounded by all sorts of stimuli that can act as triggers.

With AngelSense you always know exactly where your child is and can easily track and locate your child in case of emergency. AngelSense learns your child’s daily schedule and identifies regularly visited locations like ‘School’, so you get text messages throughout the day every time your child leaves or arrives at school and an instant warning alert if your child is in an “unrecognized” and potentially dangerous place. This eliminates the constant worry that your child could get away from school staff.

If despite all precautions your child does wander off, the AngelSense app includes a special First Responder Feature for finding a lost child.

3. Take Back Control Over Your Life – Make the Best of Your Time

Being a special needs parent is such an all-consuming job, that many feel that they have very little time to deal with all the other daily tasks and demands, not to mention any time for themselves!

 

Knowing exactly when your child is due to arrive home from school was brought up again and again as a major benefit of using AngelSense. Parents reported that being able to see their child’s route home on their app and receiving an estimated time of arrival allows them to take advantage of the little time they have when their child is away and get as much done as possible. They no longer have the stress of having to drop things in the middle or to rush home in a panic because they’re worried their child may be getting home soon. They know exactly when their child is due to arrive thanks to the automatic ETA notification which even gets updated if the arrival time changes. Parents are loving this feature because it makes it easy to plan the day and saves them precious time.

You and your special child deserve a safe and calm school year. With the AngelSense GPS you can eliminate many of the unknowns and uncertainties that make it so challenging.

---

AngelSense is committed to creating a safer world for special needs children. We designed the AngelSense GPS tracking solution to give parents the peace of mind that their child is safe at all times.  Try AngelSense Today.