🧠 Sovelo Stories · Tricky moments
A Different Bus Driver
I climb onto the bus, and a stranger is driving today.. Read it together, at your pace. Every page is written in your child's voice.
1. I climb onto my bus, and the driver is someone new. My regular driver is not here today.
2. A different driver can feel wrong-shaped. My regular driver knows me and knows my stop.
3. I might wonder where my driver went.
Where is my regular driver? They are sick and resting at home. They are on vacation or have an appointment. They are helping drive a different route today. We do not have enough information to know. 💡 A substitute driver means my driver needed a day, not that something bad happened.
4. The bus itself is the same bus. Same number, same route, same rules, same stop. Only the person at the wheel is different.
5. Substitute drivers do not know every kid’s stop yet. I can help.
tell the driver my stop when I get on sit in my usual seat watch for my landmarks out the window ask the driver or a grown-up if I feel unsure
6. The ride ends at my same stop, like always. And most times, my regular driver is back in the seat within a few days, waving good morning.
✦ Practice this story interactively — free in the Sovelo app
In the app, your child can choose what happens next, rehearse lines out loud with Spark, and try different endings — including hearing a kind "no" and being celebrated for respecting it. Parents can also create fully personalized stories.
← All 210 free stories
Sovelo Stories are original social narratives, written for neurodivergent kids and reviewed against strict guardrails: no eye-contact training, no masking, no mind-reading — and "no" is always a complete answer. Evidence-informed preparation, not a treatment. © Ezra Brown.