Learning to Drive with Special Needs / Disabilities

How to find the right instructor for you.

If you have a special need or lerning dificulty. You need to make sure you have the right driving instructor for you. The instructor you choose should have prior knowlede of your needs. This will make your learning easier as they will already have some idea on how best to help you. Everybody is differnt so a 'one cap fits all' solution isnt going to help. I have come accross many differnt needs and below are the most common and my help / advise for them.

Dyslexia and Lerning to drive.

I beleve I am in a great position to help people with dyslexia as i was statmented with dyslexia in school and remember your not alone it is estimated that fifteen percent of the poulation have a form of dyslexia! I had to develope different ways to help myself learn and retain information. When you get the lerning method correct then their is no stopping you. The hard part is trying to get the right mix of tuition. I find a lot of people who are dyslexic also have other assosiated problems that also need to be taken into consideration. Below is a list of things common to dyslexia and lerning to drive with my advise.

• Poor Organisational Skils :
• Having poor organisational skills usually means that you can struggle to arange times to prepare for a driving lesson and oftern cant switch off from other task you have been dealing with. A simple help with this is to arrange driving lessons in advance and to have a driving logbook that is reguarly updated. Also aranging a driving lesson later on in the day gives you time to think about your previous lesson. I also give out handouts of the key topics that have been taught. Reading these before the lesson helps to engage the brain into driving mode!
• An untidy mind!
• As information is processed faster then it can be stored and sorted out. You often have information saved in the wrong order so when it is recalled you have the wrong process. To help this I always use sytermatical sequences that we adopt to all out tuition. e.g. for an easy example just showing how the MSM (Mirror-Signal-Manouver) routine can be adopted to everyting helps set a logical sequance and help to organise your thoughts.
• Also changing the way we teach the objectives can help. e.g. As lots of information at the same time can be over loading, we can do alot of teching by demonstations. This give you a chance to visualise the manouver, practice it and then by talking it through helps you store it in the right order.
• Not remembering Left from right.
• Dyslexia can cover such a huge area but often you struggle to remember Left from right when in a presurised situation. This can be overcome by having the instructor or even examiner pointing as well as verbally telling you. This simple action reinforces your decision and doesnt allown you to panic that you can remember your Left and Rights.
• Easily distracted.
• Often you can be more easily distracted when trying to concentrate in a car. Thats becasue their are so many distraction outside the car. A good instructor will recognise when this is hapening and change the method of teaching often to help keep you focused. Also changing the objectives of the lesson reguarly can help keep concentraation to the maximum.
• Parents can help:
• Often when coping with dyslexia, parents help organise us. Driving tuition can also be helped by the parents. My advise is for parents to talk to the instructor and get to know the processes / order things should be done in. You can also sit in the back of the car and observe how things are done to give you a first hand experiance in what systems to use etc.
• Dyslexia and the Driving test
• When booking the driving test you can inform the DSA that you are dyslexic. This will help when taking the driving test. After October 4th 2010, the driving test is changing to include an "independant driving" section. If you informed thae dsa that you are dyslexic then the examiner will ask how they can help you at the begining of the test. This will include
• Having the option to choose either to follow road signs or directions for the independant driving section.
• Changing the way they tell you to turn left or right. They will wither point as well as tell you which way to turn or they can tell you to turn "your side" or "my side". They will also tell you landmarks to help you understand the direction. e.g. turn left (or my side) just after the Cinima.
• There are Plus points to being Dyslexic.
• Most people who are dyslexic struggle with certen parts of the lerning process but they also have better perception at other things. E.g. a lot of dyslexics are better at practical tasks so can learn to drive on a practical basis and then learn the associated theory to confirm the action / decisions they have taken to be correct.
• Dyslexics can also be more creative, have better problem solving skills and can visualise in 3d better. So using this to help learn to drive can outway the problems associated.

ADHD

I am current updating this part of my website. As i have to do it im my spare time it has taken me longer that anticipated. Please contact me if you need any more information. Thanks and Sorry!