Teaching Teens To Drive Diagnosed With ADD, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, or Bipolar Disorder

Having been an active instructor for almost 30 years, the answer is simple.  You teach teens diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, Asperger's syndrome, or Bipolar disorder the way they need to be taught.  That's it, just teach them the way they learn best and the problem is solved.

Over the last several decades, labeling kids seems to have become a national past-time.  It seems like the teens that are looked upon as "normal" escape the labeling process but the teens diagnosed with disorders listed in the title of this post, have big labels pasted on their foreheads. When it comes to teaching driving, I've found these labels create more of a hindrance than they help. In fact, I don't think they help at all.

I think these labels are used by some professionals to hide their own ignorance and/or inability. It's so much easier for a professional to say, "Your teen has (enter label) and that's why he can't learn how to drive like a normal teen". What this "professional" is really saying, "This teen doesn't respond to my teaching method like most of the other teens do and I don't have the knowledge, capability, or want to put out the effort to alter my method of teaching".  The difference between a professional and an expert? An expert makes the necessary changes and adaptations to surpass all others .... a professional doesn't.

There are several different learning styles and no two students learn exactly the same way.  If a teen learns how to drive in a very short amount of time, they might be labeled as gifted or normal.  If a teens takes a long time to learn how to drive, the labels aren't quite as inspiring. This apparently easy method of assessing the driving competency of a teen is dangerous.  Many times, the fast learning (normal) student may learn "too quickly" without respecting their mortality and fails to lock in all of the safe driving attributes presented, leaving hidden knowledge gaps.  This situation creates the illusion of a competent driver.  A slower learning student is usually more concerned about their mortality and strives harder to keep all of the safe driving attributes in place by making sure they fully understand all of the presented knowledge.  Very often, the slower learning student turns out to be the better driver so how quickly one learns is irrelevant.

Whenever I have a student where the parent has warned me of (enter label), here's what I say to the student:

Instructor:  I've been told that you've been diagnosed with (enter label). I don't care about labels in this car. Do you really want to learn how to drive?

Student: Yes

Instructor:  If I were to place $1 million in cash on the dashboard and tell you that you could keep the $1 million if you keep 100% of your attention on learning how to drive during this two-hour lesson, would you do it? 

Student: Yes  

Instructor:  If I take away the $1 million, have I taken away your ability to keep your attention on the lesson? 

Student:  No.  

Instructor:  So you have the ability to keep your attention on learning how to drive but it's still your choice to do so. Do you choose to keep your attention on this lesson for the full two-hours?

Student: Yes

I now have a commitment from the student and I'll remind them of it whenever their attention starts to lapse, which it will, so expect it and accept it.  You can only teach a student as fast as their ability to learn allows so be extremely patient and extremely thorough. It really doesn't matter whether a student learns slow or fast, the only thing that's important is that the student learns completely in order to become a competent and safe driver.  

John Cullington

Are Parents The Most Effective Driving Instructors For Their Teens?

Parents care about their children more than anyone else but the system appears to be set up for parents to fail.  When it comes to making sure their teen knows how to drive "strategically-safe", I've found that many parents not only fail, but fail miserably.  The problem arises from the following.

First, the driver education industry in this country is largely inept.  This industry primarily focuses on teaching new drivers the rules-of-the-road along with proper driver behavioral attitudes in order to make them safe drivers.
While driving rules and behavioral attitudes are important parts of being a safe driver, the industry fails to inject the most important part.....Driving Strategies! Folks, it's like playing a game of Chess and only knowing the rules. Without knowing the strategies of Chess, you would probably lose the game.

Second, parents are charged with practicing the driving skills with their teens.  Knowing how to "drive" and knowing how to "teach driving" are two entirely different skills yet most people assume they are the same.  They're not. Parents usually pass on to teens their own driving habits, both good and bad, without even realizing it.

Third, the DMV's driving exams are truly lacking. In California, I've personally witnessed a 6 minute drive test with the normal test lasting between 7 and 12 minutes.  The skill level needed to pass these exams is extremely low setting up the new driver to believe they are competent, qualified and safe.  These extremely minimal standards, as far as I'm concerned, are the main reason why driving is the #1 killer of teens.

To answer the question above:  If parents take the time to educate themselves on the strategies of driving (and of teaching driving) along with the rules-of-the-road, then the answer is "yes", they are the most effective driving instructors for their teens. If the parents don't bother educating themselves, then the answer is "no" and the new teen driver has to take their chances with an inept driver education industry.....the same industry that hasn't been able to prevent driving from being the #1 killer of teenagers over the last 70+ years.



  

Distracted Teen Driving: Applying the Correct Fix.

There has been a lot of press about the problem with distracted teen drivers primarily due to texting and the use of cell phones in general.  With the focus being on the evil "cell phone" or in other words, the "object", it's easy to say, "just put down the cell phone and the problem is solved".  It isn't solved!  The #1 killer of teenagers is driving and that statistic occurred long before cell phones were even invented.

The real problem lies with the lack of proper driver training.  Distractions are everywhere and they come in all shapes and sizes but one of the most dangerous distractions is: Thinking about something that has nothing to do with what you are doing at the present time.  If while you are driving and you start thinking about something else other than driving, that is distracted driving.

We cannot eliminate distractions, it's impossible.  What we can do is to teach the student driver not to be the effect of distractions ......... I always tell my students that nobody can distract you without your permission.

I wrote a section in my book titled, "Distractions: The Problem and the Training Solution".  As an expert in the field of driver training, I've found that distractions are an extremely important part of their driver training.  During the more advanced parts of their training, I purposely try to distract my students into making mistakes (like turning the wrong way on a one-way street) while simply talking with them about their boyfriend, girlfriend, grades, sports, etc.  I make it a training game, a distraction training game.  Of course I won't let my students make the mistakes but I prove to them, the mistakes would have been made had I not been there to stop them.

The realization by the student driver that by continuing to distract them into making major mistakes while they were expecting the distraction is a very powerful training tool because the student realizes they could easily be distracted by their best friend when they weren't expecting it.  The more distraction training you give a driver, the greater their ability to resist being distracted.

I spent over eight hours of intense distraction training with my daughter and was rewarded when she took her first trip to San Francisco at age 17.  She called me and thanked me for all of the distraction training I gave her because as she put it, "it isn't that hard to drive in San Francisco in fact, it's pretty easy."

If you don't teach a student driver how to control their own attention, you condemm them to the effects of distractions.  Giving the student the ability to control their own attention is the key.

John Cullington