The Road to Greater Independence - introduction

Working with Special Needs and Learning Challenged students is both exciting and rewarding! In fact, I’ll go further and say that it is some of the most rewarding work I have ever done as a Certified Driving Instructor. ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are not unusual conditions that we see in the course of Driver’s Education work. These students will more than likely present themselves as any other neurotypical student at first, but you may sense a “disconnect” in your time behind the wheel with them. They will vary in age – teens as well as young adults – and aptitude. They will have different and varying learning styles such as audio or visual or tactile (hands-on). Some students are very literal or linear or concrete as opposed to abstract or non-linear in their thought and problem-solving process. Some students will also have physical, cognitive, emotional, or sensory issues that we may not be aware of or, unfortunately, the parent or guardian hasn’t been completely forthcoming with us at the beginning of the Behind the Wheel (BTW) driving lessons. Some students may eventually “grow out of” their autism, but most will learn to live and even thrive with it.

For brevity’s sake, these students will be referred to as “neurodiverse” throughout these pages, as many of them may have two or more overlapping “co-occurrences”. Co-occurrences are the presence of one or more disorders or diagnoses in addition to the primary disorder or diagnosis. We’ll use the terms “neurodiverse”, “neurodivergent”, and “neurodiversity” during this discussion understanding that there is a variation in brain functioning that exists across the human population. These differences such as autism, ADHD, and other conditions have existed throughout human history and are therefore nothing “new”. Neurodiverse is, if you will, an umbrella term that covers everything that is not “neurotypical”. 

Please remove the words “normal” and “abnormal” from your vocabulary. These students are fellow human beings who have a desire to learn to operate a motor vehicle and live as independent and with a “regular” life as the rest of us. They are just going to be on a different road than most.

Recently Jack, one of my teenage students, made the following statement during one of his lessons: “When I was younger, I just wanted to be ‘normal’. Now I realize that no one is really ‘normal’… and that’s okay with me.” That’s quite a mature observation! That student is 100% comfortable in their personhood. 

As we interact with our students three key issues that are rarely discussed but are always just beneath the surface, is their self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-trust. For many, unfortunately, every day is a continual reminder of their “different-ness” from the majority of their classmates and peers. Many, especially boys due to their socialization deficits, struggle with making and keeping friends; they can be the butt of jokes or even bullying. They’re not hip or cool because of the way they look or carry themselves and if they attempt to become hip or cool, the problem may be exacerbated. When we discuss “Encouragement”, we’ll delve into the importance of building these three key building blocks of personhood.

Neurodiverse students can be brilliant. Many neurodiverse students are by no means “slow” or uneducated. The overwhelming majority of the students that I’ve done behind-the-wheel lessons with are very smart as well as talented in the arts, music, and athletics. They have varied interests and want to learn. You’d be surprised that some of the twentieth century’s most well-known people had been diagnosed as neurodiverse, yet at some point in their lives they may have been labeled as “stupid”. Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs”, “Thor: Ragnarok”, “The Elephant Man”) was diagnosed with late-in-life autism. Elon Musk revealed his Asperger’s diagnosis on Saturday Night Live in May 2021. 

Part of the problem is that we “neurotypical” people don’t necessarily communicate in the same manner as a neurodiverse person. We will need to think outside of the proverbial box or our norm and learn to understand the student’s norm and try something new!

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