Special Educational Needs
Should you be dyslexic, dyspraxic, have hearing difficulties or perhaps feel there may be another barrier towards you learning to drive, I can cater for your specific needs. I have taught a number of people with such requirements and find it very rewarding when they go on to pass their driving test - Many 1st Time!!
Detailed below are a few examples but my experience is not limited to these:
Dyslexia
Dyslexic people are often very intelligent, very creative and lateral thinkers - Richard Branson for example.
Understanding the issues involved when learning to drive enables me to tailor your training to meet your needs. Sequencing and short term memory is often associated with dyslexia and traditional driver training can be long winded - MSM PSL LADA routines are not always a good fit. I can help you with this.
I use training methods which utilise visual and pictoral aids. I am also able to provide on line eLearning activities which include voice overs, sound and vision to encourage the learning process. This style of multisensory teaching often works very well.
Confusing left and right is often associated with dyslexia - This can be easily overcome on driving lessons.
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia is generally recognised to be an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement. In children development can be delayed and some fine motor skills difficult to learn such as holding a pen, writing, fastening buttons or shoelaces. Spatial awareness can also be difficult.
Clearly driving a car involves a lot of fine motor skills too - steering, clutch control and gear changing to select just a few. It takes most people some time to master the physical controls of driving a car and although this will often take longer if you are dyspraxic, these skills can be mastered.
Hearing Difficulties
With technological developments (e.g. cochlear impants) it is not often you meet someone who is profoundly deaf. Although I have not taught anyone who is profoundly deaf, I have taught individuals with hearing difficulties such as only being able to hear in one ear with the benefit of a hearing aid. Furthermore, my most recent customer with hearing impairment passed their test on 1 March 2010 with only 1 driver fault!
ADHD (Attention-deficit hyperactive disorder)
Clearly driving involves a lot of concentration and finding ways to ensure this concentration is maintained can be a challenge. I taught a young man earlier year who had ADHD - For the purpose of this example, I will call him "John".
John often found it frustrating and even became angry when things did not go to plan or made mistakes. Frequent breaks were needed to build up his concentration. John is an intelligent young man. We developed a very strong "commentary drive" which helped John maintain his concentration and drive very well. On John's first driving test the pressure got to him, he forgot his commentary and as a result lost concentration and was not successful.
Both John and I worked hard again to prepare for his second test. I often put him under extra pressure in a controlled environment to see how he coped - sometimes well, sometimes not so well. We then looked at how he could overcome these issues.
John reverted to his commentary drive when the situation became difficult and these helped him focus on the task in hand. John was also not afraid to park up briefly to calm down should he feel things getting too much - something I encouraged him to do on his test should the situation start to get the better of him.
On John's second test, he decided to commentary drive the full test and did so - He Passed! John received some fantastic feedback from the examiner regarding his commentary and driving!