Behind The Wheel

It's interesting to teach the ADHD child to drive. Completely different than teaching my other child. Nerves seem to aggravate the inattentiveness instead of heightening awareness. So much going on behind the wheel that stops signs or stop lights are overlooked or misread. Blinker, no blinker is just more activity on top of starting the car, whether it's really on, putting the car in gear, deciding to go backward and forward, where is left and right.

One this is for sure, I had to look online for some advice. Found out several good things I plan to implement over the next several months. No radio in the car. Period while the ADHD kid is driving. It's a distraction. Yes, they can sit in class and do something else or sit in the house and play a video game and completely hear and absorb all that is going on around them, but not while driving. One activity, which is really all encompassing. It is definitely no radio or CD. Remove the temptation to fiddle with it.

Next, of course, no cell phone, but the best advice I read: put the ADHD kid's cell phone in the trunk of the car. That way, they have the phone for safety, but they cannot try to answer it if it rings or make a call becuase it suddenly pops into their head.

Also, before being permited to drive, the ADHD kid must be able to drive with the parent(s) and not make any errors for a period of 21 days. If they are driving, and fail to say, do the turn signal, or have to be reminded to stop at the stop sign, the 21 days start over.

And last but not least, when licensed, no guests in the car. Guests are distracting, aren't they.

The thing is, each child has to be considered as an individual behind the wheel. The ADHD child has to progress at their own pace. A safe pace where the parent and child are confident that they are learning and using the rules of the road for their own safety and the safety of others on the road.

We had a blowout the other day. It was a minor one in the ADHD world. Matt started the car, and then couldn't remember if it was started and turned the starter again. Can't do that. Not unsafe, but bad for the car. Then he put the car in D, instead of R as we were backing out of a parking space. He was irritated and not listening to my directions. I was becoming more aggitated because he wasn't listening and he was driving down a major road where we live. It was concerning me ALOT. I finally asked him to pull into a neighborhood and just drive around where he was familiar until he got his nerves under control. I thought it would help. He refused to pull over; he refused to turn into the neighborhood. I was pissed.

One rule is firm when he is learning to drive, the licensed driving rules the roost. He took a corner too wide and almost hit a pick up truck. That was the last straw. I finally got him to pull over, but not before he got mad and slammed his foot on the gas. I took his driving priviledges for the rest of the day. PERIOD.

Major infractions...not listening, not pulling over and worst of all, getting angry and jamming his foot on the gas. Yes, he took it right off. I do think he realized he had done something really bad. Luckily we were on an empty street in the middle of the day with no people or traffic so it wasn't a safety emergency at that exact moment.

It's hard for me to share these stories, but I know others of you out there are having these same challenges.

Driving is a big deal. I will definitely have links to share with good advice for all to read.