Originally published in April, 2012. Furthermore, I have seen a few posts on a forum with ADIs fretting over pupils who aren’t making progress. They really ought to consider ADHD as a possible reason for this. I had another one recently who has all the necessary hardware to drive well, but who struggles when the software (the mind) becomes involved. After completing the questionnaire referred to later, previously undiagnosed ADHD entered the frame very strongly indeed.
In 2011 I had a pupil who was a dream to teach, with the single exception that she was extremely nervous and literally hated driving. We had to agree that in the debrief following each lesson the baseline started at “I hate driving” and only ever went upwards from there – it was the only way we could identify and acknowledge any improvements. Prior to that, whenever I asked her how she felt a lesson had gone, it was always “not very good” or “terrible” because she was equating a good lesson with enjoying it 100%. We were never going to achieve that merely because she hated driving. She was actually a brilliant driver.
In the course of our chats I discovered that her mum was the same. She said that her mum was a nervous driver, and would always drive round the block to make sure the car was pointing in the right direction in order to avoid having to turn around in the road. She also told me about her brother, who had taken and failed his driving test 5 times up to that point, apparently because he went to pieces on his tests. It seemed that whatever it was that ran in the family also extended to him.
She passed easily at the end of summer that year, and a couple of weeks later I got a call from her brother asking me if I’d take him on, which I was glad to do. His sister called again and asked me not to tell him that she’d passed – the family wanted to keep it from him to avoid upsetting him. She told me there was no need to lie, just not to mention it to him (he was in his late 20s). Anyway, he started lessons with me in September, 2011. At that time, I just assumed he was nervous like his sister and mother.
Soon after I’d met him and started teaching him, it quickly became clear that his general driving wasn’t actually that bad. However, he couldn’t do any of the manoeuvres to anywhere near test standard, and he had real problems with roundabouts or any “complex” junction. He could talk forever and you couldn’t shut him up, and this was a major source of distraction to him – he invariably started talking at the precise times when he should have shut up to concentrate on what was ahead. His favourite subject was how many lessons he’d had, how much it had cost him, and other topics connected with his lack of driving success. Just about everything we did he could somehow relate back to this, and it always fired him up once he started, thus distracting him further. Even if there was no obvious trigger he’d just blurt it out at some point in every lesson.
A couple of months after he started I also began teaching his girlfriend. It turned out that she was a good driver, and it was clear that she was going to get up to test standard very quickly. More about this later.
I discovered that he found it very difficult to learn anything “different” – he couldn’t parallel park at all using whatever previous method he’d been taught (which meant I couldn’t help him fine tune that method, since I didn’t know what it was, either), but trying to teach him a new method was met successively with frustration and anger at not being able to do it. Even when we’d apparently made progress on one lesson, his first attempt next time would invariably result in him defaulting to his original confused method, leading to more anger. I lost count of the number of times he told me he was “stupid”, how he had “always been like it at school”, and how he couldn’t learn things. Me telling him he wasn’t stupid had little effect.
We’d had his test booked several times – but moved it for various reasons (money issues, working overtime due to money issues, and having to spend money for his two kids at Christmas). When I looked it up in March, 2012, he’d only had 9 one-hour lessons over seven months, with long gaps between some of them. However, he still wanted to pass quickly, and in talking with him there was an inner struggle between his desire to pass his test and fear of failing if he tried.
One test booking which did have him fired up was the one that would have ensured he passed before his girlfriend. He was absolutely desperate for that to happen, but he ended up not booking any lessons so his girlfriend and me eventually persuaded him to just cancel it and not rebook until he was really ready.
As I’ve already mentioned, I’d told him that he wasn’t stupid. But I broached the subject of learning disabilities, because it had become clear that it wasn’t just “nerves” affecting him.
It turned out that he had problems in his normal life. Apparently, he had ripped doors off hinges at home when he got angry at something. He often got so angry that he had to stop himself hitting people if they “wound him up”. He had been in trouble at work for throwing things in anger. He had a home gym to help him work off his anger and frustration (one thing he told me that makes me laugh even now is how one time he squared up to his girlfriend during an argument – he is about 6′ 3″ tall, and about the same wide; she is roughly the size of a Barbie Doll. She cracked him on his jaw, and he was subsequently frightened of her). It also turned out that he’d been tested at school because of his behaviour, and he was told that there was “something wrong” but they didn’t know what!
Early on in his lessons I’d suggested that he see his GP to explain his problems – I had beta blockers in my mind while nerves were still on the agenda. I’d mentioned counselling a few times. But when I found out about his problems outside driving and his school’s assessment, I wrote “ADHD???” on his driving record. He said he’d often thought about that even though it “only affected kids”.
When his girlfriend passed her test first time he went into a real depression – “everyone is passing before me”, he said, “and I’ve been taking lessons since…”. And off he went on his favourite topic. He made me laugh again when he said he would refuse to get in the car with his girlfriend “on a matter of principle”. When I asked what principle, off he went again on the same topic – “it’s not right she should pass before me, after all those…” To make matters worse, he then asked me outright if his sister was still taking lessons (I’m sure he must have suspected something during those seven months, as he had never asked about her until then). I didn’t lie, and told him she passed the previous summer. And off we went again.
He suddenly started taking things much more seriously. On his next lesson he told me he’d found this website – and a questionnaire about ADHD. The subject had stuck in his mind and he’d followed it through. Basically, the questionnaire scores you between 0 and 100 – when I did it, I scored 8. He scored 80 (anything above about 30 ranks as likely ADHD). He contacted the relevant people and they arranged for him to be assessed properly.
I’ve used the questionnaire on several pupils with driving issues, and they’ve scored between 40 and 95.
By the way, that image on the sweatshirt sums up what appears to be going on inside people’s heads when they have ADHD. It’s no wonder it affects their ability to learn. However, once you know what IS going on in their heads you can find ways of dealing with things, as they affect everyone differently.
You can buy various shirts with that design from www.zazzle.co.uk.
He had his assessment and was offered the following two options:
- go via the NHS, and wait up to TWO YEARS for a consultation
- pay more than £500 to go private (plus whatever the medication costs) and get a consultation within a fortnight
I remember years ago, someone I knew had a hernia. He was told by the doctor that the NHS waiting list was about 18 months – but if he went private “I can fit you in next week”. Same doctor wielding the knife.
I should point out in closure that he passed his test on his first attempt with me a few months later! I like to think that at least some of that was down to me.
I occasionally see him when I go shopping in Asda, and he never followed up on the treatment for his ADHD. Just knowing what the problem was at long last seemed to make all the difference. He’s driving around quite happily, having had no accidents.
ADHD isn’t a show stopper as far as learning to drive is concerned – but it can seem like it is if it isn’t picked up. Someone with ADHD cannot be taught the normal way, because they can’t learn the normal way.