Dyspraxic Adults

Have just started learning to drive at the age of 31, Its been a scary start as my coordination lets me down, e.g , gear changing and judging distance and steering. only really discovered the reasons for my difficultiy, which cause me to get down and feel like i've underachived yes 'im a Dyspraxic person' ...... A typical lesson feels strange for me, because i can be doing things right 2 times in a row, then all of a sudden my brain switches down like its information overload. and when i do the wrong gear change, the engine growls at me like im stupid it sends my nerves racing and i become anxious and overwhemed my driving instructer is very patient with this but i dont think he really takes into a count my dyspraxia. I live in hope this wont spoil my chances of driving a car.

hi emma, welcome to the forum, yes driving is a tough thing for any of us, some have given up trying, others have gone for it and failed several times, and others scare the living daylights out of our parents!!

I was one of the latter!! but yeah about the best thing to do is slow down sooner rather than later, and just take your time, the same goes for learning, like with the car test I spent 3 months learning, and quite a lot of the time my lessons were put off with damage to the instructors car by vandals, so most of my learning was with my parents, but I was good enough to not force their feet through the bulkhead to try braking too much!!

but the best advice is listen to who is teaching you, and then go with what you feel comfortable with, as long as your making progress, and not holding people up, then just learn at your own pace. and just keep reminding yourself, you are in control of the car, and not the car in control of you, and anytime you feel like it is the other way around is a good time to pull over.

after all if you don't feel in control of the car, then it makes other people wary of your driving abilities, and more in the scared catagory!! get a good instructor that will be prepared for you to learn at your own pace, not to test standards straight away. an instructor that can make you feel at ease with jokes etc. because the more relaxed you are the safer your driving will be.

my driving instructer is very patient with this but i dont think he really takes into a count my dyspraxia.

I'm glad that your instructor is patient, but if he isn't taking your dyspraxia into consideration, perhaps you should find someone who will. There are actually driving instructors who specialise in teaching people with learning problems, so perhaps one of those would be more suitable? It might be worth doing a search online to see if there are any in your area. See how it goes with your current instructor, but if you still don't think he is taking your dyspraxia into account and you aren't making reasonable progress, then it would be worth looking elsewhere.

When I learned to drive, my biggest issues were to do with spatial awareness, planning ahead and sometimes with concentration. The gears weren't an issue for me, so I stuck with a manual, but if the gears are an issue for you it might be worth learning in an automatic. I've said previously on this forum that my mother has probably got dyspraxia (although she won't admit it) and she now refuses to drive anything other than an automatic. The only snag with learning to drive in an automatic is that you won't of course be qualified to drive a manual, but it might be worth it if operating the gears is causing an issue which you could do without.

Omg I completely relate to this. I'm just leaning to drive now in my 30s and it is taking FOREVER! I'm not a stupid person but for some reason it is like I have the brain of a goldfish when it comes to driving! In many areas of my life I am accomplished, and can multi-task and have a good memory for things. I get in a car and it's like my brain disengages! It's been a real source of frustration for me because I completely KNOW what I should be doing but cannot quite get it right. Infuriating and upsetting. I'm lucky to have a good instructor and the driving issues was one of the things that has made me realise I am in fact dyspraxic. :-(

Patience and time I think are the keys to this one........think of all the really complcated stuff you've already mastered, you can do this too. Just take your time and be kind to yourself.

Don't worry about being in the way or going too slwoly...everyone behind the wheel was a learner too once if they get impatient it says more about them than you. Having said that try and avoid lessons at rush hour if at all possible.

It took me 5 tests and two years to pass way back in the mists of time - I had no idea at the time why it was takingme so long nor why it was so hard for me......my dad took me out once and we both agreed for the sake of our relationship we wouldn't be doing THAT again! But pass I did and the freedom was great!!

I still find driving very tiring and can't drive for as long as my husband can but that's ok, I'm not as tall either!!
I've got a good friend who's neuro typical who can't cope with motorways at all and goes everywhere on A roads or not at all!

goodluck - let us know how you're getting on

I gave up driving, at the age of 19. I took a few lessons. I passed my driving test at the age of 31, after 10 attempts, several instructors.

I do not like some new roads. I do not drive a lot. I am happy that I passed the driving test. I have recently been diagnosed with dyspraxia.

Patient, persistence, determination, support, understanding is required, I wish I had understood dyspraxia, 10 years ago but there was no information regarding adult dyspraxia.

I get tired easily.

I passed My theory test today!!!!! Don't need to tell you guys how happy I am!!

Congrats on passing your theory Estella36.

Just thought I'd share with you how my experiences of learning to drive went...

It took me 125 2 hour lessons to pass my test and 6 driving tests. So I'd say about £6000 to learn how to drive

I had my first lesson and didn't tell my instructor that I was dyspraxic - I thought I'd give it a go without him assigning every mistake I made to dyspraxia. At the end of the two hours we stopped and he asked me if I'd ever been tested for dyspraxia because I showed every single 'symptom' of it that he'd ever read about.

I couldn't judge how close I was to other cars/pavements/people on bikes/wheelie bins - I hit something with his car far too often but he just accepted this and said that's what his insurance was for! I couldn't judge the speed of other cars so I basically used to wait until someone let me out or the road was totally clear. I couldn't work out what gear I needed to be in. I couldn't steer quick enough. I couldn't do my lefts and rights AT ALL - even with stickers on the wheel! I couldn't work out which way I had to turn the wheel when the car was going backwards and I couldn't look in the mirrors and work out where something is.

My driving instructor told me that practice will make perfect and that the more I practice doing something the easier it will be for me. At first I thought he just wanted to keep teaching me because I was a guaranteed source of income for him - but then it all actually started to click. I realised my limitations and played to my strengths instead. I'm a far more cautious driver than most people and I can tell you where every bike or opening car door is from ages off, so I don't have accidents like people who speed around because they think they're the bees knees at driving.

I failed my first test for being overly cautious, my second for getting too close to a man on a bike, my third for trying to go the wrong way onto a dual carriageway, the fourth for not being able to follow directions and the fifth for too many dodgy gear choices and an awful attempt at a parallel park! On my sixth test I got a brilliant examiner who didn't tell me to go left and right - he told me 'to me, to you', laughed when I couldn't read a map and gave me plenty of time to park.

Sorry for the essay, but thought I'd let you know that no matter how difficult something seems at first if you can stick at it - and your instructor thinks it's something you're capable of - you can do it I cried a lot of times in that car from getting so frustrated with myself, but learning to drive was the best thing I've ever done!

it look me 5 years and 4 tests to pass i have been driving for 3 years and still ake silly mistakes ie ocationaly setting of in second forgetting to take my handbreak off. i have only ever scraped the car once
i avoid multi story car parks as spaces tend to be smaller and street parking menovers are still hard i quite oftern get flustered and try to find anouther space even though there is more than enough room and my parking at home is street parking so i do it almost every day i should be much better.

Well done. The theory test is a challenge, but it is not the end of your learning process. In many respects now is when the learning starts. Please don't close your mind to learning like so many drivers do, every day you will learn something new if your mind is open to it.

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I passed my driving test after trying four times with my condition and i am glad to those who made it too. wishing those who are taking the test all the best.

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Helpful threads!I'm currently starting my driving lessons too.

Hello,

I recently joined a car driving classes but I am not satisfied with this classes, and also I have some kind of problem in driving, So please suggest me some best classes for car driving.

Thank you in advance.

Driving Instructors Lichfield

Hello

Have just started learning to drive at the age of 31 Its been a scary start as my coordination lets me down, e.g, gear changing and judging distance and steering. only really discovered the reasons for my difficultiy, which cause me to get down and feel like i've underachived yes I m a Dyspraxic person.

I’ve been learning to drive also (didn’t disclose my dyspraxia) I tend to make at least 1 mistake per lesson most recently using windscreen wipers instead of indicators