Neurodiversity & SEND CPD for Driving Instructors | Leicester ADI Presentation
Understanding Neurodiverse Learners: CPD with Leicester Driving Instructors
30 ADIs, plenty of discussion, and one important question: are we adapting our teaching to the learner?
Yesterday I had the opportunity to deliver my Understanding Neurodiverse Learners presentation to a group of around 30 driving instructors from Leicester ADIs.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable session, but what stood out most wasn't simply the number of instructors attending.
It was the engagement, discussion and willingness to share experiences.
Autism, ADHD and SEND are subjects that increasingly come up within driver training, but understanding a diagnosis is only part of the picture.
As driving instructors, the more useful question is often:
What does this individual learner need from me in order to learn?
That became a big part of the discussion.
Moving beyond the diagnosis
Two autistic learners can learn completely differently.
Two learners with ADHD can experience very different difficulties.
A learner may struggle with processing time, working memory, sensory overload, anxiety, communication, attention or managing several pieces of information simultaneously.
Another learner with the same diagnosis may experience very few of those difficulties.
That's why one of the principles behind my work is:
See the learner, not the diagnosis.
Our job as instructors isn't to diagnose people, and it isn't to assume that a particular label automatically tells us how somebody should be taught.
Instead, we need to understand the person sitting beside us.
What are they finding difficult?
What are their strengths?
What's getting in the way?
And what could we change about our teaching to help?
Adapt the teaching — not the standard
This was another important part of the Leicester presentation.
Supporting a neurodiverse learner does not mean making driving easier or accepting a lower standard of driving.
The standard of safe driving remains the same.
What we can change is how we help someone reach it.
That might mean changing our language, reducing the amount of information we're giving, allowing additional processing time, using visual resources, breaking a complicated task into smaller stages or changing when and how we ask questions.
Sometimes it might mean recognising that the learner has reached cognitive overload and that adding another explanation or question isn't going to help.
The challenge for us as instructors is working out why something isn't working before deciding what to do about it.
From instructor support to independent driving
One of the biggest themes running through the presentation was independence.
Ultimately, we shouldn't be trying to create learners who become very good at driving while their instructor is sitting next to them.
We're trying to develop drivers who can eventually manage without us.
That means gradually moving from instruction and support towards independent observation, judgement and decision-making.
It also means recognising when our own teaching might inadvertently be creating dependence.
If we're constantly reminding, prompting, questioning or rescuing, what happens when we're no longer sitting beside them?
For me, successful driver training isn't simply about producing a driving-test pass.
It's about developing someone who can observe, think, make decisions, recognise risk and adapt when things don't go according to plan.
CPD should create discussion
This is one of the reasons I particularly enjoyed presenting the session to the Leicester instructors.
It wasn't simply me standing at the front talking about autism and SEND.
The presentation created questions.
It created discussion.
Instructors shared experiences from their own lessons and considered how different approaches might work with different learners.
That's what I believe useful CPD should do.
It should make us reflect on what we already do, challenge some of our assumptions and hopefully give us something practical that we can take into our next lesson.
You don't necessarily need to leave a CPD session having completely changed the way you teach.
Sometimes one new question, one different way of explaining something or one better understanding of why a learner is struggling can make a significant difference.
Understanding Autism & SEND: ADI CPD Training Package
For instructors who would like to explore the subject themselves, I have also developed the Understanding Autism & SEND: An ADI CPD Training Package.
The complete downloadable package includes:
A professional PowerPoint presentation
A comprehensive instructor guide
A detailed speaker/presentation script
Audience questions and discussion points
A CPD certificate
The training explores areas including autism and SEND, sensory processing, cognitive load, communication, processing time, anxiety, chunking, learner strengths and barriers, developing independence and adapting instruction.
It also introduces practical approaches including the 4front Learning Cycle, Observe → Decide → Act, recognising a learner's Panic Point, and P.O.R. — Pull Over, Observe, Reset.
The package can be used by an individual ADI or PDI for their own professional development, or by driving schools and trainers wanting to deliver a group CPD session.
The complete CPD package is available from 4front Driving School for £29.99.
Would you like me to deliver the presentation to your group?
Following the Leicester session, I would also like to offer the presentation to other ADI groups, driving schools, instructor associations, training organisations and local organisations interested in neurodiversity, SEND and learning to drive.
Rather than simply purchasing the presentation, you can book me to come and deliver the session to your group.
The advantage of delivering it live is the discussion.
Every group of instructors brings different experiences, different learners and different questions. That gives us the opportunity to explore real situations and consider how the principles might be applied in practice.
If you run a local ADI association, instructor group, driving school or organisation and would be interested in hosting an Understanding Neurodiverse Learners CPD session, please get in touch with 4front Driving School to discuss it.
Thank you, Leicester ADIs
A big thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's session.
Having around 30 ADIs in one room discussing neurodiversity, teaching, learning and independent driving made for a genuinely engaging evening.
Most importantly, it demonstrated that there is an appetite within our profession to understand these learners better.
We don't need a completely different driving standard for neurodiverse learners.
We need instructors who are curious enough to ask why a learner is struggling and flexible enough to consider whether there might be another way of helping them understand.
See the learner, not the diagnosis.
Adapt the teaching, not the standard.
Build independence, not dependence.
Understanding Autism & SEND: An ADI CPD Training Package
Available as a complete downloadable CPD package from 4front Driving School.
Alternatively, contact me if you would like to book Simon Harrison to deliver the presentation to your ADI group, driving school or organisation.
Contact Simon at 4frontdrivingschool@gmail.com
07905 657229
4front Driving School — Learn Smarter. Drive Safer.
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