[Fuzzpig]

"Dyspraxia is a chronic neurological disorder beginning in childhood that can affect planning of movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body"

Some people see this as being like dyslexia in that it's a learning disability - it is similar, however it has a more physical manifestation and also effects things like memory and the ability to hold different pieces of information together in the head.



Anyway now that's all out of the way, I'm interested to know how people with this have found learning how to drive.

My mum can't drive and neither can my brother, both have more severe dyspraxia than I do and I know that many dyspraxics simply never learn how to drive, partly due to nervousness about being in control of a car whilst trying to judge distance, along with the whole hand-eye coordination problem. On the other hand I'm sure a lot of you out there have found it quite easy to learn too!

My problems are really about trying to remember the order of how to do anything and trying to remember to do the clutch before making gear changes (even having done it a million times). So like I said it's not as bad as it could be.

It took me a long time to get onto the dual carriage way, this was about 4 years ago. I stopped to focus on my exams (which was really foolish, I should have kept going with it) and now I'm thinking about learning to drive again having just finished my degree. My fiancée took me out in the car in an empty car park and it was like starting from scratch. I had to keep stopping to ask him in which order to I press the clutch down etc... trying to use my hands and feet at the same time was just extremely difficult! I guess I felt extremely stupid at the end.



How long has it taken you guys to learn? How long until you were really confident? I know I can do it, but I know it will take me a long time. Really I just want to make sure I have enough money to fund however many more lessons I might need!

Sorry for the rather odd thread

[04jmorri]

Hey I too am dyspraxic and initially I passed my theory straight away, however, when it came to actually controlling the car I found my spacial awareness to be a problem and as you said remembering the correct sequences involved when driving.

It took me probably about a year and a half before I finally passed on second attempt and the repeated practice of driving in my own car helped a lot.. you can do it! Practice, practice, pratice

[misst911]

Are you driving automatic? I know someone with dyspraxia and that's what she drives, it's a bit easier to focus on the road.

[cid]

I passed my theory straight away, i failed my practical 5 times, but with some perseverance i now hold not only a car license but a full C + E too, i failed my cat C 3 times and passed my C+E first time, so I've failed a total of 8 driving tests, fortunately for my i wasn't paying for the bloody things.


Still easier than leaning to change step on the march

edit to add, doing a total of 4-5 hours a day intensive driving for my cat B (car) it took 6 weeks, soooo 150+ hours for car alone, i was on my last chance when i passed, i was looking at getting scrapped off of it, got told 'chefs hat or bayonet?' I was like, wtf? RLC chef or infantry? because if you don't pass the next one your out the corp, though i slightly suspect it was bull****, it didn't really help ...

[Fuzzpig]

(Original post by 04jmorri)
Hey I too am dyspraxic and initially I passed my theory straight away, however, when it came to actually controlling the car I found my spacial awareness to be a problem and as you said remembering the correct sequences involved when driving.

It took me probably about a year and a half before I finally passed on second attempt and the repeated practice of driving in my own car helped a lot.. you can do it! Practice, practice, pratice

Same! I passed my theory back then with 100%, but driving was another matter entirely! I think that sounds like the right kind of time frame for me, you've given me a lot of hope!

[Fuzzpig]

(Original post by misst911)
Are you driving automatic? I know someone with dyspraxia and that's what she drives, it's a bit easier to focus on the road.

I really don't want to limit myself to automatic. It would certainly be easier but if I ever need to drive company cars in the future and so on, it would just cause a lot more problems than I need. I'd rather have the option to switch to an automatic after I pass the manual test, which certainly seems like a nice idea!

[misst911]

(Original post by aliluvschoc)
I really don't want to limit myself to automatic. It would certainly be easier but if I ever need to drive company cars in the future and so on, it would just cause a lot more problems than I need. I'd rather have the option to switch to an automatic after I pass the manual test, which certainly seems like a nice idea!

You could always start with automatic and get used to driving and then learn manual?

[Fuzzpig]

(Original post by misst911)
You could always start with automatic and get used to driving and then learn manual?

That's still not helpful, making the car go where I want isn't a problem, it's the clutch, gear changes, that's the main issue and that's why it's so important to me to be taught in that way first. I know I'll be able to do it, it'll just take me longer!

[misst911]

(Original post by aliluvschoc)
That's still not helpful, making the car go where I want isn't a problem, it's the clutch, gear changes, that's the main issue and that's why it's so important to me to be taught in that way first. I know I'll be able to do it, it'll just take me longer!

I'm just saying, navigating lanes and roundabouts and that is a lot of work, and if you're concentrating on gears so much it'll be harder for you to learn everything else. Whereas if you started with automatic you could get the navigating etc down and have more learning capacity for concentrating on the gears.

[Walter Ego]

I'm with misst911, start in an auto.