My son turned 16 last December and wants to get his driver's license. The DMV will require that I get a letter from his pediatrician, but other than that, they have no problem with his disability, as long as he passes the test. I am also going to seek the advise of his school teacher who has had him in her class for the last 2 years. I feel confident that his hand and eye coordination is quite adequate to handle driving. The really tough part will be teaching the material since he has to memorize everything because his reading comprehension is not great.

I am curious if there are any parents out there that have MRDD kids driving. My son operates on about a 3rd grade reading level, but he has an after school job. He has to walk to work and he does that quite well on his own. I feel like driving will open up his opportunities and make he so much less dependent as an adult, but my concern lies in "judgement call" driving.

I think some of my worries are the same as any parent facing their child driving, I just don't want to hold him back if he is capable but I also don't want him causing a horrible accident.

Em, I am sorry your question has gone so long unanswered. Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you, but I do have some experience.

My brother-in-law is MRDD. He is 49 and operates at about the level of a 16 year old, sometimes younger. My in-laws chose not to let him drive for the same concerns you have.

As I said, I know that this is not an answer, but wanted to share this experience with you.

Good luck with your decision.

Thanks for sharing that J_9. I just wish I knew whether I would be feeling this same trepidation if he was developmentally on target.

I have heard other parents say they were scared to death when their kids started driving. I guess the first hurdle is getting him to pass the test. If he can't manage that, then I won't have to worry.

I don't know if you are lucky enough, but my in-laws had a riding mower. They would let my BIL mow the grass and would watch him.

He frequently bumped into things (still does actually) and did not seem to make sound judgments when told how to mow the grass, such as mowing in a circle (he would mow in several circles) or to mow straight up and down in straight lines (we would mow one line in forward and the next one in reverse).

If you are lucky enough to have a riding mower you may be able to test his judgment in that way.

Pretty simple I know, but it was what helped my in-laws decide that he just could not make the judgment calls necessary for a drivers license.

Now they (in their mid-70s) have to drive him to Special Olympics and his job. They are his chauffeur and do not regret the decision they made years agon.

He can ride a lawn mower, ATV and does pretty darn good on his driving xbox games ;)

I think I will take him to an abandoned parking lot this summer and see what he does. He will have to pass the test, unmodified, to get a license. Thanks for the input, it helps to know what other parents have done in similar situations.

Taking him to a parking lot sounds like a great idea. I hope it works out for you. I feel so bad watching my in-laws chauffering him around. It will be our responsibility some day.

Ern,

I think that it is good that he has experience on other motorized vehicles. One thing to think about though. How are his problem solving skills? If he got into a situation of high stress or where he needed to think quickly, how would he do?

I know that some of my students that I teach could easily pass the driving exam, but faced with problems on the road they might not know what to do.