SEN Concerns (Page 1) / ADI Forum / Driver Training Today

APOLOGIES for ARTICLE FORMAT !

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ?? ?? ? ? ? The Danger of SEN Labels.

Have you ever exerted a great deal of effort to push-start a car, only to find that it begins to run away out of control and ploughs up your lawn and although you have done what was intended, it is now causing destruction to much you valued? That is how I am feeling about some of the current Driving Instruction and Special Educational Needs.?

When I became an ADI a couple of decades ago, there was little formal understanding of anyone who did not learn by the set Instructional Methods. Of course there were excellent ADIs who were skilled at teaching those who learnt in different ways, but sadly many of those clients were denigrated as slow or incapable of driving. At that time I was tutoring such students for University entrance so I knew that whilst they may have Specific areas of Difficulty, they had no generic problems and were just the same as the rest of their class mates. I did not put them into discriminatory boxes or give set diagnoses or made them to feel they were Special, but supported them in an understanding and knowledgeable way according to their Specific Needs or Learning Styles.? I was able to foster appropriate teaching because I was a tutor rather than a class teacher, so they did not need to be classified into categories such as Dyslexic, Dyspraxic or Autistic, even though they may have loosely fallen within those spectrums. The tag did not matter because what was important was that we regarded them as people rather than conditions and we encouraged the teachers to develop their own skills to meet the students needs, whatever they may be.

As an ADI I aimed to raise the profile of those with Specific Needs by writing articles, books and advising Learners how to take control of their condition and to guide their ADIs as to how best they learnt. This was Client-Centred Learning coming from the Learner rather than the Instructor or the DSA.? Except in Special Educational and Medical environments Dyspraxia was largely unheard of, but I began to use such terms to help other instructors become more aware of these umbrella labels so they could research for themselves and understand their students behaviour more deeply. Then the SEN band wagon began rolling and the needs of the individuals began to be crushed under the wheels of making an unnecessary diagnosis.? ?
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If I look back to my own school days and to the 50 years since I became a teacher, there was usually only one system used where the teacher imparted information from the blackboard and the majority of those who did not learn this way were sent to Special Schools.? It was a time when children were forcibly adopted, mothers who had illegitimate children were stigmatised as being in need of Moral Welfare, poor children were sent to the colonies for their own good and coloured people were segregated. If you did not meet the standard method provided then you were classified by the Euphemism of being Special.

The changes made during the 70s were exciting as we came a long way towards understanding people with differences and laying the foundation of their integration into Society, particularly following Lady Warnocks 1978 report into Special Education and although for those on the extreme of the spectrum maybe it went too far, the 1981 Education Act made many of those Special people into Normal ones who could cope perfectly well when their teaching was differentiated.

It seems that instead of building on what has gone before Driving Instruction is regressing to classifications of Special Educational Needs. (SEN)? If you had one Specific problem would you want a generic term to be blazoned around for everyone to see?? It would be like me carrying a banner saying I have had cancer or I am Dyslexic. So what! Does it matter to my driving? Do other people need to know I am Special? Even more dismaying is that Instructors are classifying their students into these diagnoses. Do they need, or want a label? Of course not! They just want to be normal with a level playing field without the need for any special provision to make them stand out.? What has Special Education got to do with Driving?

Now why do ADIs go on these courses? Possibly because: they feel they received inadequate Training / Check Testing as ADIs; they or someone in their family has Special Educational Needs and they want to understand the condition more; as an income generator because they see a niche market; or is it because they have been sold a course and believe it is the in-thing to do?? Is it really to help the very few with SEN who will be able to drive as opposed to the many with a Specific Need which all ADIs should be equipped to cater for through their initial training?
I am all for Education, but the instructors motives must be clear and if the training skills they are studying are relevant for ALL learners, then they need to be provided at the grass roots level of PDI training and Check Tests, so that well equipped ADIs come into and remain in our profession.? Of course all ADIs should be competent to teach all their students, so go on a course, study people and how different people learn and then build your experience by questioning your individual clients as to their own Specific Needs, but dont pigeon hole them or approach their training with any pre-set diagnosis of how they will function, or you will become like the old Instructors and teachers who TOLD their clients how they had to learn.

There cant be any Teaching Template as all clients are different and any inflexible diagnosis is dangerous. Between professionals it may be applicable to use specialist terminology as umbrella terms to communicate ideas during ADI training, but to brand our clients and expect them to behave as we believe they may behave is totally unacceptable. Most will not have had any diagnosis and whilst it may be helpful to discuss the manifestations of their condition and the way it affects their driving, we must avoid classifying them. It is many years ago since we left behind the cap behind with a D (dunce) on it and we dont now want to replace it with SEN or any other terminology on our cars. Awareness of need yes, but diagnosis no.

Before I get attacked for the labels occasionally seen on my car, I admit I sometimes display a sign saying HAND CONTROLS IN USE ? THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING. Invariably this is because I am retraining someone following Stroke. Brain Injury or a Degenerative illness:? it is like putting on L plates and is saying to other drivers that this person is learning a different skill and so may be hesitant or make mistakes. It is not saying they are Special or have Educational Needs; it is stating what skill they are learning and as soon as they are competent and can integrate safely then I remove them, since the sign can become an insult to their normal driving ability on the roads.

We dont need an SEN industry being artificially constructed around what every ADI should be offering to every client as part of their basic service. It is not the client who has Learning Difficulties, but the ADI who has not yet found the key to their learning. By all means seek that key, but dont try to change the locks or make them into a standardised model with a new label.? We must not go back to the good old days when we gave people classifications and terms so we could institutionally deal with them more easily. We dont want, Black - White: Catholic - Protestant: Legitimate - Illegitimate: Child - Adult: Passed 11+ - Failed 11+: Special ? Normal: Disabled ? Able. We want equal opportunities for all so they can all integrate on our roads- if they have the ability. Give them Normal Independence and Integration rather than shackle them with a term. The vast majority of Learners will not thank you for making them Special, but will appreciate recognition and support for any Specific Difficulty they may have and the opportunity to jointly construct a personalised teaching programme.

As my web site states? www.drivingincludesu.co.uk. We must be inclusive rather than special and both the DSA and all ADIs must be there for ALL our clients and be able to provide for all, without segregation. We ignore history at our peril and just because Driving Instruction has come decades late into an understanding of those with Specific Needs, they dont have to start at the beginning, but can build on what has gone before and what has been achieved by the efforts of many professionals who have worked together to understand and to make learning better for us all.

We must see the normal person and adapt our teaching to raise them up ? rather than dragging them down to perform to our special diagnosis. We dont have Paralympic Roads. We have to share them with everyone.

John P Brown (October 2012)
ADI and Adviser on Specific Needs

Source: http://www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk/viewtopic.php?id=43884&action=new

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