M at Incipient Turvy, one of the blogs I love and read regularly, recently commented on my stuffed animal post. The thought of him searching strange word combinations to try to find Teen Autism gave me an idea for a new series of posts:  Sunday Searches. Each week I’ll write a post about a search that was used to find this website. I’ve already got a list going from months ago. Some are funny, some are serious. And some of them are really worth discussing.

Here’s this week’s search: “autistic teen does not want to drive a car”

First off, that’s probably a good thing. I wish Nigel hadn’t started talking about wanting to drive. I’m fine with him driving go-karts, but about a year ago, he started talking about when he turns sixteen and gets his driver’s license. Like he’s assuming it’s going to happen. Two years from now? I don’t think so. He gets distracted enough while just walking down the street, let alone operating a moving vehicle down the street. He has this idea in his head that if he can physically drive the car and knows the mechanics of it that he should be able to have his license. About six months ago, he reached in the glove box and pulled out the car manual and said, “I need to start studying this so that I can get my driver’s license when I’m sixteen.” Fortunately we were still in the driveway or I might have driven off the road in sheer panic.

Of course, there are autistic adults who drive. Temple Grandin, who drives, has said this about the subject: “I think it’s difficult for many people on the autism spectrum to drive because there is so much going on at the same time and so much to pay attention to at once.  For people on the spectrum who want to drive, I recommend a full year of driving on easy roads with no traffic before venturing out on freeways and busy intersections.  Once you don’t have to think about steering, braking or pushing on the gas, it’s much easier to multitask on busy roads.”

I suppose that when Nigel’s emotional age catches up, I might consider letting him learn to drive. His current emotional age is about eight, even though cognitively he is at or above his actual grade level. So since he’s about six years behind emotionally, I figure that in about seven or eight years he will reach the emotional age of 16 (when he’s in his early twenties). Then we’ll look at his sensory processing, his maturity, and we’ll entertain the idea of him possibly getting his driver’s license. Until then, go-karting will have to do. And I’ll just keep wishing that our local Family Fun Center offered frequent driver rates.