A Quantitative Approach to Driver Training for the Disabled

Standard driver education programs for the disabled, although generally successful in helping their clients to earn licenses, depend largely on classroom and on-road experience to train severely disabled and cognitively disabled clients. This can lead to hazardous situations when the client has a high anxiety level, or when he is not educationally or functionally prepared for on-road driving. The Louisiana Tech University rehabilitation Engineering Center has developed a driver training system which provides quantitative feedback to the trainer on client progress throughout the training. It uses a five-stage approach based on learning theory, which tends to improve learning time, decrease client anxiety, and thus reduce hazard.