Quotes

It helps me to get more comfortable on how I can focus on positive thinking instead of negative thoughts.

I was determined I couldn’t get my license before this program and now I feel there’s nothing that will stand in my way now!

It helped me be more prepared/aware of driving, and that my anxieties about driving felt validated.

I feel more confident and determined to get my license now and I feel more confident about the thought of driving.

Before, I wasn’t 100% sure of what the requirements were for a license, and I felt pretty scared about driving. Now, I have a checklist for everything that is required to get my license, and I feel more confident about getting behind the wheel soon.

Talks about [driving] more, has gained a bit of confidence. Also more familiar with risks and complexity of driving decisions.

She seems more interested in driving and sees it as an important piece that will help with independence.

He is less scared of learning. Asks a lot more questions when he is in the front seat of the car.

He was afraid to drive. Now shows interest in learning to drive. [He] gain[ed] confidence in the simulator driving.

[The most beneficial part of the program was] ways to deal with stress/anxiety about driving.

I do feel like there’s lots of benefits especially as far as like learning all the different sensory things to keep them balanced, and also just learning about their emotions, because I’m sure they all know about their emotions, but really putting a name to things fell like makes it a lot easier for them.

We would do a lesson and one of the participants would realize what we did in the last week, like those coping skills we were teaching them the week before, and she’s like, ‘oh, I could do this.’

I feel like [the program] is a great step into getting them to get out of their comfort zone, or understand what it could look like driving.

I thought [the program] was really cool because I feel like a lot of people, like the outside world/people that don’t work with people with autism spectrum disorder feel like we have to do everything for them, or they’re not capable of doing these things. And it was really eye opening!

The curriculum is really helpful with the participants, and they really learn how to apply that what they learn within the simulator sessions.

We definitely are seeing participants showing and stating their driving readiness and their confidence and their interest and even their gratitude of being in the program. They’re definitely benefiting. And that’s what we hope for. That’s kind of our biggest factor is the participants, themselves, seeing it as a benefit.

[Staff] really like the curriculum, and enjoyed delivering the group curriculum, and really did see the participants actively using those things that were in the curriculum while they were driving on the simulator.

Adding the driving simulator with that curriculum, I think, has been like the best pairing.

The curriculum opened the eyes to my students of what the expectations are for driving. It opened the eyes for the students that were not as confident in themselves, or did not understand that they are capable of doing this. And then also for those students that were a little bit too confident, realize that they do have to put the work in.

We loved it! We saw leaps and bound of success within our program participants.