16/03/2025
Laura says Hell Yes to CBT&A. This is her story:
I am a mother of 6 children one classified Neurodivergent. I was encouraged by the Instructor (as I understand many parents have) to sit on the first lesson with my son Jordan. Learning and school has posed many difficulties for Jordan who does not fit neatly into the box many others may. Fitting into some cars can also be a problem. The Instructor began the first lesson connecting to not with Jordan. As he said tuning into the Jordan channel using a range of techniques that invited Jordan to tap into his natural superpowers many Neurodivergent people have in spite of labels like ADHD,AUTISM, ASPERGERS etc. any parent knows sometimes people do not fit in any box. A group of experts build boxes for people that do not fit and put these labels on them called psychiatrists who produce a book called the DCM.
The Instructor explained the CBT&A pathway to a license before we came. We live in regional South Australia. I am so glad I was there to see my son Jordan be made feel that learning did not have to make him deficient because he learned in a different way. The tools the Instructor gave us during the lesson and to take home ensured we could both continue to build what we learned that day. As the Instructor said the method was based on assessment not testing. At the end a score expressed as a percentage would measure the habits Jordan demonstrated. The way it was explained allowed the Instructor to desensitise Jordan using humour that mirrored Jordan’s favourite Russian accent. On the surface it seemed they were playing silly buggers. But it became obvious Jordan was learning a new habit without realising it. As the Instructor said to me later a horse must release emotional energy through the feet or undesirable behaviour will result. I am a horsewoman and know this is correct. If we can understand how to control the head of a horse we control his feet. If we control his feet through the reins we can begin to shape a horses mind. Jordan may be as big as a horse but like a horse he has superpowers to read the people that approach him. For the first time I saw another stranger show Jordan the power within to connect with learning and want to learn. Driving was scary for Jordan because he had so much to deal with. As the Instructor asked Jordan in a Russian accent “are you feeling like you are juggling bowling pins while riding a bicycle down a hill with no brakes and someone shouting... STOP, LOOKOUT, S**T WE’RE GONNA DIE!"
As the Instructor said later the government planned to mandate cameras in the car which would mean that working in this way would not be possible as taken out of context would be considered unprofessional if a 30 second clip was extracted. Nobody would have time to watch the 90 minute lesson from start to it’s finish as Jordan was demonstrating learning goals but not quite meeting the standards yet. The learning environment would lack the human element and be clinical and ineffective for passionate instructors.
When I heard CBT&A was to be abolished I had to tell the story of how it has done so much more than just learning to drive for Jordan. The traditional testing method was tried by my other very confident son who failed 3 times and suffered a blow to his self esteem. Another son now ready to start will not use the traditional method and will be one of those that would risk driving unlicensed if CBT&A was not available after seeing what his other brother went through, We simply cannot remain silent and allow what I have seen to be abolished by government especially in the regional centres.
Say HELL YES TO CBT&A.
