Greg grew up in Northbrook IL and graduated from Lake Forest College, pursuing a career in industrial sales for a short time before making a change to education. He has been a driving instructor since 2009, teaching both behind the wheel and in the classroom. He typically instructs an average of 6 to 8 rides with students per week.

We’re talking today with Greg Hardt, a Certified Behind the Wheel With ADHD driving instructor with Fresh Green Light Driving School in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Greg was trained in Behind the Wheel With ADHD in March, so has been utilizing his training and new skills for about 4 months with students who he has that have ADHD or other related challenges.

I asked Greg how our training has helped:

Greg:  “The training has helped in many ways, the most important has been my approach and effectiveness in communicating with these students in the car, and also knowing more effective strategies to keep them focused while we are on the road so they perform better and we have a safer trip.”

Greg was enthused about one student in particular who he had been frustrated with before our training because the student seemed to talk constantly and off-topic and Greg struggled to try to get the student focused back on the driving.  I asked Greg how our training helped with this student:

Greg:  “I was able to implement a new approach and through open-ended questioning and firm but gentle commentary, I was much more successful in getting him to stay focused during our drives together and also give me meaningful feedback after the trips.”

An important component of Behind the Wheel With ADHD training program is the training we offer the instructors relevant to working with parents of students in this population (ADHD).  I asked Greg how his experience with parents has changed since he went through our training:

Greg:  “The best example is a student I had for a long time who really struggled to learn the techniques and skills necessary for a safe trip independently.  After my training in Behind the Wheel With ADHD I reached out to the boy’s father and asked him to consider joining me and his son for a trip to observe how our interactions go and what I am looking for in improvements from his son. (This is one aspect of the training).  I now have regular contact with the parents and have been able to initiate other suggestions that they have been very receptive to.  Another example is a new student I have who came to me very fearful of driving (partly due to his impairments), and I knew from my Behind the Wheel With ADHD training several useful strategies to help the situation, especially through working with the parents on making sure they provide more practice drives between lessons and more hours of practice over the training phase.”

Finally, I knew that Greg has recently become a classroom teacher at his driving school as well as a behind- the- wheel instructor, and I wondered if he was utilizing his new skills from our training in his classroom:

Greg:  “Yes, definitely!  It was very easy for me to immediately identify what was going on with most of the distracted kids and also the ones that seemed to be not paying attention.  I was able to invite them to participate on a higher level in my class and this gave me a chance to connect with them in a way I couldn’t have without the background you provided in your training.”

We are always pleased to hear stories like Greg’s when we follow up with instructors after our training seminars and Practicums.