Readiness for Driving: A Guide for Non-Driver Trained OTs

Workshop Duration: 2 hours

Cost: $120.00

Do you feel uncertain about how to judge a young person’s readiness to learn to drive, especially when neurodiversity or disability may affect the process?

Do you want clearer ways to explore lifeskills, community mobility and pre driving abilities?

If you need practical frameworks to assess readiness, understand driving challenges and guide families with confidence, this session will help.

Purchase this workshop

What will you learn?

Understand how diagnoses like Autism, ADHD and psychosocial disability can affect driver readiness and the research findings on how these diagnoses can impact driving
The cognitive, sensory, behavioural and emotional demands of driving, and understand the AustRoads Assessing Fitness to Drive guidelines
Understand models of driving performance and the “Potential to Drive” approach
What’s in vs out of scope for non-driver-trained OTs
Understand the possible outcomes of the OT potential to drive assessment and how to guide clients and families around licensing / community mobility pathways
When and how to refer to an OT Driver Assessor for a Potential to Drive assessment
How NDIS may (or may not) fund driving-related supports
Case studies and documentation tips you can apply straight away

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for ANY OT. You do not need to be a driver-trained OT to attend this workshop. In fact, this working has been designed for the non-driver OTs!

OT working with teens or young adults wishing to explore learning to drive
Clinician supporting clients with Autism, ADHD or psychosocial disabilities

Suitable for both early career and experienced OTs who are interested in learning how to navigate readiness to driving.

Why attend?

Get clear on your role in supporting driver readiness
Build a structured, confident approach to screening and referrals
Learn to navigate conversations with families and support teams
Avoid stepping outside your scope while still adding real value
Access ready-to-use tools and practical strategies

Important Note:

This workshop does not train you to assess driving performance.

Instead, it empowers you to support the process within your scope and know when to refer onto a driver trained OT.

What's included?

Gain online access to the workshop – live workshops are delivered via Zoom, while self-paced options include access to recorded sessions
Download workshop slides and any resources provided by the presenter
Enjoy six months of access to the recording and resources via your Verve OT Learning Library
Receive a certificate of completion for your CPD records, available via email upon completion of the workshop

Readiness for Driving: Adolescent IADL Checklist

Driving is considered a complex instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), particularly for a novice driver. This is a checklist completed by the parent/guardian/Occupational Therapist/Case Manager who must rate the level of independence and difficulty completing general IADL tasks in the home and community. The scores of this checklist indicate the level of independence of the client. This is relevant to the driving assessor who must build an awareness on how their client manages in day to day life. Findings assist in the determining suitability for driving.

Workshop Reference List

A reference list for you to explore where information for this workshop has been obtained.

Available for you to download in your Verve OT Learning Library alongside the workshop slides when you purchase this workshop.

About the Presenter

Jenny Gribbin has been an OT since 2005 and was interested in the area of driving assessment from a pretty early stage; she completed the driving training in 2012 and started her business Driving Well Occupational Therapy in Brisbane in 2016 to be able to provide services to clients needing this service.

She loves being able to help people to be safe and independent, or to give them an opportunity to have their driving assessed. The rollout of the NDIS enabled many young people the opportunity to explore their potential to learn to drive, however driving OTs were struggling to work with this group – Jenny thought “there has to be a better way”.

The onset of COVID (with no on-road assessments due to social distancing requirements) gave Jenny time to investigate how driving OTs can better support this population (to either rule out driving or optimise chances of being successful), and together with Dr Miriam Monahan (Driver Rehab Institute in USA), she has pioneered a massive change in best practice across Australia with the “potential to drive” approach.

Jenny is the convenor of the OTA QLD driving interest group, runs workshops and training for driver-trained OTs, is sought after presenter for inservices and advice, and provides supervision for driving OTs. She had a crucial role in bringing the Drive Focus app to Australia and was a finalist for Best Assistive Technology product at the Australian Disability Services Awards and was the winner of the Technology award at the Australian Road Safety Awards for this work.

Jenny is excited about the future directions of the potential to drive space and seeing the results this approach is creating for young adults in Australia.

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What Are Others Saying?

"The workshop provided a clear and practical overview of the non-driver trained OT's role in supporting driver readiness. The break down of the conditions and their potential impact on driving capacity was very thorough, and the inclusion and break down of a screening tool was particularly helpful to support decision-making around whether referral to a driver-trained OT for assessment is appropriate. Overall, great workshop for OTs wanting to build confidence in supporting this process"