Kathie Harrington is a speech and language therapist (and parent to an autistic son) who believes that high functioning AS/Autistic kids CAN learn to drive. She breaks it down to correcting deficits in several areas, including sequencing, turn taking, rote memory, and problem-solving. She cites her own son as a success story, although she concedes that he never drives faster than 35 mph!
I'm a bit more wary in that I believe that the AS individual's difficulties with multi-tasking, especially under pressure, is a major obstacle. When the AS is driving in heavy traffic and a car in the next lane tries to scoot over (not noticing the car driven by the AS individual), very quick decisions and actions must be taken. Minimally, as I have mentioned before, the AS individual must be trained for many hours in how to handle many scenarios such as this one.
My reading of the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is that schools may be obligated to pay for such comprehensive driving programs (which will involve many more hours of driving than those for non-AS student drivers).
12:48:14 PM 
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