Interested in the Driving and Community Mobility Bootcamp?

Structure

The Driving and Community Mobility Bootcamp is planned at the end of ECU summer session, typically the last part of July and/or first week in August.  This time is selected because participation of the graduate occupational therapy students are essential to the success of the Bootcamp.

The Bootcamp typically starts on a Thursday and Friday, allowing time for preparation and changes over a weekend. Then it finishes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with a “graduation event” on Wednesday evening.

Participants

The Bootcamp is open to any teen or young adult with ASD who is interested in independent driving and/or community mobility.  There is no age criteria but most participants are between 15 and 25 years of age, although we have had some older participants.

While North Carolina allows teens who are 14 ½ to take drivers education, we find that individuals with ASD tend to not be quite ready and recommend waiting a year or two.

All “applicants” are evaluated for their potential and interest. If we feel the individual is not appropriate or does not show enough interest, we talk with the individual and their parent and offer other ideas or options.

The number of participants in each session has ranged from 7 to 14, being limited by the number of occupational therapy students as well as space.  Each year is a unique combination of matching participants with students and ensuring a small groups of individuals who can work and learn cooperatively together.

The Bootcamp has no fee and participants are expected to bring their own lunch, snacks and drinks. As such, we are also not able to support out-of-area participants with any housing, although there are reasonably priced hotels nearby.

This letter of interest includes further information regarding our upcoming bootcamp. Additionally, interested participants can fill out this ECU-Driving-Bootcamp-Application and send it to Dr. Anne Dickerson