Because of the serious negative outcomes related to teen drivers with ADHD, and that the initiation of driving is an important family transition, it may be an opportune time to engage parents and teens in an intervention. Parents may be motivated for treatment given concerns about their adolescent's safety. Further, adolescents, who are traditionally difficult to engage in treatment, may be optimally primed for participation due to a strong desire to drive. To address this area of impairment, the Supporting a Teen's Effective Entry to the Roadway (STEER) program was developed. The STEER program integrates a driving targeted behavioral parent training program, communication training for the teen and parents, supervised practice in a driving simulator facilitated by clinician coaching, parental monitoring of objective driving behaviors using innovative technology, and contingency management aimed at promoting safe driving behaviors. Preliminary outcomes on the feasibility and impact of the STEER program are presented in this paper. The data acquired from this pilot study resulted in a grant funded by the NIH/NICHD (R01HD058588, PI: Fabiano; Hulme, Morris, co-I’s), entitled: “Improving Parenting Capacity to promote safe driving for adolescents with ADHD”.
