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wow - I had just posted a question about driving on the Teen Forum. My son got his permit easily - aced the test. But after taking road lessons, is nowhere near being able to drive. He's 18. He's very anxious about the whole thing and isn't really sure if he will ever get his license. He didn't like the lessons because he felt like he was being criticized every time he made a mistake. He feels that he isn't aware enough on what's going on all around him. He still wants me to take him out to practice, but only when everything is just right (when he's not tired, or has something else that he wants to do, or not too early, or not too late, or when the stars line up, etc...)
Your son sounds just like me, except that we aren't required to get a permit in our state, so I skipped that part.
I took driver's ed when I was 17, and had a terrible time with it. It didn't help that all I had to practice in was a giant purple minivan (keep in mind I'm only 4 feet and 10 inches tall, I could barely see over the hood, and behind me, forget it). Almost every summer during college I would attempt to practice, but it never came to anything until this summer (I graduated and decided I just couldn't put it off anymore). So I got my liscense this past August, at 22 years of age. I ended up taking adult driver education instructions from a private instructor (it was just road practice) and studying the manual on my own. I aced the test.
Having the lessons helped in getting me to practice more regularly, because I would have to practice a certain skill before going to the next lesson so that I could prove to the teacher I knew it and we could move on to the next step.
You should also keep in mind that being tired, etc, can really make someone more susceptible to sensory overload. I'm not sure if that's your son's problem, but it certainly was part of mine.