Gumbo, looks like the closest private instruction service to you is West County Driving School,
http://westcodrive.com/ They are near 270/40.
AAA's programs are probably cheaper, but you would have to haul her farther in; I think they run them out of the main office off of 40.
DS finally passed his test on the 3rd try last Christmas, six months after he turned 18. Second time he tried the test he was doing just fine and was nearly finished, until he missed a stop sign under a railroad trestle, which is an instant fail. He had had the permit since he was 15, but we were in no hurry to have to add him to our insurance, and since we live in the city right near a Metro station, he got used to walking and taking the train and saw no major need for the license while he was still living at home. He goes to school out of state, so luckily, we still don't have to add him to our insurance; he changed his license and he can now drive on visits home as a "guest driver."
His issue was (and to some extent, still is) that he was so afraid of veering into oncoming traffic that he hewed too far to the right. Riding in the passenger seat, teaching him to navigate the streets near the house, was a nail-biter; I kept flinching away from all of the wing mirrors that he nearly shaved off. I ended up temporarily putting a hood ornament on my car, so that he could sight the right lane margin on it. I also added "whiskers" so that he would know if he was getting too close.
I actually think that a simulator would likely help in your DD's case. Getting into several fake wrecks might help her understand traffic flow better. I would suggest that you buy her a wheel controller so as to make the scenario as realistic as possible.
Now then, for a story that will make you grin. When I was teaching DS, we often went out into your neck of the woods for practice. One day we were out in Weldon Spring, and he got a bit turned around trying to get onto 40, and ended up on a dead-end service road (he still has issues with navigating what exit to take to get where he needs to go; he often ends up backtracking when he misses the right one.) Naturally, when we reached the dead end (and this was at about 9 pm on a Saturday), he decided that it would be fun to do a doughnut in the parking lot of the building where I directed him to turn around. You know the neighborhood, can you guess where this is going? Yep, he did a doughnut in the parking lot of the Troop C Highway Patrol HQ! Luckily, no one came out to ticket us.
PS: In Missouri, where Gumbo and I both live, the rules for permit drivers say that at under age 18, they cannot take the road test until a parent has certified that the teen driver has had at least 40 hours of behind-the-wheel experience, including at least 10 hours of nighttime driving. (They give you a log form to keep track.) DS had 12 hours behind the wheel in summer Driver's Ed, plus another 80 with us before he attempted the test the first time, and at that point he blew it badly because the experience of being tested was unfamiliar and he was nervous. New drivers here are limited to 3 attempts at the road test; if you fail the third one, you have to send a formal request for permission to start the testing process all over again, and to get that, you have to provide proof of a certain number of hours of professional driving instruction AFTER the third test was taken. The number of hours required will depend on the test scores you got on your three tries.
