Extracurriculars for 9th Grade DS
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Anonymous
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Any extracurricular activity ideas for my socially awkward 9th grade DS? He has some acquaintances but no real friends. He plays a rec sport but not good enough to make the high school team. He’s kind of clueless about everything and is struggling to find a club. For some reason the club choices seem fairly limited right now in his large public high school so open to all kinds of ideas. He has ADHD and anxiety so everything is a bit challenging for him. He’s motivated to get involved and try something new but has no idea where to start.
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Anonymous
| If they have a theater dept tech crew can be a great, welcoming group where he can learn real skills and be involved but not in an obvious/super social way. |
Anonymous
| Just an FYI that the ADHD plus no friends facts mean you could be looking at a very mild case of what used to be Aspergers. Consider group therapy and some targeted pharma help through psychiatrist. Abilify (for flexible thinking) and Lexapro (for mood regulation and anxiety) were game changers for my kid, but it’s a long road. Hang in there. |
Anonymous
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Chess club? Theater? Dungeons and Dragons? What’s he into? He could start a club about that if he can convince a teacher to sponsor.
If he really doesn’t want to join a club then I would make my kid volunteer a ton, just to get out of the house. There’s a lot of opportunities in this area if you dig. |
Anonymous
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What things has he done in the past and liked/not liked?
What’s the sport he plays? Interest in art/music? Maybe someone could take this info and make suggestions. |
Anonymous
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How about a service club? Most schools have something like this, whether it be Key Club or something specific to the school.
Also, the school newspaper, yearbook? |
Anonymous
| My ADHD socially awkward DS (also a freshman) likes math club. There's a competitive (team) and non competitive (club) at his school. In MS, he liked chess club. |
Anonymous
+1 My son with ADHD enjoyed tech crew. If they have a tabletop games group that can also be a welcoming group IME. |
Anonymous
| Rock climbing (at earth treks) has been great for my socially awkward teen. |
Anonymous
| Does he like technology or computers, building things? What about STA - Student Technology Association. They have competitions twice a year with all kinds of categories. My DS and his friends got involved b/c they took STEM Engineering freshman year and continued the series in FCPS. The initial class is like our old shop classes (building things) but gets more involved as they advance in the series. I think Senior year is something like robotics engineering, but everything is hands on and not much homework per se, although he does stay after every couple of weeks to finish projects with the classroom equipment. One of the Spring competition categories for TSA is building a retro video game. Just an example. They meet once a week, but sometimes skip a week. If he’s big into coding or hacking, there is another club that corresponds with those classes. All part of the CTE curriculum in FCPS. |
Anonymous
| Ultimate frisbee. It is seriously the most welcoming and supportive peer group you will ever find in a high school. |
Anonymous
| Random suggestion but what worked for me as a non sporty kid was getting a cashier job at a big box store. There were lots of other kids in the area who did the same thing. (I grew up in FCPS) |
Anonymous
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Check into club sports at your high school. Our high school has crew - most kids haven't done it before and so they all sort of start at a level playing field athletically and learn it together.
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Anonymous
+2 on both theater and tabletop games/D&D. Nice, welcoming kids. |
Anonymous
OP here. He likes video games and board games. Plays basketball but follows all kinds of sports and sports stats. His interests are limited so trying to help him expand. |