Adhd kids what EF/study skills matter the most for your student?
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Anonymous
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Our son is a freshman in HS with ADHD. He’s very bright but definitely needs help with time management and study skills now that rigor and workload have increased.
What EF skills, study habits etc have helped your kid to do well in college or what was lacking that hindered your child as they transitioned to college? I ask as we are hiring an EF coach and am curious what we want to make sure is in place/what we need to build on over these four years? |
Anonymous
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Make sure they have their meds and don't run out (help them keep on top of this, ours was a late Jr in college before he started making his own doc appointments to renew his meds)
Hire the EF coach to meet with student once a week or more if needed. You are not nagging, they are getting the help they need to stay on top of their work. In college, you cannot wait until the last minute or you will be drowning in papers/mid-terms/finals |
Anonymous
| For us it was making sure they got to sleep at a reasonable hour. For my child, being tired leads to a cascade of problems. |
Anonymous
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I have a college junior. When he was a HS freshman, he took a course for students with ADHD. One of the best tools he was taught and still uses now is the Eisenhower matrix. It helped him prioritize the workload which made a big difference.
https://vibe.us/blog/eisenhower-matrix-overview/?srsltid=AfmBOooDvdXW3C_b1V23Dl3jTOuv9fyzK2z3XCHWBXtSARkphguTpCQs |
Anonymous
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It helped my adhd kid to have a concrete number of hours she should be studying each day. Yes, any number is a little bit arbitrary and sometimes she needs to study more. But adhd has a component of “time-blindness” — an inability to estimate and plan for how much time something takes — so it all felt vague and overwhelming, and murkiness/overwhelm doesn’t bring out her best. Being given a concrete number that she should spend (on her own with books open, actually working) was a relief to her.
(FWIW, we said average 6 hours/day on weekdays to start, and try to use as many of the smaller blocks of time as possible, a half hour here, a half hour there, really adds up). Also flash cards for classes with high memorization. Those have really helped. |
Anonymous
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My ADHD college kid exercises every night at 9PM, showers, goes to bed before 12, gets up at 8. She keeps her routine as much as possible. If she doesn’t , she’ll be exhausted, unfocused, unmotivated, and soon overwhelmed by assignments.
She uses a white board on her desk to write down to-do list, and post-it notes to remind herself. A nearby relative does laundry for her. I amazoned everything she needs for herself and her cat. Remind your kid to bring meds on trips, breaks, out of state competitions. |
Anonymous
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Introduce the concept of studying-as-you-learn. Learn something new in class? Come home & review/quiz yourself on it (AI can be used to make quizzes). And, if possible, gently go over things before they are covered in class so if you have questions, you can ask them then. This way, if you’ve forgotten a test or your time management slipped & you didn’t have time to study, the results are not catastrophic.
So. Many. Timer. And alarms. And figure out a way to keep track of due dates that works for your kid (mine uses the calendar on his phone with various reminders) Body doubling for study time. |
Anonymous
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Body doubling for study time. What is this? |
Anonymous
These are accurate, pretty much map to what we are doing now. I am deeply concerned about body double. Once they are in college, that won’t be there. We seriously don’t know how she would do without that. |
Anonymous
What is this? Not pp but body doubling is generally having another person doing the same activity you are. Like studying in a library with other students or in your dorm room with your roommate. It's a subtle cue to stay on target. Some people who work remotely even join groups or pair up to get a body double on zoom. The YouTube channel HowToADHD has a lot of good tips about this and other strategies. The older material might be a good place to start. |
Anonymous
In my experience it was much easier to find a body double in college than at any other time in life. Literally hundreds of peers around who also need to study. The key is tapping into a group that will help you stay focused and not totally distract. I actually had my best in-room studying the year I had a random roommate who I was friendly with but not besties. We were good at studying without too much extra chit chat. I'll also recommend The Pomodoro Method. And make sure the breaks are off-line for a better recharge. Digital distractions after one of my biggest worries |
Anonymous
| Make sure you get accommodations now, freshman year. Having an IEP/Learning Plan in place will make it much easier to get accommodations later down the road with College Board for AP classes and standardized tests. Use a planner- my kid prefers an actual one vs. digital. Set timers to keep on track and for meds! Audiobooks are a great tool- my kid listens while reading along and it helps them stay on track. Tell your kid to always sit at the front of the classroom to minimize distractions. Encourage them to advocate for themselves, ask for extra help, additional time on assignments if needed, etc. Tell them that they will have to continue this in college- kids who are successful go to office hours and seek out help on their own. Remind them that they will have to talk to each of their professors about their accommodations (Professors don't know if a student has accommodations or not, and by law they cannot ask), and have them start early w/the college's disability services (my S23's experience has been that their Disability Services office is overworked and it's tough to get appointments). At his school, students have to get an appt each semester to ensure their accommodations are in place- we didn't realize that freshman year so he was late getting them approved for spring semester. He has to make appts w/Disability Services midway thru the fall semester, or in the summer, to get them set up for the next semester. |
Anonymous
What is this? My daughter uses this everyday. She studies with friends in the student center or a cafeteria, and she has to change her studying places from time to time. She chose to have a roommate, which is great in helping her staying on top of things. When she lives in a singles room it was much more chaotic. She's overcome many challenges, but she's doing well, getting two degrees in a rigorous college. |
Anonymous
Thanks! DC is using the Pomodoro Method, yeah it's effective. Helped her quite a bit! |
Anonymous
My kid is still in high school - a senior - but he did a summer program away. We practiced him taking his meds on his own AM and PM for months before he left. Then the first week away he had to text me that he took them. After a week of success of him doing that unprompted, he graduated to doing it completely on his own. I'd say this is the #1 skill. The second is for him to tell me when the meds are running low so I can request a refill. We will have to transition this more to him when he turns 18 especially if he uses a local pharmacy near his college. Third skills is keeping track of work - upcoming assignments and tests. |