DC did great the last few years of H.S. - had developed really good habits around sleep, social media, meds & exercise, figured out good coping strategies for time management, getting assignments in, etc., and was managing everything mostly independently. Then went off to college and wanted to be social (great!), started partying (alcohol, pot, nicotine, likely other drugs), developed inconsistent sleep habits, and rarely takes their meds. Grades are reasonably good (though could be better with some discipline - there’s some class skipping & forgetting assignments) and they don’t seem depressed, but their motivation (including to job search for internships) and emotional regulation have devolved (outbursts, etc.) - whether from the substances, poor sleep/lack of exercise, or lack of meds, we’re not sure. We’re not subsidizing the partying (they have a campus job), and aren’t completely against it, but are concerned about the direction it’s going. We’ve discussed the risk of substance abuse for people with ADHD, but they seem to feel pretty invincible at this point.
Has anyone had similar experiences and been able to steer their ADHD kid back to a better course?