Anonymous wrote:My 15yo son has really really bad inattentive ADHD. We've been on a roller coaster ride of meds since he's been in 4th grade, and while some worked for awhile, they all have failed eventually. Currently, he's not on anything because the last two were a disaster. Hoping to try again come August.

PSAT's are this year, and SAT's on the horizon. Starting to think about how we're going to get through this. His exec. function skills are practically nilch, he's begun to push back on my help/support and doesn't willingly use a tutor. I don't know how he will ever prepare for them.

He is very smart and tends to test well, but it's the prep and the sustained attention and effort during the test that I'm concerned about. Any advice?

DD has massive inattentive ADHD. The best thing that we did, actually, was to have her do a lot of practice tests. It was a lot easier to keep her head in the test when she wasn't trying to decipher with every new question what they were asking. The deciphering was where she lost a lot of attention. Once a lot of the questions were familiar, she didn't have to work as hard to focus. And to be honest, I think recognizing the questions made the task more fun, which always matters with ADHD.

She bombed a couple of the early practice tests -- it was obvious that she loathed sitting there, and so she wasn't "in it." But we went through the questions, and the answers, and the following week, we encouraged her to do a different one, noticing if anything felt different. And she began to see that practicing did make a difference, which created a positive feedback loop.

To be clear, I cared a lot less about the actual score as I did about what she could learn about herself through the process. I tried to emphasize learning and growing more than the outcome. "Just notice how you respond this time, notice if you begin to detect a pattern and how that changes the experience, notice and mark exactly where you start to lose focus, feel free to skip a question you are having trouble paying attention to, and move to one that's more fun." Etc. etc.

Also tried to frame the practicing in a low key way: "A little bit of practice can make a big difference, and then at a certain point, there's probably some continued improvement but diminishing returns. What if we just focus on that sweet spot where you get the biggest bang for the buck?"

In the end, she felt good about her progress, and was proud of the work she put in.

Keep working on the med angle with a psychiatrist, not just the pediatrician. Get testing accommodations in place.

As for the preparation, ask him if he wants to prepare. I told both my kids - one with ADHD and one not- the same thing. I will gladly pay for a tutor if you are willing to put in the work. If not and you’re ok with the score you’d get without it and the colleges that lines up with, that is your choice too.

Anonymous wrote:This isn't the answer you want but, we didn't do it at all.

+1

I have a ADHD rising senior and a 2024 HS grad who was a recruited athlete, so it’s easier for me to say this in the current test optional landscape which could change significantly.

Neither of my kids took SAT/ACT at all. I knew test prep wouldn’t happen, but we do have a college admissions consultant, that’s where we chose to put time and money.

This is all helpful info - thank you to everyone who responded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't have a 504? College Board gave our DD extra time no questions asked.

Yes, we def have a 504, and it's not the extra time I'm worried about - it's the prep and sustained attention.

Did you ask what they want to do? Have they taken a practice test so you know where they’re starting? Some kids (regardless of ADHD) do well right out of the gate. You mentioned your child is a good test taker so you might be worrying for nothing. If they want to test and the score is concerning then try individual tutoring. Also, remind them that the tests can be taken multiple times and superscored to alleviate any pressure. My ADHD DD (now college grad) did some prep but it didn’t move the needle. She just didn’t want to work on anything between class sessions. We didn’t push. She took the SAT once and did ok. We encouraged her to try one more time because it could only improve her score if one subtest was higher but she declined saying it was too stressful. We asked our DS with a different disability what he wants to do and he’s decided to go TO. It does take a few schools off of the table but there are still so many great options (in-state, out-of-state pubiic and private) that he has the grades for and offer merit aid even TO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't have a 504? College Board gave our DD extra time no questions asked.

Yes, we def have a 504, and it's not the extra time I'm worried about - it's the prep and sustained attention.

I say this as someone with adhd myself and two adhd kids.

If the issue isn’t time but instead the fact that they aren’t going to being their a-game to prep I really would try to let that go.

You won’t be doing him any favors if you are somehow able to make him do a wildly in characteristic amount of prep and thereby get into a school where scores of the type he is unlikely to get under his own steam.

Not that he won’t get good scores! plenty of kids get great scores with little or no prep including my two ADHD kids. One did a little bit of khan and the other did nothing. the one who did a little khan academy scored a little bit higher and got into a more selective school (one that wouldn’t have been a good fit for my zero prep kid in terms of intensity of academic culture.) zero prep kid also got into a great school that is a much better fit for him.

Upon the advice of our college counselor, we’re only applying to test optional colleges.

Anonymous wrote:You don't have a 504? College Board gave our DD extra time no questions asked.

Yes, we def have a 504, and it's not the extra time I'm worried about - it's the prep and sustained attention.

My inattentive kid with a history of testing well did absolutely great on the sats, so I wouldn’t worry about it unless a practice test or the psat shows you need to.

(She also doesn’t struggle with time on tests and I’m assuming is the case for your son if he does well on tests?)

Are you sure he won’t do well? I have severe adhd and got basically a perfect score on SAT. I used the computer game style prep courses — love a quick click!. My oldest child who also has adhd but not that severe did very well. For her we used a by the hour title that just focused on some areas where she needed review — just a few hours that were targeted so not like an overwhelming course.
My younger on has incredibly bad adhd — his walk in the door score was not bad. I’m trying to get him to study more but I guess we’ll see.
I think the sat is actually a great Ted for people with adhd. If all of life were a sat test, I’d be flying high! Sadly most of life is not a 2 second pick a multiple choice test.

My kid was immune to peer pressure, bribes, and threats. After doing all the things for a while and it really making life unpleasant for a while we showed him a list of test optional and test required schools that were “likelies” for him given grades, and asked if he was happy applying to only schools on the test optional list, and forgoing schools on the test required list. He said he was perfectly happy, and so we were done.

He never took the SAT. He is headed to St Mary’s of Maryland in the fall and he’s happy as a clam. It is in the budget and he got merit $ and it’s a solid education so we are happy as clams.

You do have the choice to skip the fights and madness, but there are trade offs. Some schools are just off the table. But plenty are still possible, too.

You don't have a 504? College Board gave our DD extra time no questions asked.