Are you a high school student wondering what college will be like if you have AD/HD? A parent wondering what your teen with AD/HD needs to be ready for success in college? How tremendous that you are thinking ahead! Taking a few steps prior to college entry can help smooth the path to college success.
This post describes several resources that may be especially useful for teens and parents in preparing for college readiness:
1) Princeton Review’s 2007 book Guiding Teens with Learning Disabilities. Among its useful content is a detailed “Timetable for Transition Planning for Students with LD or ADHD” starting in the eighth grade. Don’t worry if you’ve passed eighth grade, the process can start any time!
2) Kathleen Nadeau’s Survival Guide for College Students with ADHD or LD is a handy guide to factors involved in choosing a college, accessing help on campus, and ways a teen/young adult can help him or herself improve on a variety of skills needed for success in college.
3) The Edge Foundation, an AD/HD Coaching organization I belong to, has published a white paper entitled “ADHD and College Success: Everything You Need to Know about ADHD, Colleges, and Living Your Dreams!” It can be obtained through the foundation’s website (http://www.edgefoundation.org/parents/adhd-friendly-colleges/#whitepaper).
Among the many tips offered in the white paper is a list of four student characteristics associated with success: perseverance, the ability to delay gratification, time management and balancing work and fun.
4) Landmark College’s handy college-readiness checklist (available through the college’s website www.landmark.edu/) includes several general categories of readiness to consider:
academic skills
self-understanding
self-advocacy
executive function skills, including time management and organization
motivation and confidence.
Check back for future blog posts addressing each of these areas!
5) Selecting a college is really a separate issue from college readiness. Some teens with ADHD may benefit from a college like Landmark College or Beacon College, geared specifically towards students with ADHD and learning disabilities. Others might do well at a college with a strong disability support service. Still other teens/young adults may have the skills and support to manage in less supportive environments. Nadeau’s book (above) lists several useful college guides that may be available at your local library:
-Colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities or ADD
-Colleges that Change Lives
-Cool Colleges: For the Hyper-intelligent, Self-directed, Late Blooming and Just Plain Different
-K&W Guide to Colleges for students with Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit Disorder
Subsequent blog posts, over the next 1-2 months, will address each of the key areas included in Landmark College’s checklist with tips for success in each area. Check back! Or email me to get my newsletter: lizahmann@gmail.com
If you are interested in working with an AD/HD coach to help ascertain and/or prepare for college readiness, or to support success in the transition to college, I’d be happy to talk to you! Please check my website at www.lizahmann.com or contact me at lizahmann@gmail.com
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