<p>Ok... I'll be first. My freshman son at at a top LAC has been on academic probation for his second semester due to poor grades his first semester
C,C-,C- AND AN F. His second semester was better B,B,C-, and D-. but he must attend summer school to raise his GPA in order to attend school in fall.
He has ADD but is not compliant with his medications(we have tried all but Adderall because of loss of appetite.) He also does not take advantage of accomidations(IE note taker or tutoring).</p>
<p>He is eager to return, loves school but has terrible time management skills. he spends alot of time on computer and video games. He has been very active in intermural and club sports and has has made great friends and loves the school.</p>
<p>Any suggestions from others with this experience??</p>
<p>I don't have first hand experience yet but I could see my son doing the same in a few years.
I would suggest that you look into hiring a coach for him. Check your library or wander into a bookstore and look for the book "Delivered from Distraction" it has a chapter on college. Your son's predictament is pretty common for ADD kids. They suggest in the book having someone who your child likes who checks in with them on a regular basis to keep them on track. It can be a professional but it doesn't have to be.
I know someone who did this for a living while she was in the process of becoming a licensed psychologist.
The book is my Edward Hallowell and John Ratey MD's. They have several books. The one with the college chapter is Delivered from Distraction. Not to be confused with "Driven to Distraction" by the same authors.</p>
<p>He needs to take ownership of his accommodations and medications. I would contact the school's learning center and see if they have any suggestions. Otherwise, consider changing schools to a place that has a more proactive approach, like University of Arizona.</p>
<p>Read the book Delivered from Distraction, by Hallowell. He's got a chapter on how to adjust to college. He suggests hiring a coach. You may also want to consider hiring an educational therapist to work with your son outside of school 2-3 days a week.</p>
<p>catrina, why can you not sit down with your child and tell them what they need to do? Put the child in their place and demand htat they do what they are supposed to do. Stay on top of things and help them out.</p>
<p>i'm on probation for the fall bc i fell under the 3.0 gpa i needed for the end of the 1st year in order to keep my scholarship. and bc i can't fford the school without that scholarship, and it will be almost impossible to bring my gpa up to a 3.0 by spring (from a 2.4 overall), my parents decided to cut their losses, and i am transferring to a SUNY school (NY state university).</p>
<p>merlin-that's not enough, really. some things are even harder to do when your parents are yelling at you/berating you to do them, and it adds more stress to the situation overall</p>
<p>catrina I mean no disrespect to you at all. I just figure that a young adult child would listen to their parents. I am very sorry for causing you any disrespect at all.</p>
<p>merlin, I appreciate your sentiment but I have to laugh. If you have experience with ADD in someone close to you or have it yourself you know that the kid isn't just being bad, that telling him to do it doesn't help. He might very much want to do what he should, he might mean to do it, he just can't. </p>
<p>And you can't put a freshman in college "in his place". It just doesn't work. He is an adult and his parents can help and support him but telling him what to do will not get the desired response.</p>
<p>What medicine is he on now and why doesn't he take it? I'm confused: did he try Adderall and quit it because of appetite loss, or has he not tried it?</p>
<p>MY daughter with LDs & ADD took a year off after high school.
SInce she, like some other ADD kids was a little young for her age, it gave her a little time to better prepare for college.
She chose a pretty small school, where it was noticed if you werent in class and that also had support for ADD including a time managment coach that she met with about every week.
She also participated and for at least a year, helped run meetings of the ADD support group.
Having something like that available and making it part of the plan to get off academic probation, might give some structure to managing the ADD.
She doesn't like most meds- but I believe is now on Straterra.
She also was recommended the book Learning Outside the lines
by Jonathan mooney and David Cole
and Inspiration mindmapping software.
<a href="http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/inspiration/features/index.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/inspiration/features/index.cfm</a></p>
<p>I understand your child’s pain. I have both a psychological disability and a learning disability, which I struggled immensly with in high school (it’s a long story) and my grades jumped from yes, believe it or not, a 0.7 GPA to close to almost a 3.0 GPA in the matter of 2 semesters. But I am striving to shoot for for straight A’s or even all A’s for my 4-year college gpa. I have a very long story to explain about how much I struggled with my differences in high school. Trust me, you would be amazed.</p>
<p>I am just joining in on this thread, it is really difficult for ADD children when they go to college? Is the time management and the freedom they have somewhat of detriment to them?</p>
<p>i can understand not wanting to take medication but he really needs to talk to the disability office or at least find help on his own. Any student can get a tutor and most schools have an academic support center for any student to use. they have coucelors there who know all about time management and can sit down and help analyze his schedule and help him organize and new one and make to do lists. he is in college and an adult. he will need to take charge himself and seek extra help. it does not have to be with disability services but at least talk to someone at the campus’s academic support center and get a tutor. </p>
<p>But i have found accommodations to be helpful. It doesn’t hurt to register. you usually go and get a letter and deliver it to your professor yourself and talk to them about it. if you don’t want to give them a letter, you don’t have to. so they don’t have to know. it is all up to you.</p>
<p>I totally feel your childs pain, I am a Community College and in Spring Semester of 2009, I got under a 0.5 GPA. In Spring 2010, I got betweena 2.8-2.99 GPA and I am working on pulling up my grades each and every semester, so my 4-year college transferrable classes have more solid grades. Right now I selected one class where my teacher has very ineffective teaching methods and already 40-50% of the class withdrew from it and I am going to see if I can pass the class or have to withdraw. So there are many factors to succeeding in classes. Pick good teachers who know how to teach effectively, learn how to study effectively, use DSPS services properly, and know how you learn, as well as what type of classes work for you. I am working on overcoming barriers and even though I am making mistakes, I am actually learning from them and seeing what I have done wrong in order to not make the mistake next time.</p>
<p>I’m anticipating many of these concerns when DS attends college in three years. Did you factor his disability in your college choice decision? I’m concerned whether a “reach” to a top LAC for DS would put him at risk for failure, particularly if he’s not living at home so we can’t monitor his day-to-day disposition and work-effort. I’m also seeking feedback whether a smaller school is warranted, with fewer distractions, with a LD office for student assistance. Does your son’s school have a LD office to monitor and assist?</p>
<p>S is now, sorta, a Sophomore and still on probation. Won’t take meds in college - not as worried about the weight issue (although it is one) but doesn’t like that he isn’t as witty when on them. He also LOVES the school, friends, girlfriend there, etc. Basically we gave him the “if you want to stay there, you have to do X” talk and reminded him often. He says he has never worked so hard in his life, but is making slow and steady progress. His school has a pretty liberal policy. He had two semesters to get his semester gpa back to a 2.0 and then he stays on limited-probation until it gets to overall 2.0 by end of second year. AND they will replace grades for classes he retakes helping his overall gpa. </p>
<p>Just the other day, I suggested to someone on CC that I wished I would have pushed for him to take a GAP year. I think many ADD kids need a bit more maturing before they are ready for college. I decided that <em>if</em> he ended up having to take a semester/year off due to grades it might be all for the best, but I let him have the opportunity to do the work to keep it from happening.</p>
<p>I may be in the same boat next year with D…we’ll see. I offered a GAP year to her, but she won’t bite.</p>