My daughter has ADD - not really “severe”, but it impacts her executive functioning skills. She loves school and is quite “smart”. She “gets it” academically, but has a hard time organizationally. On level classes are a bit slow to her, but she has a hard time keeping up with all the paperwork of an honors class. 10th grade was challenging, so we lowered the # of honors classes she was taking for 11th grade. 11th grade is much better and she is less stressed. Her overall GPA is a 3.2 (3.71 in 11th grade). And she has a 159 on her PSATs (translates to a 1590 on SATs).
She is also a young junior (just turned 16 last Nov) and immature (sometimes in a good way!) for her age. I feel like she shouldn’t be anywhere too rigorous, but still somewhat challenging. And to be around other motivated students.
She wants small class sizes. Any ideas in the mid-Atlantic-ish area (MD, PA, NY,VA, GA, SC, WV, etc) area? She likes chemistry, math, and in engineering. She is not a “typical” teenage girl. Not a partyer, not interested in Greek life, not into a girlie girl. Any ideas or suggestions is appreciated!
Sounds a lot like my D, though she has continued with honors and APs and has higher stats because schoolwork is her life. The rest of her life is somewhat messier. I have two recommendations for you without suggesting specific schools. 1) You might want to consider an ADHD coach. My D is working with one that we found through the Edge Foundation (she meets via phone and Skype). 2) Take a look at the Colleges that Change Lives (CTCL) consortium. My D applied to LACs, the majority of which are part of CTCL. There are plenty of other non-CTCL schools that would provide the same type of education/opportunities, but it’s pretty easy to look at them all in one book.
Once you/she start picking out schools, make sure you look at what disability services are offered and what the school accepts as adquate documentation. We have found there is a huge difference in how ADHD-friendly schools are. We have met with several deans of disability services and have found a definite “yes” school and one that I would have told D not to attend even if all else matched up with the “yes” school. She had another admission where she would have needed to go through a full neuropsych evaluation (that would have cost a ton) in order to document her need. Her “yes” school will accept a letter from her pediatrician. Another consideration should be whether the school is on the semester or quarter system. We did not learn that that could be an issue until very late in the game: as in during an admitted student visit, my D said “a quarter is what??..oh, no way can I do that.”
Oh, and I want to add that the only services my D needs are things like organization and time management tutoring. Many schools have this type of tutoring available to all students. Some also have it available through the disability services office on top of what’s available to everyone. My D does not need extra time on tests or anything like that.
One thing about quarters is that you usually have fewer classes at a time so less to juggle. Also the pace is pretty steady so no stretches where a kid can zone out.
Rochester Institute of Technology has a Spectrum Support Program. Your daughter may not be on the spectrum, but she has similar executive functioning issues.
It includes Executive Functioning Coaching:
1:1 Executive Functioning Coaching
Available to SSP program enrolled students in need of additional support to address specific executive functioning deficits such as breaking down assignments, academic planning/prioritizing, monitoring academic progress, utilizing academic resources, time management and organization.
You could see if other colleges have similar programs.
I am glad you are aware of this issue because I have seen a friends child crash and burn at college with undiagnosed Executive Function issues. You may be unaware of how much executive functioning support you provide. Going from CC to a 4 year school may be another path.
Curry College in Massachusetts has a program named “PAL” - you have to apply to it when you apply to the college. My son has ADHD - he would have been a perfect for the program, bur didn’t want to live that far from home - we live in NY. We were very impressed when we met with the PAL admission counselors. They really help the kids succeed - the comments above describe the services they provide as well.
My friend’s S has had a good experience so far at McDaniel College in Maryland. They do not have engineering, but have a very good math department. Seems like they have several programs that may suite your D, especially the MAP program. My friend’s S participated in Step Ahead and it really seemed to help him get acclimated to the school:
Has she had accommodations in school?
If she attends a private high school, she may be receiving accommodations without an IEP or 504 plan, but if she has one, that will be helpful in getting resources for her in college.
Private colleges, even the most rigorous, may have more support than you expect.
A single dorm room was given to our daughter, for no extra charge, as well as weekly meetings with an ADHD coach.
At public college, the trick may be getting your kid to access resources, as it may take more effort and time, than they want to expend.
D at private college, was also able to lighten her load a bit, by taking community college classes while she was home summers. This must be preapproved by the dept head, and is generally limited to courses the college does not teach. She attended a * very small* liberal arts college, so she was able to find courses they didn’t offer, that were still applicable to her goals, that might be more difficult at a larger school.
If she is interested in a women’s college, I would suggest Smith. Engineering is not offered at most Lacs, but Smith has engineering, has good aid and good support for students. I would also consider schools that participate in TRIO, as they have additional funding to provide resources for students with socioeconomic &/or learning challenges
.http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html
Finally, I would suggest that she take a planned gap year. An additional year can be filled with experiences that can benefit her in college while giving her an additional year for her brain to mature. I’d suggest keeping up with her math skills on her own however, as she will want them to be fresh when she starts college.
My son is a college freshman. Like your daughter he is bright, but I can’t tell you how many report cards we’ve gotten that discuss his issues with ‘executive functioning’. He’s on medication for ADHD.
Many schools have named programs to help these kids, but virtually ALL schools have resources for these kids. If you do a search for ADHD on my son’s school’s website you get linked to all sorts of helpful webpages. Soon after he got there he started meeting weekly with a learning specialist who helped him get organized, develop plans, etc. He no longer meets with her, but I think that she was very helpful develop some sort of way of keeping himself on track.
One of the biggest changes for my son is that now he has to manage his medication on his own. There’s a bit of a catch-22 here, in that he’s not on his medication when he’s figuring out when/how to take his meds, so there’s a learning curve here. . . Through most of his high school years we worked a lot with him to organize his work, get his assignments done, parse out his medication, etc. We backed way off his senior year, knowing that he was going to be doing this on his own. It was a rough year grade-wise (esp second semester), but it was a good thing to have done.
You should check out the CTCL schools. That said, I think that instead of looking for schools with good ADHD programs you should look for schools that are good academic, social, etc. fits for you daugher, and then look at the ADHD resources available at those schools. Feel free to call their learning center. Our experience is that most of the staff at these centers are pretty dedicated to what they’re doing, and they’ll be happy to talk with you and give you an accurate picture of what they have to offer.
Finally, I’m not so sure about the gap year suggestion. I do think that her being young may be a bit of an issue, but the problem is figuring out what she’d do in a gap year. We looked at a gap year for my son, and it was hard to find something that he was able to do that had enough independence to be a ‘growth experience’. We were concerned that he could not pull off living on his own somewhere, and we saw all sorts of issues with him living at home (at that point).
Very good advice from AsleepAtTheWheel, but let me put in a vote for the benefits of a gap year. Our son with ADHD was not ready to go to college or to go through the process of applying to colleges during his senior year. He asked to take a gap year, but wanted to stay home. He ended up getting a great half-time job that he loves at the local public library, volunteering at the local food bank, and devoting time to his creative writing. He also made college visits, decided where he wanted to apply, and had time to put together his applications without feeling rushed or distracted. The entire year has been a wonderful growth experience–mostly from taking on the responsibilities of a job, getting himself up and off to work, keeping track of his finances, taking his turn cooking dinner for the family once or twice a week, etc. These are life skills and executive function skills that have helped him to feel more prepared for the independence that will be required of him in college. Plus he has matured so much in this year that we are all much more confident about his readiness for college, though we are still worried about his ability to juggle all of the different classes and assignments and scheduling on his own (even with help from ESS personal). So for some kids with ADHD a gap year–even one spent living at home–can be an important stepping stone toward college readiness and an opportunity to mature at their own pace.
Both my kids took a gap year.
One participated in Americorps, which may mean living at home or sharing rent elsewhere as the living stipend is not huge, but NCCC is a program which requires the team to live together in the community where they will be working.
It is also pretty structured, which is great for those who need more external support. http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-nccc
I think that a key piece for making a gap year worthwhile is getting a job (Americorps included). as opposed to going to school. These kids have spent their whole lives being evaluated on the basis of academic work product. It’s good for them in a million ways to be evaluated on actual work product.
An added piece for my son, which we do think is related to his ADHD, is that historically he’s struggled socially. Fortunately he’s doing well socially at college. He recognizes that he has poor impulse control and talks too much. He’s learned to temper that a bit, and he will take his meds when he’s going out at night with friends. In that way, being out of the house has helped.
At school my son has had a number of successes, but he’s also repeated some of his typical habits/methods of falling short. He can get really down on himself when he screws up. We try to remind him that it’s progress, not perfection that he should be aiming for.
Finally, I’m jealous of you parents whose kids took a gap year and lived at home. I would have loved to have him at home for another year. . . .
This thread is so helpful because my 7th grade D has executive function issues and has been tested for adhd a couple of times. She always comes up borderline so it’s so hard to know what to do half the time. She is smart but it mainly comes out as lack of common sense…she doesn’t know how to work out problems. Her org skills have improved some this year but she still misses important due dates. I feel so alone in this! Trying to come up with a high school plan to prepare her for college eventually. I liked the thoughts on RIT as she does like computer design. Who knows!
A few schools to consider might be Quinnipiac, Marist, Siena, UScranton, Hofstra. I’d also suggest that if she expects accommodations in college that you make an appointment and visit the office of Disability Services of any college you are considering before making a final decision.
All of this info has been so helpful - thank you! To the parents of the 6th and 7th grade girls - we’ve seen improvement and a jump in maturity every year. Our middle school had a COACH class (part organizational skills, part tutoring, etc), but unfortunately it did not continue into high school. In HS, our D has weekly meetings with her core teachers - that has been very helpful (checking in on what she is missing, D checks her binder - because one subject often ends up in another!) For my D, too many honors classes was her downfall. Too many assignments moving too fast. So while she knew the material, the organization was killing her. Also, letting my D be more responsible for her life at home was helpful. Parents pushing and doing everything for their kid may get them into Harvard, but what good is that if that is not really who the kid is. Ultimately, you want your kid happy and healthy.
@cakeisgreat – I’m a physician, and I’m not sure what it means to “be tested for ADHD”, and I’m even less sure what it means to “come up borderline”. There are no real tests for ADHD. The diagnosis is made by the presence of a number of the symptoms, many of which can be real judgment calls. Please see this monograph from the CDC.
We desperately fought starting our son on medication, but his meds have changed his life. There’s little downside to a trial of medication. If it works it will be obvious. And if it doesn’t work it will also be obvious. But getting on medication can be life-altering for these kids. After a long exhaustive workup by a psychologist our son was diagnosed as having bipolar disease. One of my favorite aphorisms in medicine is “Common things are common because they happen more often”. ADHD is a lot more common that bipolar disease. We went and saw an experienced psychiatrist specializing in psychopharmacology. He started him on ADHD medication, which if the bipolar disease diagnosis had been correct would have made him psychotic. Instead, he became calm, attentive, altogether more functional. It’s not a cure – he still messes up. But you really should consider medication for your daughter.
My daughter was diagnosed ADHD - PI (predom inattentive, so no hyperactivity). She was on 36 mg of Concerta. My daughter recently asked to try a higher dose since she found her my wandering during the last class of her day. The fact that she recognized it and was maturely participating in her treatment was an accomplishment in and of itself.
I was purposely somewhat vague in my original posting because I wanted to hear other parents’ ideas and suggestions. And thank you again for it all! Sounds like we are on the right track.