Help/Options for ADHD/ADD students?

<p>I have also seen job advertisements from the LD center here looking for students with high GPAS to apply as notetakers for LD students.</p>

<p>bluealien, good point. "notetaking" is an accomodation available at my son's college that was not on the menu in high school. I was a bit shocked when I heard about it. It is not having a paid note taker sitting next to the LD student. Rather, it is identifying a student in the class who takes good notes who is willing to share them with another student.</p>

<p>Oh, well, here they have ad's in the paper to pay students to be notetakers.</p>

<p>Very encouraging news guys, thanks!</p>

<p>My suitemate has an ADD, also an RA, and he is doing very well. Early last semester he bought boxes of note cards. He writes little things on those note cards, divides them into sets and spends 30 mins every night on a set.</p>

<p>NJRes, how interesting to hear about the notetakers. Notetakers are STANDARD in medical schools and have been for years. It's a way for students to make $$ (a LOT of work-study finaid is achieved through this) and they have a formal notetaking service that all med students may subscribe to. I relied on the notetaking service extensively so I could just sit and listen in class. You'd think this would be a great business idea for undergrad students...especially at schools with big classes! Also, back in the olden days, my hubby (who had an undiagnosed reading disability) took a tape recorder to all of his classes with stacks of cassette tapes and taped all the lectures. Nowadays at med schools, at least at U of M, the lectures are ALL videotaped (actually digitally captured) then put on the web for the students to study from. Isn't that a great idea?</p>

<p>I think some professors post their class notes on a school website. That's the way to go. Nobody needs to subscribe, pick up notes, and it is available to all students.</p>

<p>
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You mentioned that your son will be an athlete. Many teams have required study halls, and your son may be able to get a significant amount of academic assistance through the athletic department. That would certainly something to consider in deciding which school he will attend.

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<p>I was very impressed with the academic support for athletes at Notre Dame and Loyola(MD). I am sure that other schools have similar study halls and academic advisors. ND in particular seemed to have outstanding support services in place. I don't know what sport your son plays, but if he is being recruited, ask that specific question of the coaches.</p>

<p>Well yes, ND would be sure to have outstanding support services for it's Athletes judging by their history with sports. No, my son will not be recruited and will join the team [hopefully] as a walk-on but I will inquire about any and all services available for student-Athletes as soon as we know which school he will be going to.</p>

<p>
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I have been told by some ADD'ers that I should consider him taking time off after HS and do something else in the meantime until that maturity sets in

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<p>steel, it sounds like you are not really considering this, and I didn't understand your reasoning. My sophomore son is very much like yours. He still has some time, but if he can't start taking some responsibility and initiative for his own affairs, then sending him away to college will just be setting him up for failure.</p>

<p>Oh, I had considered this more than you know DontPanic1 [oh, by the way, nice name!:)], in my experience dealing with these situations I have gathered that even though most kids in this situation have common traits, you have to treat each kid differently. I have 2 boys who are ADHD'ers and even though most things are the same, when it comes to handling them, I have to treat each one differently, point to this is, just becuase yours or anyone else's kids may be the same as mine, it does not mean at all that what works for yours is going to work for mine or that if yours should not make it [and I sincerely hope he does] that it will be the same with mine.</p>

<pre><code>Having said the above, I had discussed the idea [at length] of him taking time off before deciding if College is for him, only to make him aware of his options, make no mistake about it, he wants to go to College now and not later. I did tell him that if he decides to go to College then failure is NOT an option! That I will be on his case and I will not let up until he graduates, to this he agreed. The main reason I am glad he made this decision is simply because I don't want at all what happened to me to happen to him, when I entered College I left to go work with the intention of returning and continuing after a few years but the almighty "dollar" took over and I never returned. Now, all I have is a 1-year College Diploma and find myself at age 43 without a "career" and now in my "old" age, I am presently studying for the Comptia A+ exams. I don't wish for any of my 2 boys to ever be in my situation so getting back to my son, seeing that he has the momentum and drive to want to go to College right now, I will not do or say anything at all that will discourage him in any way from wanting to attend College right now.

He can never say that I "forced" College on him and this gives me a little piece of mind but who's to say that he won't become totally independent and responsible this Fall or next year? Do you or anyone else know the answer to this? Maybe it could kick in next month or the month after, who's to say? Whenever that happens, I will be the first to jump and touch the sky but in the meantime, I will keep encouraging him and move heaven and earth to help him simply because he is my son and I want him to be succesfull and most of all, happy. Hope you've understood my reasoning for not preventing him from entering College right away.
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<p>I do feel with every fiber in my body that he will make it in College otherwise I would not "falsely" lead him to failure, he just needs "time" of which he has to get his act together and some help along the way.</p>

<p>Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I know what you mean about uniqueness. It's kind of like DNA - we'll all 99.9% identical - but it's that 0.1% that makes all the difference! </p>

<p>Your concern about finishing college is understandable, based on your own experience. In our family, basically everybody is a college graduate, and my son wouldn't even consider anything else. He is already positive he wants to be an engineer. </p>

<p>As for support, we don't plan to be on his case in college (at least not more than the average kid); that is where I draw the line. Yes, he may fail - but it will be on his own terms. I'm willing to give him more time to prepare if it may increase his chances for success, but he has to earn his success. If he fails at first, I believe he'll try again (maybe when he's 43!) and if not, then it wasn't meant to be. College isn't the be-all/end-all (even for someone in our family! :) )</p>

<p>One thing I can tell you and I really do have in common is love for and pride in our sons, and the confidence that they will be wonderful adults some day!</p>

<p>DONTPANIC - what a wonderful - and positive - response - well said.</p>

<p>The reason why I have to constantly get on my son's case is becuase that is what he responds to best most of the times when he messes up. Tough love is what works for him most of the time but there are times when I have to back off, in other words I try to pick the battles where he is concerned. I could give you lots of examples where I have had to use "threats" to get him to handle his business and I have always had some telling me "threatening never works" to which I reply, well that may be the case with your child but all that "positive reinforcement" crap simply DON'T work with both my boys, we come back to the same thing, I have to handle each of my boys in a different way and use different methods for different situations.</p>

<p>If it hadn't been for some of my "threats", he wouldn't have made it through HS with an 85% average, might have been hanging out on the streets especially since we live in NYC and definitely wouldn't be the Football player he is today, that's for sure. So yes, there will be times when I will have to resort to threats and whatever else that works when he is in college, even if I have to go sit next to him in his classes I am prepared to do this until his maturity kicks in becuase like I told him, failure is not an option and he cannot quit! Well, just between us, a lot of the times I threaten him with stuff, it is all a bluff but he doesn't know that, hey, he's studying Psychology but sometimes I have to reverse it on him until the day when he finally cathes on then I'll have to come up with something else. It's a real "chess" game I have been playing with this kid for all these years, he's keeping me on my toes, I cannot relax where he is concerned,, always have to stay one move ahead! I am glad to see though that we do agree on some things :)</p>

<p>Steel,
I scrolled back and didn't see, is your son on meds already? My S was not diagnosed with his ADD until he was one month into his fresh. year. It was tough for him to try and adjust new meds, adjust to school, etc. I would just reccomend that if possible have all that medication stuff worked out before he leaves. Sure wish we had known! Funny how his college prof picked up on it and no HS teacher ever saw it.</p>

<p>My sons was a straight A student every year in Elementary but when he started HS, the first year, he started struggling and his Doctor was the one who recommended we give him the med becuase of the symptoms which were causing him to struggle so we tried all of them going through the regular experimentation until we found the best one [Straterra]for him and he has been on that ever since, the main problem with this med thing where I am concerned is that this is a "drug" so it's extremely hard for me to see the difference in both my boys when I give them this med every morning before school and is the reason why I only give them the amount to take them through their school day and this is the problem, the Doctors recommend we give them the med from sun up to sundown so when they come home it will be a whole lot easier for us to deal with them and this will also improve their studying.</p>

<p>These are the choices that parents have to make, do I want to know that my son is drugged up from morning to night so that it will be much less of a burden on myself and my wife? Should we keep them drugged so they will study better and therefore get better grades? The choices we have always made and will continue making is only to give them the med during school time, let them come home and give us trouble all evening long and on their off days and weekends and let their grades suffer [a little], we prefer this than the alternative.</p>

<p>It's a parent and an individual's call, some parents place priority on the child excelling in school and will give the med as long as the child is awake 7 days a week, others will do like us and give them only during school hours so they can handle their stuff while in school and others will med them so it will be a lot easier on them [the parents] to deal with the kid, I am not one to judge any parent to say which is right and which is wrong, it's an individual call!</p>

<p>strattera is very different from most meds that are used for ADD.
It is an snri not a stimulant.selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor
The advantage is that you don't have to get a written prescription every month, but I wouldn't say that it makes him "drugged"
Methylphenidate ( ritalin) concerta ( time release) and Adderal ( which I am on when I remember to take/refill it) affect the nervous system differently
While the central nervous system stimulant drugs do enter and leave the body fairly rapidly and aside from some crashing if the dose wears off abruptly, many students just take when needed.
An SSRI or NRI on the other hand is metabolized differently in the body
<a href="http://medlibrary.org/drugs/other/strattera.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://medlibrary.org/drugs/other/strattera.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"but I wouldn't say that it makes him "drugged""</p>

<p>According to my son and some other kids I know personally, yes, they feel drugged when they take straterra and when I look at my son when he's on it, I can clearly see the difference, he is in a more "subdued" state!</p>

<p>so is "subdued" for him a bad thing?
If he doesn't like the side effects, he may want to try a different medication
for myself I prefer the stimulants because then I can just take them when I want to be sure and be able to get something done, and because I don't remember to take meds everyday and the ssris and srnis need to be taken every day</p>

<p>There is a book that discusses colleges with strong disabilities program that is published either by Barrons or Patersons. </p>

<p>Two highly rated programs that we liked were Fairleigh Dickenson and Adelphi University. We sent our son to Fairleigh Dickinson and were immensely pleased with the result. They have tremendous tutoring programs, study abroad in Monaco and England, great support, more time for exams etc. My son is a senior and will probably graduate with honors! I can't recommend them enough.</p>

<p>They also have a wide variety of programs from which to choose.</p>