<p>Hello,
Starting the process for my 2014 HS graduate with ADHD.
Please share your experiences college selection/college experiences etc.
TIA</p>
<p>Could be more helpful if your question was more specific. My ADD son is at a very competitive LAC. He was diagnosed in fifth grade because of my efforts.</p>
<p>He has done well in college, although his ADD had definitely been a factor, and I know he’d do better without it.</p>
<p>He hasn’t received any grades outside the A or B range (many more B’s, but that’s expected at his school) and he has gotten all his work in on time. </p>
<p>He hasn’t always been able to do as good a job as he’d hoped.</p>
<p>He went off using his normal regimen of meds, but as been adjusting ever since.</p>
<p>Since he has no social issues, he uses meds just for work. I think he went one semester without meds at all. I’m not sure.</p>
<p>He has preferred short acting Ritalin over longer acting Concerta or Adderol so he could actually me less medicated.</p>
<p>The most important thing was that this year (junior year) he finally found someone at school to work with. This had made everyone’s life easier and given him more control over the process.</p>
<p>Oh, and I don’t have anything to do with his college work, deadlines, etc, and never have. He’s managing very well on his own.</p>
<p>You may want to check out the SALT program at the University of Arizona.</p>
<p>Oops. I misunderstood. I talked about adjustment in college.</p>
<p>My ADD kid is a very strong student. We didn’t really let it influence his college selection at all. He wasn’t sure he’d like the quarter schedule because of his ADD, but two of his favorite schools ended up with quarter schedules.</p>
<p>In the end, he chose one with semesters.</p>
<p>We did not mention the ADD on app’s at all since he has no accommodations at school. A professional said his record was strong enough as it and we should let it be. And we did.</p>
<p>Have you heard of Executive Function Disorder? Some people with ADHD and Asperger’s have it and some don’t. I think the folks without Executive Function Disorder do fine in college (as long as they keep up with their meds.) The folks with Executive Function Disorder have a very difficult road ahead.</p>
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<p>I don’t want to speak for Mythmom, but her statement leads me to believe that her son does not have Executive Function Disorder. Those who do, but have done well in HS, have moms who write that they were on their student constantly about deadlines, etc.</p>
<p>ADHD has been a bigger issue for me in college than it was in high school. I went back on medication after quitting at the beginning of high school, and I have an executive functioning coach to help me keep an eye on my scheduling every now and then when things pile up. which I never needed before but desperately do now. In general not a huge deal but I do need to be listening to what my body and mind tells me and taking care of whatever it needs, I can’t just jump into school head first without considering my ADD and what I need to do to keep it out of the way.</p>
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<p>Is this through the college? Is this the type of thing that colleges can provide?</p>
<p>Some colleges do. Mine is provided through Umich’s disabilities office.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten a PM about this too so I’ll provide more info in case anyone is interested. I can go in as often as I like but I choose to drop in once a week. She has copies of my syllabi and helps make sure I am on top of things. When I go in for the week we make a plan for the week about how things will get done and what I have time to do and what I don’t (I tend to really overbook myself), and then there is also some kind of an accountability check, I email her before I go to bed to tell her what I got done or she could call me. It’s not like she is going to get after me, I am responsible for checking in with her if I agreed to do it and for making the appointments, and if I don’t check in or show up then that’s just that, but for someone who has enough self direction to at least get that far it’s a great help. I have a really hard time figuring out how to realistically divide my time between my subjects and figuring out if I can realistically add another activity to a given day, so she helps me make those kinds of decisions so that I can be successful. I was never procrastinating and I was still having to pull very late nights to get things done because I just had such a hard time figuring out how to realistically plan out my day. And if something in my schedule gets messed up during the day, I can call her for an on the spot readjustment. It’s really pretty awesome.</p>
<p>I would seek out colleges with strong disability services. Note that they all claim to have sterling offerings, but it’s not always the case. When you visit each college, check out the disability services office and personnel. You’ll be be able to get a good sense of the resources the school devotes to this area. I’ll put in a vote for American University. It has an Academic Support department specifically for students with ADHD and learning disabilities that is separate from the regular disability office and staffed with experts in the field. Very impressive.</p>
<p>Many schools will want a relatively recent evaluation in order for a student to qualify for disability services–within the last 4 or 5 years, say–and some want a new evaluation that specifically addresses what support the student will need in college, as opposed to high school. I suggest getting this taken care of during the summer before senior year. It’s not something you want to be scrambling to get done later on.</p>
<p>One of my D’s biggest challenges freshman year was figuring out how to take her meds in the context of a college student’s very variable and sometimes crazy schedule. It was easy to sort out in high school, with a long-acting pill in the morning and, if needed, a “booster” in the evening for homework. In college, she woke up at different times depending on her classes, sometimes napped during the day and stayed up late, some days had one class in the morning and then none until till late in the day, etc. Her solution was to just stop taking them, and she struggled to some extent as a result. But I felt she had to find her own way, and stayed out of the issue.</p>
<p>Best of luck with everything.</p>
<p>Look at the Learning Differences forum [Learning</a> Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/learning-differences-challenges-ld-adhd/]Learning”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/learning-differences-challenges-ld-adhd/) for additional suggestions.</p>
<p>I’ve heard about the UofA SALT program from many different sources; it’s high on my list for 2014 D2 to check out.</p>
<p>S2 is very happy at Western Washington University. Documenting to the disability office was a good thing. It allows him to schedule a test in their office if he thinks he will need more time. A small, friendly campus has been a big blessing.</p>
<p>Also choosing courses carefully is important. Student should evaluate how he/she does with large reading or writing assignments or with lab work and make course combinations that are survivable. This is true for all students. I recall a semester where the course catalog had me taking anatomy, chemistry and physics (3 labs!) together. I swapped the physics for a required political science course and took the physics another year. I think I was one of the few non zombie students in the major that year.</p>
<p>S1 is managing to keep up with a very rigorous schedule thanks to the supports available to him. He has ADHD and executive function issues. It took a good deal of detailed research to figure out the best environment for him. Here are some of the key points:</p>
<p>Be sure that you have a neuropsych evaluation that is no more than 3 years old at the time of application to the school. If one was done years ago, arrange for another evaluation during the summer when there will be less stress on everyone. </p>
<p>Ask the schools about the relationship between the disability services office and the department where student will spend most of the time. How does the department faculty work with one another? In our case, there is a very open line of communication between everyone. The department head checks in with S’s faculty a couple of times a semester, just to be sure S is still on top of everything. That’s on top of what S does with the disability services office. </p>
<p>S meets with someone weekly. At the beginning of the semester, they review accommodations that might be necessary and alert the faculty. This includes extra time for tests, taking tests in alternative quiet locations, and getting printouts of powerpoints in advance of the lecture to ease notetakings. He also gets to choose housing on campus before the lottery. This can be useful in a number of ways–proximity to classes cuts down on travel time; a more quiet dorm means less distractions; it avoids the possibility of temporary housing and needed to move during the semester. He has priority course registration, and he gets assistance in identifying the professors who routinely work with the disability office. They make sure he doesn’t have 3 classess stacked back to back, and that there is time for mental breaks during the day. </p>
<p>During weekly sessions they chunk the work load and discuss things like time management. </p>
<p>Throughout senior year we worked on different skills he’d need on campus–how to do laundry, money management, problem solving, time management issues. This eased the transition. </p>
<p>If your child is on meds, be sure to develop a plan for getting scripts and refills.</p>
<p>You wrote “S meets with someone weekly.” Can you tell me is this a person who works at his college disability office? What job title does this someone have? </p>
<p>I think it would be great if my child had an ADHD coach and am wondering if any colleges provide this kind of service.</p>
<p>S meets with the head of the office of Academic Support Services for students with disabilities. It’s a 30 min. meeting. There are 3 people in the department who work with students. School has 6,000 undergrads.</p>
<p>Based on the posting dates, it sounds as though OP is still reading this thread.</p>
<p>My addition is: teach the child, while in high school, that the medicines are his and his alone (or hers).</p>
<p>Around your own house or apartment, it’s usually no problem to leave a prescription pill bottle visible on top of a bedroom dresser, for example. In dorms, however, it’s better for your student to store the bottle in a top drawer, and only take out the pill as needed. </p>
<p>Not that there’s any embarassment about the diagnosis! What matters is that other students (roommates or friends) not press your child into “sharing” - by swap or sale – pills at exam time to others with no diagnosis of ADHD, just desirous of staying awake to cram. The impact of ADHD meds is entirely different for those who need it and have a prescription.</p>
<p>Just slowly teach a sense of responsibility and uniqueness that the meds are his and his alone. That attitude-set can be developed during high school and might save him grief during college.</p>
<p>Mom4989 - Would it be appropriate to share where your son is going to school? My son has ADD and has become more independent and self-advocating over the years but the transition to college scares me. I need to start researching the LD offices in the colleges he is accepted at. He has received extended time on tests in high school but it might be helpful to have someone meet with him on a regular basis his freshman year to help plan out long term assignments and ease the transition. We’re struggling to identify the best college for him, the more prestigious college or the college with better support services, are some of the factors being considered.</p>
<p>S1 is ADHD/LD with disgraphia. He is gifted in math (his college major). He is a senior at a highly selective LAC. </p>
<p>He needs to spend much more time on college work than most other college students. It took it him about 1 1/2 years to really get in to the swing of college. He met weekly with a counselor from disability services for the first year of college, going over scheduling and time management type issues. At the time he said he thought the meetings were not that useful, but now he is using many of the techniques (developing a study schedule, etc.) that were discussed at his weekly meetings.</p>
<p>At the beginning of college he was a little more random in his use of his ADHD medication (Ritalin & Ritalin LA). He has become much more aware of when he needs to take his medicine and when he doesn’t. He has also become much better at scheduling sleep. (There was one time where he stayed up 'til 6 AM studying, then slept through his final. These are lessons better learned in college than in the work world.)</p>
<p>He did not mention ADHD in college applications. Only contacted college Disability Offices after acceptances were in. From what I can tell, by law all colleges must have some official Disability / Accommodation Office, but this can be just 1 person or a dozen, and services can vary quite a bit. When we visited colleges after acceptances we met with someone from each college’s Disability Office to evaluate what services were available and how they were delivered.</p>
<p>S1 does get accommodations in terms of extra time on exams. Faculty at his LAC seem generally receptive.</p>
<p>We are very proud of what he has accomplished at college. As I said, he works very hard at his academic work - much harder than I ever did. He is currently applying to graduate school, and we have no doubt he will be successful there.</p>
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<p>To add to p3t’s point, many ADHD meds are of the triplicate form variety. Sharing or selling them to others isn’t only an issue for the other student’s, health, it’s also a legal issue for both students. If your prescribing physician hasn’t emphasized that point to the student, ask the doctor to make that crystal clear.</p>
<p>dadx3</p>
<p>Do you mind sharing the school? I think I can guess from some of your other posts. My son is only in 10th grade, but I’ve learned we need to start getting our ducks in a row now and have proper testing completed again no later than the beginning of senior high school year.</p>
<p>My DD has ADD - although it’s called ADHD now for some reason. She was (finally) diagnosed in 4th grade. </p>
<p>We knew that she wouldn’t do well at a huge school with 500 kids in the first year English class, for example. Her college has about 2,800 students on a huge campus. She felt “closed in” on some campuses that she visited. She is a sophomore. She started her freshman year on her medication (Concerta), and eventually took herself off of it during the first semester. Sophomore year - she started the year without it - and then realized she needed it on M, W, and F (her crazy days first semester). I don’t know if she is taking it this semester or not.</p>