My senior son has recently been diagnosed as being a wicked smart kid with ADD. We saw his school work start to unravel at the end of his junior year as assignments became longer and more open ended and so pursued testing. He has managed by charm and the skin of his teeth to keep his grades up and has been accepted to NEU, Skidmore, Colby. He is waiting to hear from Wesleyan. We provide a lot of structure here that he won’t get at college. He has a good attitude and is engaged with a coach and therapist and we are working on a 504 to document all that his teachers have been doing for him (where the charm comes in) but still he procrastinates to point of freezing, never knows what his homework is, has no sense of time, constantly loosing and forgetting things etc. He’s going to need support at school.
Does anyone have any experience with these schools and their supports for a kid with ADD? (or advise in general)
Thank you!
I was not sure if this was right forum to post this in. Please let me know if you think I should move it.
I don’t have a kid at any of those colleges, but I do have a son with ADD who sounds just like yours. Our daughter had a 504 plan in high school and when she was looking at colleges we looked at what they posted online for student counseling services and she contacted the disability resource office. The campus she ended up choosing, a large public school with an honors program, has outstanding resources. She was assigned a specific counselor that she meets with to review her plan and every semester he sends a letter to her professors outlining any accommodations she might need during the semester. She then emails teachers to see if they have any questions. Four semesters in and the process has been wonderful. Most of the professors have been understanding and willing to go above and beyond for her to be successful. And when she had a teacher that didn’t want to allow for an class absences, her resource counselor got involved and everything was settled and worked out fine.
So that’s my long way of saying, contact each school directly and see what kind of response you get. You could also post your question under each school’s section of this website to see if any current students respond. Support ranges greatly from school to school.
On the plus side, there is growing understanding of what ADD is and how it impacts learning.
Good luck!
Cindy
That sounds great - I hope we find something similar. I can tell you, my understanding of ADD is growing!
Tried sending you a pm but you aren’t appearing on the list. Send me a pm so I can reply, please.
When we did second visits to the final few colleges (during accepted student day or whenever we went) in the mix we made an appointment with the Office of Disability Services at each school. It was helpful to meet one (or more) person there, discuss accommodations that could be made, and even look at the physical facility. (FWIW one LAC - not on your list - had their Office of Disability Services in a sub-basement next to a clanking boiler so if anyone took a test in there it would be dark and noisy – and even going to the office felt a bit sad).