I once was a college student with ADHD. I remember going to the library with my friends, and I would marvel at how they could sit and study for hours at a time. And they could sit still! No fidgeting, no bouncing of the leg. I would wonder to myself (as I meandered among the rows of books in the library), why can't I do that?
College students face a slew of new challenges at the start of school: Where will they live? How will they get from point A to point B? How will they study? How will they cope with missing their family and friends back home? For the college student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), these concerns are magnified.
It can be a challenge for any college student to go from living with parents that enforce rules, wake you up in the morning, and set guidelines, to all of the sudden arriving at a magical place where you are totally in control of your own destiny.
When you have ADHD, you thrive on a structured schedule. The challenge is creating that structure on your own. People with ADHD also benefit from having clear guidelines and expectations given to them ahead of time. However, in many college classes, it is "sink or swim." You get with the program, or you get kicked out of the program. Not exactly conducive to the success of the college student with ADHD.
While all of this may sound overwhelming, there are steps that ADHD college students can take to increase their chances for a successful college experience.
1. One of the most important ways to increase college success is by obtaining accommodations through the college's Office of Student Disability Services (OSDS). Accommodations are changes made in order to provide students with disabilities equal access to education. It creates an "even playing field" with students that don't have ADHD. Accommodations include extended time on tests, testing in a quiet location, having another student take notes for you in class, and having a reduced course load count as full-time status. Apply for accommodations as soon as possible. You can even apply through the OSDS when you are accepted to the college. To qualify for accommodations, you must have (in part) an evaluation from a mental health clinician detailing your diagnosis of ADHD, how it impairs your academic performance, and suggested accommodations. See your college's OSDS for more details.
2. Take advantage of your college's free services. Many colleges have "writing centers" where you can have your papers reviewed and edited. Your college may also have free tutoring services. Always attend your professor's review sessions before exams. Always.
3. A question many of my clients ask is if they should disclose their ADHD to their roommate. My answer? It depends. If you have known your roommate for a while (for example, you are cousins or you grew up together), you may feel comfortable enough to share that information. If you and your roommate are meeting each other for the first time, you may not want to disclose it at the very beginning. Trust your intuition. Letting roommates know about your ADHD diagnosis can lead to a smoother living situation, or it can make things more challenging, Again, every situation is different.
4. If you have ADHD, you may tend to be a little on the messy side. Try to keep your "avalanche" confined to your bedroom, and stop papers and other stuff from creeping into the main living area. As long as you keep the main living areas and kitchen clean, your tendency to be messy may not really impact your roommates. Spend 15 minutes at the end of each day putting away items, and if you share a bathroom, do a quick clean before you go to bed. That can include taking out the trash and wiping down the counters.
5. To keep a better control over your money, use direct withdrawal and direct deposit as much as usual. That greatly reduces your chances of losing a check or immediately cashing a check and blowing through the money. Do make sure you have "overdraft protection" on your account in case your trip to the bookstore and your electric bill withdrawal occur on the same day.
Follow these tips for getting settled into your new digs, and you are on your way to a successful college experience! If I could do it, you can too.
Follow Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stephaniesarkis
We have education systems worldwide that are left-brained oriented, and as humans evolve more and more are being born with a different brain function (right-brain) that is being mis-diagnosed as a disorder/illness, instead of it being recognised as a shift in our evolutionary make-up.
So the way we educate ourselves need to evolve, instead of us "being adapted" to a system that serves fewer and fewer people as time goes by with the legal system being used to support the "doping" of our future .
Bright kids who are bored by the teaching techniques are being marginalised.Human intelligence is incredibly diverse trying to be recognised in a homogenised education system that is focused on standardising....And this generation, like never before, is bombarded by information from so many sources. I did not have an ipod/ipad/iphone with WiFi when I went to university in 1987. ...
For more please watch the interview with the founder of Human Design System - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpBaF_hQjVI&feature=related +
Sir Ken Robinson's take on it in a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U where he shows a map of ADHD prescriptions across the USA.
Human Design System provides a way NOW for parents to understand what their child needs to flourish. Challenge for most will be is that it is so cutting-edge so whilst "being validated" children grow up suffering....
Robinson first presents a perspective/critique and why? We can be so obsessed by the need for evidence/validation that it gives us an excuse to allow things to get really bad (cf pollution and financial system) before we admit "Houston we have a problem".
As a young Brit in my twenties at a dinner back in 1994 in Wilton CT - it was clear that medicating children leads us to a "medically approved" annihilation of our future.
So, I do not consider Robinson's focus as a problem, simply one part of a conversation "how did we get here?". Book "The Element - How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything" researches the gifted who did not fit in inc Ariana H!
My concern - under pressure we jump to solutions without knowing how to inquire so the answers emerge naturally. Harvard Bus School study how Japanese and Americans make decisions in business - results were telling for both cultures.
Part of us may long for one simple answer yet we are as diverse, rich & wondrous as nature.
Let's bring back conversations steered by elders and undistorted by industry interest.
Everyone exhibits certain behavior to a certain degree. Everyone can be a little bi-polar, a little schizophrenic. By no means does that mean they need to be treated for these problems. There is a line and when the person's ADHD behaviors prevent them from functioning (ie, they can't hold down a job, they can't drive a car) then treatment is necessary.
Recognize and own your weaknesses, capitalize on your positive traits and don't EVER make excuses. I know that I'm terrible at time management, so I have a job with a set schedule and I have every day scheduled & planned. I have trouble adapting on the fly when things change, but I'm working on it. Work hard on the things that give you trouble, and don't expect a magic bullet to fix things.
Take care of yourself...if you can afford it, try therapy and/or medication. Read books and articles on the subject...there are plenty of resources out there. Try different methods of managing time, scheduling, organizing, reminders, etc.
I fidget, constant motion my whole life. Taught myself to study in college.
These are not mutually exclusive, motion and studying simultaneously (better yet, study kinetics).
Worrying about fidgeting b/c your friends don't do it is a self-esteem problem, not ADHD.
Who cares what someone else thinks of it?
"having another student take notes for you in class"
surely you jest, cultivating good note taking is a must, if you won't take notes then you're in the wrong class, you must find something which holds your interest,
it is entirely possible to learn the material on one's own, but that's for the highly motivated, highly organized, somewhat more advanced student than this post was aiming at I think.
"The challenge is creating that structure on your own."
Yes!!!!!!!! But you don't really expect someone to learn to do that if they cannot learn to take notes.
1. Stick to 'whole foods', avoid 'numbered foods' and anything highly sprayed/processed/inorganic
2. Drink purified or filtered water, avoid stimulants, sodas and these so called 'energy drinks'
3. Avoid sugar, and all forms of processed sweeteners such as HFCS, aspartame and sucralose. Raw organic honey may be OK.
4. Get tested for heavy metals, via your Naturopathic physician - your 'silver' fillings may be leeching/vaporizing and/or you may have been exposed in the womb to highly concentrated amounts of mercury via your mothers fillings/ total body burden.
5. Remove hazards such as chemical cleaning agents, body sprays, 'air fresheners' and use organic personal hygiene products comprised of completely natural ingredients. Ensure your sleeping area is away from chemicals, electronics, and aim for 8 hrs minimum per night!
If all this fails, there are about 50 other steps you can undertake to get to the bottom of this!
Source: Personal experience.
anecdotal and not more
I'd rather someone benefits from trying options that have helped people I personally know, as opposed to relying on so-called 'hard evidence' from major drug companies..... But I completely understand if you don't feel this way.
Allowing this coddling culture to continue into college isn't helping the so called victims of ADHD, it's just further hampering their ability to function outside the bubble of education.
And btw, I find it bizarre this post does not make one mention of the college student navigating his/her own medication prescriptions and how to keep them out of the hands of kids who might decide to co-opt them for recreational purposes.
ADHD may be exacerbated by our techno culture, but technology is definitely not the cause of it.
This is a brain chemistry issue that is as much a hereditary trait as chronic depression. While it's true that exercise helps combat some of the symptoms because it releases dopamine, ADHD isn't caused by electronic media. In fact, it may be the other way around--it's called hyperfocus and is one of the symptoms of the disorder. http://add.about.com/od/adhdthebasics/a/Hyperfocus.htm
Get your facts straight and stop spreading misinformation. There's a great book on this called "Driven to Distraction" by Edward Hallowell. http://www.amazon.com/Driven-Distraction-Recognizing-Attention-Childhood/dp/0684801280
Pick it up. You might learn something.
This made me more nervous than another students trying to master skills that required careful thinking and organization. I wish I could have said to the teachers that they should think of me as a challenge in a good way. They could have taken pride in teaching someone like me who got a little more anxious than others. I was willing to do what it took to prove my capabilities but I am not sure they were willing to make the extra effort. Too bad.
Nice culture of victimhood and excuse-making we are teaching people before they enter a competitive market. Please tell your team manager or construction foreman that they need to give you more time and lighten your load but give you a full paycheck. They will instinctively know you are a liberal
I wish there more teachers like you who SHARED THE TOOLS!
Learning to live with a disability (whether it is major or minor) means learning different ways so they can concentrate on what they are good at and be able to contribute as a productive member of society rather than collecting assistance at the taxpayer's expense.