Edge Foundation Blog > Archive for February, 2012

Recently the study of the coaching method used by Edge Foundation was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders and reviewed by Dr. David Rabiner of Duke University. Rabiner concluded with “results from this study indicate that college students with ADHD experienced coaching to be helpful. This was true even though differences in students’ GPA were not found.” 

One of our readers, Meredith A., wrote us to ask about our views about this review.  “The finding that really puzzled me concerned the no improvement of GPA.  Has your organization found this to be the case?  I am guessing for many college students dealing with ADHD, if coaching brings no improvement to their GPAs, they will be dropping out of college.” We appreciate Meredith’s question and thought the rest of you might also be interested in the response from our Executive Director, Robert Tudisco.

The question Meredith raises regarding GPA is a very good one.  First, if you read the report, it is fairly clear that there was an improvement in GPA for the students who participated in the study.  The reason that the report could not conclusively point to the coaching as the cause was because of two factors.

1. Due to the number of variables that go into a student’s Grade Point Average, such as the number of courses they are taking, the subjective grading of their professors and the overall level of coursework, one year is not enough time to see a statistically sufficient increase that could be attributed directly to the coaching itself.  In the report the research team indicates that the improvement that was shown was not statistically significant enough to attribute it to the coaching intervention itself.  However, the researchers noted that in order to track the increase in GPA, as attributable to the coaching model, a longer term longitudinal study would have to be conducted.  Edge is now in the process of framing a follow up longitudinal research project and actively raising money to do that.
2. The coaching model Edge coaches uses addresses the life challenges and struggles students face with ADHD.  Students work on goals they set for themselves that include balancing study time with social lives and working hours. For many students who are on their own for the first time, their goals may or may not directly relate to their grades.  For example, a student might set a goal to get one term paper in on time without stressing it out and waiting until the last minute.  The achievement of this is significant progress for the student that may, but not necessarily, lead to a better grade at the end of the semester.  Over the long run the improvements in GPA based upon the consistent use of the skills developed is more readily seen and able to be attributed to coaching.

ADHD coaching improves skill, will and self regulation

It is for these reasons that the research team chose the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) as an indicator of progress for the study.  The LASSI breaks down performance into three subscales: skill, will and self regulation.  The study results clearly showed that after a year of coaching, the students showed statistical improvement in all three subscales, but by far and away the most improvement was in the area of self regulation.  In this category, the scores of the students more than doubled.

Self regulation is a direct function of executive functioning which is the area in the brain that is affected by ADHD.  In fact, according to the statistician who evaluated the results stated that “the magnitude of the effect size for self regulation was more than double the typical educational intervention, and (the magnitude of the effect size for) executive functioning was quadruple (the typical educational intervention).” This is a significant finding that far exceeded our expectations going in to the study.

Qualitative results demonstrate ADHD coaching impacts students lives

Another thing that is important to look at in the study results is the qualitative results and the interviews of the students.  The qualitative results not only corroborate the quantitative analysis, but more importantly, they explain why the coaching worked for these students from the students own perspectives.  This is a unique window into the coaching relationship as seen from the eyes of the students that it impacted.

If you have a question about how ADHD coaching can help you or teach your student skills to be more effective in school and life, don’t hesitate to ask us in the comments or call 1-888-718-8886.

Parents of young adults with ADHD have to walk a fine line between trying to motivate their children to seek assistance, while at the same time respecting their independence and letting them stand on their own.  This challenge is further compounded by the inherent dynamic that any adolescent has with their parents at a time when they leave home to go off to college.

ADHD coaching is an intervention that has been receiving growing attention because recent studies have shown that students who received ADHD coaching services show significant improvement in their ability to organize, direct and manage cognitive activities, emotional responses and overt behaviors. ADHD coaches empower students to develop structure, support and accountability on their own terms so they can take charge of their own lives.

Unfortunately in many cases, students often reject coaching merely because it is introduced by their parent.  Furthermore, based upon the nature of the coaching relationship, it simply will not work unless the student steps up and owns his or her disability and is willing to partner with a coach.

“We often hear frustration from parents who are at their wit’s end trying to help their child,” says Robert Tudisco, Edge Foundation Executive Director. “A parent recently told me ‘If my boy gets his butt moving at all, if he shows any interest, I’m there to help him with the process, but he’s got to show that he cares first.’”

 Edge Foundation Offers Parents Support

What is a parent to do when they see their son or daughter struggling, but know that they have to step back and let them stand on their own?  While there is no magic answer the following are some guidelines that may help.

• Motivate, but don’t dictate – A coach should never be a punishment for a student who is not performing. If a student is indifferent about something, parental pressure will often prejudice and polarize them.  Educate yourself about coaching and how it works.  Speak with a coach and understand the process and benefits sufficiently so that you can motivate and encourage your child.

• Seek assistance from a coach – Many coaches specialize in working with parents to convince their child to participate in coaching.  A coach can empower a parent to address the situation in a productive way that won’t polarize her son or daughter. Edge Foundation has coaches available to work with parents and provide the support and guidance that parents need.

• A coach can be the key to promote your independence and theirs – Tudisco advises parents to explain to their son or daughter that a coach is resource for them. Using a coach can ease the parent/child tensions because a parent knows her child is getting the support he needs to accomplish his responsibilities.  Parent/child relationships often improve when an ADHD coach is added to the mix.

• Encourage them to find out for themselves – The best way for parents to do this is to encourage their son or daughter to speak with a coach about the process and how it works, and better yet, to speak with other students just like them who have been coached.  The Edge Foundation has coaches ready to help.  At the Edge Foundation web site students can also access videos and interviews with students just like them who have been coached.

The bottom line is that some students may not be ready to own their disability nor are ready to be coached.  If that is the case, pushing the issue can often make things worse.  In these circumstances, parents may need to step back and revisit the idea later on.

Robert Tudisco has personal experience with ADHD; he was diagnosed as an adult.  He offers this advice, “Don’t give up, and remember that you are not alone.  We at Edge are here to help and support you and your children.  We don’t want them just to survive in school.  With the help of a coach, ADHD student can thrive in school and you and your child will have a healthier relationship dynamic to boot.”

For more information about how to get started with an ADHD coach, visit http://edgefoundation.org/parents/get-adhd-help-now  or call 914-924-7597.

This week we feature an article by Jenn Pedde.  Jenn is the community manager for the MSW program at the University of Southern California in the Virtual Academic Center, which enables students to become social workers.  She’s an avid traveler, and enjoys photography.

As children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) grow older and enter adolescence, some of the outward signs of their condition may decrease. Although they may be less active and have more control over impulsive behavior, many middle school and high school students continue to experience problems with focus and attention in the classroom. Issues related to poor concentration and distractibility may intensify, affecting their grades and their ability to learn. Without intervention, many teenagers with ADHD develop poor self-esteem, difficulties in relationships and substance abuse problems.

The U.S. Department of Education has identified the following three components of a successful educational program for students with ADHD and this may be of some help to teachers who struggle with keeping the focus of their students.

Academic Instruction Tips for ADHD Students

Many students with ADHD have problems staying organized and keeping track of assignments. Strategies can be adopted in middle school and high school that will help these students throughout their academic career. One of the ways that teachers can help is to provide a daily organizer and devote classroom time for copying assignment information (all students can benefit from this type of support). Daily expectations for each class should be clearly defined and posted in written form.

ADHD students in middle school and high school can also benefit from assistance in developing study skills. Teachers can provide instruction for note-taking during class. These students can also benefit from tips on how to keep their workspace uncluttered to minimize distractions.

Whenever possible, teachers should identify areas where an ADHD student needs extra assistance and create strategies that will help the student review material that was previously presented in class lectures.

Feedback is also important for ADHD students. Providing timely progress reports to parents can help keep older ADHD students on track. As with any student, parents and teachers should avoid criticism and sarcasm when discussing areas for improvement, and should instead try to provide reassurance and support.

ADHD Behavioral Intervention

Many older students with ADHD are still learning to control their behavior. A variety of intervention techniques can be used to help these students with self-control in the classroom. Using punishment for poor classroom behavior is a temporary solution that rarely changes a student’s attitude. Instead, teachers should use consistent and sincere verbal praise to help reinforce positive behavior. Providing an ADHD student with an “escape valve” (such as leaving the classroom on an errand) can sometimes be used to defuse undesirable behavior and allow the student to burn off excess energy.

Parents of ADHD students should be viewed as partners in the educational process. Teachers should communicate frequently with parents about behavioral concerns and involve them in intervention strategies.

Peer mediation can also be an effective tool for mediating disputes between students and reinforcing positive behavior.

ADHD Classroom Accommodations

Many of the classroom strategies recommended for younger students with ADHD are still effective for students in middle school and high school. Teachers should try to seat ADHD students at the front of the classroom or near the teacher’s desk to make it easier to monitor their progress and attention level. An alternative seating arrangement is to place an ADHD student near a peer role model who can provide academic and social support. If space permits, a quiet area of the classroom with few distractions should be provided to ADHD students for study sessions and test taking. Teachers should be discreet about assigning students to this area to avoid any stigma or the appearance of punishment.

Additional recommendations that can help older students with ADHD succeed in school include classes with low teacher-student ratios and regular meetings with private tutors or peer tutors. The Department of Education also suggests using technology and audiovisual materials for instruction and homework, as these media can be more interactive and thereby increase focus.

Editor’s note:  For more ideas on accommodations that help ADHD students and can benefit your entire class to become better learners, visit http://mypage.iu.edu/~rllsmith/ADHDweb.htm or http://www.ldonline.org/article/8797/.

“Music. It lifts us up. It soothes our soul. It keeps us going when we are working out. It helps us get ready on time.”

WHAT?!

You heard right — use music to motivate you and keep you on track in the morning.  You probably already have a “Workout Playlist” on your ipod.  But do you also have a “Get out the Door Playlist”?

Here are some tips for setting up a playlist to get you out the door on time.

• What gets your motor running?  Figure out what songs you like best.  Do you like to wake up slow and quiet or are you more likely to use calm music as a way to roll over and head back to sleep?
• Block out your tasks: wake up, shower, shave/make-up,  get dressed, prepare breakfast, eat breakfast, daydream/reflection/day planning, find your stuff, head out the door.
• Block our your time: Decide how much time you need for each time block, pick music for each time block.
• Download your playlist to your ipod and make sure you leave it (charged) next to your alarm so it’s ready to go in the morning.
• Use the music.  Each song group becomes a timer to keep you on track.  For example, get your makeup on while “Last Friday Night” is playing.  When it’s over, it’s time for you to run downstairs and get breakfast.
• Mix it up.  When you start ignoring the background music, it’s time to set a new playlist.
• Don’t limit yourself to what’s hot today.  Songs like James Brown’s, (I Got You) I Feel Good, have been used for generations to get moving.  Many old tunes can be downloaded for free using Freegal and a library card.

Some hot hits today you might consider for your morning playlist are:

• Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO
• Blow, Kesha
• Fabulous, High School Musical
• And here’s the classic, James Brown motivator:

And a few more ideas:

• You can also use a playlist to keep you on track for studying.  Classical music has been shown to improve learning and retention.
• You don’t have to spend a lot of time engineering your own mix.  You can find playlists that have worked for other people on services like playlist.com or share and build your playlist with your friends using Spotify.

So what’s on your playlist?

Edge is pleased to present this guest post from Jodi Sleeper-Triplett.  Jodi has been a key partner in developing the founding principles of the Edge Foundation. She has trained all of our coaches in a method that has been proven to positively impact student  We thought you might like to hear how she got involved with ADHD coaching and what inspires her to keep spreading the news that ADHD coaching makes positive changes in the lives of young people with ADHD.

My inspiration:

When my son was in elementary school, I set aside one day a week to volunteer in his classroom.

In the third and fourth grades, children are told that they need to learn to pay attention, stay in their seats, behave appropriately, and follow instructions. It is considered grade appropriate and age appropriate to do so. Well, anyone who understands ADHD in children knows that this is not easily accomplished and that grade and age don’t equate to capability.

Many times, when I arrived at my son’s school to help out, certain students were identified for me to work with one-on-one outside the confines of the classroom. In effect, I was coaching the students with ADHD, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and the like, while supporting their learning. I found myself making a connection with those students who did not get the attention needed in the classroom to achieve at the level of their peers.

JST Coaching beginnings:

When I opened my coaching business in 1996, ADHD coaching for adults was still a new concept. In conversations with adult clients with ADHD, I repeatedly heard “I wish I had a coach in high school,” or “Where were you when I was in college?” That’s why I decided to focus my coaching on children, adolescents, and young adults with ADHD to help young people reach their potential with fewer struggles than the previous generations.

Within a few years, business was booming and I was receiving coaching requests from around the globe (no kidding)!  A few local coaches and educators asked me to train them in my coaching methodology for youth with ADHD; and JST Coaching coach training programs were born.

Creating the flagship course, Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD, was a labor of love. I had learned so much about ADHD and related difficulties from my young clients and their families and had the privilege of watching my clients learn, grow and succeed after protestations of “I can’t do that!”

When it came time to create an official course manual (followed by my first book, Empowering Youth with ADHD) I had a huge amount of information at my fingertips:  ADHD, executive dysfunction, family dynamics, teen angst, college transition, life coaching, ADHD specific coaching skills, organizational tools, student and parent feedback and more.

Unique approach:

Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD is a one-of-a-kind training program focusing on the intricacies of ADHD youth coaching. What makes it unique is that the coaching model is designed to coach the young person in all life areas, not just around academic issues. This is a critical distinction in this coach training program, in addition to the in-depth training around ADHD, EF and LD to help coaches understand how their clients learn most effectively and tailor the coaching to meet the needs of each client.

How it works:

JST trained youth coaches, including all Edge Foundation coaches, look to the young person to provide insight on what is and is not working for them in all life areas, including academics. In addition, they gather information from the parents and from the client’s professional team (with permission), before guiding the young person to set goals and create an individualized coaching plan, called a PCA (Personal Coaching Agreement).  By taking this global approach to youth coaching, we are able to help our clients see how their day-to-day life choices impact their ability to succeed in life.

One student may need to create a routine for taking his medication on a regular basis, while another may want to block out time for sports, friends and schoolwork each week.  Coaches trained in the JST coaching model have the tools and knowledge to effect positive change in the lives of young people with ADHD.  When you hire an Edge Foundation coach, you can rest assured that you are getting a well-trained coach for youth with ADHD.