A gap year is simply a break either before or during college. It is a time when students take a break from formal education to do activities like travel, volunteer, study, intern, work, perform or research. The increased maturity, self-confidence and life experience that a gap year can confer, especially for a student with ADHD, is well worth the investment if it means a better chance for your child to succeed in college and, later, in a career.
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a condition where a child is almost always angry, frustrated and defiant toward authority figures. The exact causes of ODD are not known, but it occurs more frequently in families with a history of ADHD. There are many effective treatments for ODD, and strategies that parents can use to lessen the severity of symptoms and their negative impacts both within and outside the home.
Technology can be both a blessing and a curse, especially if you have ADHD. Tools like email and the Internet can be the source of huge distraction. But carefully choosing from the myriad of apps available today can help you move to a new level of productivity and really tap into your ADHD super powers. We offer you a sample of apps that you can use to organize every aspect of your life.
The transition to college can be difficult for students with ADHD. College is often the time where you need a new set of skills – or maybe just a tune up – to cope with ADHD. In your life before college, high school and your parents together gave you built‐in structure and accountability. But in college you have a lot of unstructured time and you are totally in charge of making all of your own decisions. Here are some strategies to help you study smarter and experience success in college.
You have ADHD and your life seems chaotic and disorganized. You want to add more structure to your daily activities. You need to approach it carefully. Making changes that are too big or complicated, or tackling too much at one time generally won’t work. If you add structure in small steps, you won’t always get it 100 percent right, but you’ll probably be better off than you were before. We offer tips to help you create a daily routine that will give your life structure without being burdensome.
If you are one of the roughly 10 million U.S. adults with ADHD, it can be a constant challenge to stay focused and on task. You might easily lose track of conversations or forget what you were working on. Or fail to pay attention to important details and make mistakes. But this isn’t an oversight on your part. An inability to focus is a prominent symptom of ADHD. Here are some strategies to help you maintain your attention and focus.
This is the time when many people make resolutions for the coming year. It can be especially difficult for those with ADHD to formulate resolutions and then follow through on them. The first step is to think through and create the goals you want to achieve in the year ahead. Once you have your goals identified, you need a strategy to make them a reality. Here are some recommendations to help with the process.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not just a problem in children; the symptoms can manifest at any age. If you were diagnosed with childhood ADHD, chances are, you’ve carried at least some of the symptoms into adulthood. But even if you were never diagnosed with ADHD as a child, that doesn’t mean you can’t be affected by it as an adult. You can learn to spot potential symptoms of adult ADHD and determine if you should talk to a healthcare professional about a possible diagnosis.
Impulsive behavior can be a symptom of ADHD, and that includes impulse buying. This problem can be especially acute during the holidays when there are so many more temptations beckoning from stores and online shopping venues. If you have ADHD, there are a number of things you can do to help curb your impulse buying.
Hyperfocus is the ability to zero in intensely on an interesting project or activity for hours at a time. For adults with ADHD, hyperfocus can be a problem in the workplace. It can manifest as not getting paperwork done because it was boring, missing meetings because they became absorbed in doing something more interesting, or failing to meet a deadline because other activities had captured their attention. Though hyperfocus is often a liability, it can be an asset. If you have ADHD, having a strategy to leverage your ability to hyperfocus can be important.