Hi, my college going ADHD student has failed half of his freshman year in Los Angeles and we are wondering if a gap semester for him to gain maturity and better executive functioning skills is a better option for him for the fall. He is of course very disappointed as he wants to be with his friends. However has anyone experienced anything similar and has any recommendations on what he can do in the fall to come back stronger?
To add, he did not take any medication in the past and will be seeing a psychiatrist in the next two weeks for prescription. However as I understand medication alone does not fix the issue.
There is a great book by Cam Newport called Buy How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less Paperback by Cal Newport Online https://share.google/uMzUFhwwCIE0IuxDB
This alone won’t do the trick but the theories can easily be applied to ADHD students. Great chapter on procrastination!
Biofeedback. I have seen this work well with ADHD. Everyone’s different but I have seen multiple people see “improvements “in less then 2 weeks. But you have to do it for a bit.
But you need to dig deep and find out the “Why”, he didn’t do well. Just taking a gap year and not understanding the why won’t change anything. He will just fail a year later. Not all people respond to stimulants. There are non stimulant meds as well. The kids I have seen with Biofeedback aren’t on any meds and some have had their meds reduced. But you have to find someone that knows what they are doing. I know of a fantastic person in Chicago.
Also college for anyone is hard to do alone. Study groups, Professor hours, math /science lab groups, peer to peer tutors. Most schools have all of these resources.
Does the school itself offer any executive function help, either via disability services or via a standalone support unit (like SALT at Arizona or INI at UIUC, as examples)?
In terms of a gap semester - I am not sure tbh how kids learn EF for academics when they are not actually studying - at least, it didn’t work for my kid when they took a much-talked about summer course in EF. (I suspect the people who raved about the course did not really need proper EF help in the way that an ADHD student does.) Telling students how or what to do in principle is very different than when they have the work in front of them and someone is assisting them in practical terms how to approach it - this is what worked for my kid (in high school, but will have similar support in college to navigate the new environment there).
If you think he needs a gap for maturity that’s another issue - but again the broad question is, what would he do for 6 months that would achieve that objective?
Also wondering if taking a gap semester would set him back further than you expect in terms of graduation - if there are any sequential courses only offered in fall semester, for example (obviously depends what he is majoring in).
Medication varies widely by individual but for mine, stimulants were a game changer. You may need to go through some trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t for your kid.
Work with a psychiatrist over time- sometimes it takes some time to get the right med and figure out the best way to use it.
Have the psychiatrist write a letter with a list of accommodations. You can research accommodations and write the letter yourself for the MD to sign, if you want.
He needs to register with the Office of Disabilities. They give him letters for professors (which don’t indicate what the issue is) and he negotiates accommodations- or sometimes the professors are told by the O of D.
He needs to use the accommodations. Late submissions, extended time, single room, exams in a separate room, excused lateness, whatever fits.
See if the school offers coaching/advising/tutoring. If not, or if not satisfactory, and if affordable, hire a coach.
Contact Landmark for a list of coaches. They also offer summer programs.
Physical exercise is good for ADHD. Sports, walking, tai chi, martial arts, dance, whatever…
Is he on probation? Does he have the summer to try meds and get some coaching? I am not sure what a gap semester will accompllsh unless he still needs to try meds and therapy of some sort.
As a parent, I had to have flexibility in what I envisioned for my kid(s). There is a saying around here - something like you think you are headed for Italy but you end up in France. College is not as structured. Failure is not the kid’s fault. Many kids resist accommodations and I hope he can understand the concept of a level playing field. He deserves to do the best work he is capable of and needs supports.
In addition to working with a psychiatrist to get started with medication and the above mentioned strategies, I would suggest making sure he has a summer job that requires a variety of expectations (including saving some money) and provides some structure. While help with executive functioning and accommodations at the college would likely be helpful, he needs to be motivated to use them. That’s why I would also collaborate with him to develop clear expectations and goals for the fall semester and how he can be accountable for what he agrees to. I would make clear what he needs to do in order for you to continue paying for what my husband calls “sleep away college”.
Tuition refund insurance might be a good idea. Check if the policy covers ADHD with a psychiatrist diagnosis. Your son might still refuse or resist accommodations. It’s a process.
I agree with all the above except that I think that sometimes failure can be the kid’s “fault.” Not that the kid is “bad”, but developmentally they are not at the point where academics are a big priority so pursuing accommodations, using established methods like study groups, retrieval practice, etc. is not done.
Medication can help but it is not a fix per se. Medication keeps people on task, and choosing the task is up to the person. If they take their meds and start playing videogames, they will be playing videogames for a long time. So they need to decide to go to the library. Coaching can help the person make better decisions, and motivation can help them listen to a coach.
Apart from the ADHD component, lots of students fail their first semester and rebound once they realize that the level of socializing they were engaging in is not compatible with academic success. So if he was shocked by the outcome and is determined to improve I think, with supports in place, he will.
Of course bad decisions can be made, even with meds and therapy or coaching. Since we don’t know the student in question, I was responding to the ADHD and trying to be encouraging rather than judging. I often suggest the book “The Myth of Laziness.” Giving the student the benefit of the doubt and hoping that accommodations are not only secured but used.
A gap semester sounds like a solid plan. It gives him time to figure out his routine and work on those executive functioning skills before jumping back in.
I’ll also add to this that the process of figuring out the correct medication and dosage can take some time, and a lot of trial and error. Basically, you start with a low dose of the first medication, asses the results for a couple of weeks, and then gradually increase the dose to determine whether it’s helping and how bad the side effects - if any - are. Then, if that medication either isn’t effective, or has too many side effects, you move onto a different one and repeat that process. Every ADHD kid is different, and it can take months to get the medication calibrated right. So, another reason for a gap semester would be to use that time to work on the medication trial and error process. Of course, sometimes you get lucky and the first medication works great, but it’s good to allow for some time to get this right.
But it seems more effective to test out how the medications work while facing the actual academic challenges at hand. With accommodations and coaching. The social impact of leaving can be difficult (I know from my kid’s experience) and gap semesters can side track students. That said, if there is a decent volunteer job, internship or other interesting way to stay engaged and test out meds, a gap semester might be beneficial. I would vote no unless the time is somehow useful. He can’t just sit at home and evaluate meds and that would be hard on mental health anyway!
This. I don’t know how my kid would have figured out what was working and what wasn’t without actually studying at the same time. It did take the better part of a semester to figure it out, albeit with already a noticeable improvement during that time. However, I can see potential reluctance in testing them out during a relatively high stakes ($$ wise at least) semester. I am wondering if it is an option to do some gen eds via CC at home for a semester while figuring this out? (Although I don’t know how colleges would look on that during a break, and the accommodation/coaching aspect could not be quite replicable for the 4-year college).
I was going to mention CC as an option though I don’t know what the effect of taking a full load would be on ability to resume. I wonder if going back to the college the student already attends with a reduced course load would be a better approach, preserving access to the friends already made and posing less interruption in the development that happens in a residential college. (One of my kids has epilepsy and got permission to do 3 classes instead of 4 and it made a huge difference. Some colleges even allow fewer classes. Two classes are required for financial aid.) Tuition refund insurance reduces the financial risk!
OP- have you had a sit-down with your kid to try and figure out what went wrong?
If he did fine in HS without meds, was the family providing a ton of scaffolding and support? Was the curriculum not that challenging so he was able to get by with a minimum amount of organizational and time management skills? Were teachers allowing him to do extra credit projects to bring up his grades?
I wouldn’t start worrying about next semester, next year until I got a grip on what was actually happening. College these days is a 24/7 party filled with Uber eats deliveries and poker games with friends and constant stimulation. So it is very, very easy for a kid even without ADHD to allow the social environment to replace regular and nutritious meals, adequate sleep, not to mention showing up for classes and writing papers.
Find out what happened- what actually happened- before you jump ahead.
Thanks for this. I think it’s a combination of a few things- too much freedom, ability (or lack of) to create own schedule, too much stimulation with friends (he’s told me), access to weed, not using disability services at college etc. We are international so CC isn’t an option. He wants to do summer courses online with tutoring and get on medication. I’m also looking for an ADHD coach
A reduced load is a good idea imo. He can always take a summer class or two in the future if he reaches the point of going back to a full load and wants to graduate on time, but no harm graduating a bit late either.