During the middle and high school years, workloads increase while teachers and parents typically expect the students to take on more responsibility for their homework and outside activities. The combination of increasing environmental demands and higher expectations for independence is particularly difficult for students with ADHD. This is where a coach specifically trained in ADHD can help.
Focus on the Whole Person
Academic issues are often the focus of ADHD coaching for students, with the main concerns often being how to get and stay on track with schoolwork, be better organized, and maintain motivation. However, coaching is most powerful when it focuses on the whole person and the ways the student’s individual ADHD characteristics impact different aspects of daily life, inside and outside of school.
Empowerment
Teens often feel empowered by coaching because they are “in the driver’s seat,” choosing what life skills to explore with their coach and designing action steps toward their goals. Coaching has, at its core, a unique relationship between student and coach, which provides nonjudgmental and supportive structure, allowing students to build skills for desired growth and independence.
Working with Strengths
Coaching helps students to appreciate the gifts of ADHD and the ways their unique brains function best. With awareness of the way they learn and what may be getting in the way, coaching helps students learn personalized strategies, tools and new habits that are tailored to work with their strengths, and work around areas that do not come as easily.
Setting Students Up For Success
ADHD coaching provides support, structure and accountability as students learn to set goals, manage time, begin tasks and work toward completion, organize and prioritize, sustain focus, maintain life balance and develop self-advocacy skills. Working with an ADHD coach allows students to discover strengths, build self-esteem, and increase self-awareness, creating the opportunity for life-long success.
Call us for a complimentary phone consultation to explore how coaching might help your teen.
