Sarah E Sears, LCMHC

Tips to Finding Success in College with ADHD, LD & Asperger's

Posted by Sarah Sears on 12 July 2010 | 17 Comments

Tags: ADHD, ADD, Asperger, Autism, College, School,

Finding success in school with a diagnosis like ADHD or Aspergers can be challenging and may have presented challenges for you in the past. These strategies will get you started off on the right foot and help you achieve your academic goals. 

Set up your accommodations.  Before school begins, get your documentation to the appropriate office and get connected to an advisor.  If you never have to use your accommodations that's awesome. On the other hand, if a problem does come up during the term, you will already have the structure in place to fall back on and  won't have to scramble to find help.

Connect with your professors.  Perhaps the most important part of your success in school will be the relationship you build with your professors.  Begin each semester by giving professors the letter requesting the accommodations you need.  You can personalize the accommodation request by setting up a time to talk with your professors or by dropping in to see them during their office hours..  Your professors' want you get the most out of  their classes - the more information you are able to give them about what works best for you in a learning environment,  the easier it will be for them to support you.  Continue to communicate with them and stay connected to your professors throughout the semester. 

Choose a reasonable course schedule.  Choose courses you feel you can be successful in and register only for the number of courses you can easily handle.  It's important to adjust to school and build positive and successful class experiences before taking really challenging courses.  If you are taking a reduced course load and are worried about finishing school in a certain amount of time, talk with an advisor.  There many ways to earn credit that might work with your strengths. Internships, independent studies, and summer or winter term class are just some of the options. 

Utilize a calendar or planner  Commit to using one planner for the semester.  This planner can be "command central" for you. Try keeping all important information  such as to do lists, faculty contact information and your class schedule in this one location. I recommend using Google Calendar because it allows for the use of multiple calendars, they can be shared with others, and it can be set up to email or text message reminders. 

 Familiarize yourself with school policy and academic deadlines. Locate an academic calendar and transfer important dates from it into your organizer . Dates such as add/drop, pass/fail, and registration will be helpful for you in managing your courses.  It is also important to know the policy and deadline for withdrawing from a class or withdrawing from school. Sign up for tuition insurance if you have concerns that medical or mental health issues might get in the way of completing a semester.  

Go through each course syllabus and put major projects, tests, and deadlines in your calendar.  In addition to transferring the dates listed in your syllabuses, consider also scheduling in reminders for when you want to begin projects or start studying for tests and exams. For an exam, you might want to schedule a reminder two weeks before hand so you can plan some study time.  With larger projects, like  research  papers, you might want to put  short term tasks for yourself into your calendar such as, choosing a topic, finding resources and writing the first draft.