Relationships suffer between parent and child/teen/young adult when the student is experiencing difficulties managing school expectations. Often a “crisis” is brewing, or has been going on for some time, when I am contacted. Parents always want the best for their children- to be happy and successful.
Consequential thinking is the ability to evaluate the costs and benefits of your choices. By pausing, evaluating, and responding, rather than reacting on autopilot, one can make better decisions. This thought process is developed as the brain develops. Consequential thinking is always lacking in students diagnosed with ADHD.
Mental health is always the elephant in the room with many college students. In the beginning of the school year, especially for freshman, adjusting initially to a different environment, new expectations of being on their own and coping with classes and homework as well as making friendships is difficult.
Life at home does not come with templates or deadlines. Adults with executive functioning issues can find it difficult to manage both work and home successfully.
Especially in college, the end of October, Halloween, midterms and sickness all go together. Working with students in high school and college all over the country, it doesn’t seem to matter where you live or go to school, the viruses start attacking.
This new generation of students are living in their “normal”- mass shootings, climate crisis, the pandemic, hate crimes, constant information filtering through their phones and computers, and political unrest. This was not the “normal” that their parents experienced. In other words, their “normal” is our abnormal.