ADHD Teenager - 10 Tips for Navigating High School

Supporting Your ADHD teenager Through High School

It’s not always an easy task, raising ADHD teenager, but I hope these tips will help you, just know you are not alone.

Daydreamer or fidgeter?

ADHD teenager become inattentive or excessively attentive, not waiting their turn before blurting out answers. They may interrupt their teachers and classmates, and they may rush through assignments. Teenagers with ADHD may also be fidgety and find it tough to sit still in class. My son didn’t get much support from his teacher, she didn’t understand him and thought discipline would teach him the right lessen, this unfortunately back fired in him getting more and more verbal and aggressive in his expression, turning him into a mean ADHD teenager with no boundaries, he never touched the teacher, but boy did he learned how to intimidate the teachers…. Jup, he sure made an impression.

Did you know, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft is known to have ADHD.

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My favourite books and gadgets to make my ADHD teenagers life, and mine easier

Most ADHD teenager are getting forgetful and distracted from middle school trough the first years after high school, and for us personally it was sometimes hard to find out if it was his ADHD or just plain teenager laziness… But not being able to time management, his reaction to the teacher got him into trouble more times than I can count. Especially tasks that are slow-paced, like reading or completing math practice questions are really hard on his ADHD teenager brain.

I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10.000 ways that won’t work – Thomas Edison

His ADHD was getting worse, but I also think the lack of opportunity to escape from the tasks given at school, the ones he struggled with or found boring resulted him in running away. Lucky for you, not every ADHD teenager starts running away like he did. And did you know, most with ADHD teenager are 4 years ahead in terms of their expressive language and ability of their age peers. But in therms of their executive functioning and emotional maturity, they could be 3 years behind their actual age…. Which is common for ADHD teenager, and it wasn’t helping that my son actually was taller and looked older than his peers.

9 motivational ADHD teenager quotes to keep going

You’re great conversationalist

You are imaginative and fun

You are a high achiever and fun

You are a high achiever and super smart

You’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you

Taking medication is not taboo, just not my first choice

You’re the perfect candidate for a job

You are a creative genius.

For us, homeschooling and especially unschooling, giving him the opportunity to explore his interests and learn at his own pace was the biggest game changer. I know not everyone has the ability to homeschool, so here are some things that really helped us:

·      Behavior therapy, especially for ADHD teenager. We had success with horse therapy.

·      Medication, although it’s not my personal preference, I can understand families willing to try. We experienced heavy mood swings and other thoughts.

·      Omega 3 – fatty acids

·      Talk and listen openly, even if you sometimes hear thoughts and feelings you don’t want to hear from your ADHD teenager.

·      Provide clear, consistent expectations.

·      Set a daily schedule and try to keep distractions to a minimum, this will help your ADHD teenager.

·      Support hobbies where your ADHD teenager can have success like tennis or music.

·      Reward positive behavior.

·      Always build your teens ADHD self esteem, affirming positive behavior.

·      Set consequences for bad behavior…..

·      Helps your ADHD teen with scheduling and organization.

·      Structured mealtimes for your family, same with bedtime and wake up time

·      Work with your ADHD teenager teachers, not always easy.

·      Stay calm when you need to discipline your ADHD teenager.

·      Set a good example, kids are always watching us.

·      Set rules for TV, computers and phones, we always have the phone outside the bedroom.

ADHD teenagers sometimes battle depressions.

My son is now a young adult, handsome and dealing with his ADHD teenager much better, but he’s still always late or forgetful. Most young adults with ADHD jump into jobs and purchases without thinking them trough, and relationships are difficult to maintain. Most young adults only regret their impulse actions later, and my son isn’t the exception- lol many young adults with ADHD will lessening their symptoms, but most likely will not match the emotional maturity of a 21 year old until their late 30’s. Luckily most kiddos with ADHD are highly intelligent, although most people assume ADHD teenagers are less intelligent. But we do have to monitor and sometimes have to manage our young adult kids with ADHD, this because they easily get stuck in self-destructive patters, fall prey to addiction and depression…. So basically we’re stuck with ADHD teenagers even when they are technically young adults..

For us the 10 and 3 rule works magic: 10 minutes of work, 3 minutes of break.

I think the most challenging part is for your ADHD teenager to become an independent young adult. He wants to be treated like one, regardless of their ADHD. How challenging this might be, don’t try to nag about what you want them to be doing, and respect their privacy and wishes when they don’t want help. But do make sure to continue checking in, and make sure you are available for your young adult struggling with ADHD at times. For example, you could invite them out to dinner, cinema or coffee at their favorite coffee shop to keep things neutral and pleasant. You could always surprise your young ADHD adult with a surprise visit at their apartment, but it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Sometimes us parents are so used helping our child with many aspects of their life, like managing money and sometimes helping with social situations. Just because your child with ADHD teenager is now an adult, this doesn’t mean we should stop loving and being supportive. But they only way to help them making the leap into adulthood is by making mistakes, sometimes seek help from others like life coaches or maybe even therapy, I think it’s always a good way to find powers to learn how to communicate and deal with conflict with a little help from others.