ADD And College Students - How Does It Affect Them?

Unfortunately, Attention Deficit Disorder does not necessarily fade with age. Many people that suffer as a child will continue to suffer as a teen, as well as into adulthood. However, this disorder may affect people differently at different stages in their life.

College can be a difficult time for some students. For many, this represents a time of breaking free and starting their new uninhibited lives. This may be an exciting and emotional time. How does a college student with ADD face such a time?

For a person with Attention Deficit Disorder, this may prove to be a harsh time of transformation. Typically coming from families that were especially doting and accommodating to their situation, they are thrown in to a new environment to fend for themselves. One of the basic behavior modification techniques in training an ADD child is through structure, routine, and habit. At once, all of this is taken and it becomes the student’s responsibility to recreate this structured life they once had. Of course, a person with ADD is typically disorganized and unstructured. So, they may have a difficult time having the discipline to enact such stringent requirements for themselves.

Another aspect to consider is the increased difficulty in the academic load in college as compared to high school and the additional responsibility put on the students. Not only will the student be responsible for their own organization and structure, they will do so under more stress and academic pressure. This increasingly more difficult schoolwork is not made easier by the student’s general inattentive nature, distractibility, and impulsiveness. The very core of ADD makes college more difficult. With any luck, the student has spent enough time over the last few years regulating their own behavior that they will easily be able to in this new environment.

For the most part, the same steps should be taken in college to deal with ADD as was necessary in high school and other grades. To be effective, a student should carry some type of organizational calendaring system or digital organizer. In college, they do not hold the students’ hands like they do in high school – once an assignment is made, it is expected to be turned in on time, without reminders. Therefore, it becomes imperative to keep up with deadlines and dates. Students should also create structure and organization in their dorm or apartment and utilize the same skills they have been developing for years.