DD college lanyard woes (ADHD)

[CampbellFairfax]

My DD is meant to wear a lanyard at college with her student pass in it - she needs it to get in/out of buildings, buy lunch etc. She has ADHD and lost/forgot it most days last year until she started keeping her pass in her phone case and all was well from then on.

Fast forward to yr13 and shes Head Girl and been told she has to physically wear the lanyard to lead by example. Day 3 and she’s lost it already and is distraught.

Anyone got any tried and tested tips or solutions to help?

Where is it going? It can't just jump off her neck! And if she's capable of keeping hold of a phone, there must be strategies for keeping something physically on her body.

Can’t she wear it round her neck but pin it to her top with a safety pin?

How does she manage to remember her phone every day but not her lanyard? This is less about ADHD and more about what matters to her. Her phone is important, her lanyard isn’t. I would let her suffer the consequences of not having it tbh. She will soon learn. I understand ADHD makes things difficult but if she can manage to take her phone she can manage to take her lanyard.

Yes, tie her phone to it.
My similar child has suspiciously never lost her phone but has lost locker keys, stationary, calculators and clothes at school. But never phone, I wonder why!
If not allowed to have phone there, maybe something else that she doesn't lose easily. Purse or something. If that's tied to it, it's more precious and minded better.

Can she produce a close copy that she wears round her neck, and keep the original one safe in her phone case?

That’s my suggestion! Pin it on.

Wear lanyard. Make several colour photocopies of pass which go in lanyward

pass in phone

The only thing that would have worked for me at that was to put it on when leaving the house and take it off when she gets home and never remove it in between… if she doesn’t want it to be visible e.g. walking to and from then she tucks it inside her shirt but never take it off her neck.

similar with my door pass for work, it goes in the front pocket of my backpack before I leave the front door of the office so I know it’s there the next morning. If I keep wearing it on the way home it’ll end up stuffed in a coat pocket or left on the side somewhere in the house.

Thanks for suggestions! Shes not allowed any duplicates or copies for security reasons; we and the SENCO asked last year.

I know it should be as simple as just look after it but genuinely she has tried. We put in place so many strategies last year but nothing worked. It became so overwhelming she started avoiding college altogether rather than admit she’d lost her pass again. She also struggles with sensory aspect of it round her neck (which is why she removes it so often) but clearly she has to find a solution. She missed so much college in first term last year as a result of this and thought she’d found a solution (it was a new college and she didn’t know anyone so being locked out of everywhere added to stress and isolation). Shes done so well to come back from a difficult first term abd be elected head girl and now she’s convinced they’ll take her position away as shes “clearly useless” 😢

I tie my work lanyard onto my belt loops and pull the card out of the holder when I need to use it and put it back. I have done this since university because they wanted it to be visible but I can’t stand anything around my neck.

Looks cute in a little bow, is visible and ready when I need it but also really secure.

Thank you, this might work!

I'm sure you can get a card holder that would clip onto a waist band. Also look for one with a retractable clip - so she can pull the card out to access doors etc - but she doesn't need to take of off for any reason.

She's likely to need an access to ID card in the future as most work places sue them - so it's something she needs to learn to cope with. As others have said - she manages to remember her phone - and i bet she also has to remember things like keys for the house or books & equipment for college - so she needs to start thinking of the lanyard in the same terms.

Further to this, I use one of these extenders for mine, so she wouldn't even need to take it out the holder.
Lanyard extender - amazon

I think the college are being very unreasonable to insist she wears it around her neck if she has a legitimate and diagnosed reason not to do so. It's a pretty basic reasonable adjustment. I'd be pushing back strongly on this; I'm sure their DEI department would be concerned.

Keep the real one in her phone

Then get lots of fake ones - printed photo standard on card and laminated - cut to size - for round her neck - or perhaps something firmly affixed to her outer clothing - like medals etc

So she can set the example but no security risk if they go missing

obviously clear with school

The only possible issue is if a student finds a missing lanyard and she has one on they might question her having a duplicate - but that seems a possible problem that might not happen and you could allow school to explain to any enquiries the reason if you want - better than all this stress perhaps

You can get clips with extending cable to fix it to a belt - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FRRWN7R6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

You can buy phone clips that you could attached it to then keep the ribbon in her pocket so she can move from phone to round her neck.

Oh the irony 😵‍💫

Is it the texture of the lanyard on her neck? If so she can safety pin to her lapel with an extender as PP have suggested. That way it is visible but not bothersome

Does she wear a school uniform blazer or similar smart jacket with a breast pocket?
I read this out to my AuDHD DC who is the same age and who also loses every lanyard and keeps everything important in their phone case. Their solution - many phone cases have a little hole that is designed to enable you to attach eg a keyring. Could DD attach the lanyard to the phone case and then keep the phone in the adjacent breast pocket?

This

Can she attach something like an ajrtag to it, so ahe can track it diwn if she does leave it somewhere?@

Lots of super helpful suggestions we didn’t try before- thanks everyone 👍

If she is wearing a blazer I would use one of these to attach to top pocket. Then never take it off. Visible there
amzn.eu/d/0bYZAhqr

She will soon learn? You know nothing about ADHD if you think she just needs to be more disciplined.