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?

Buy a tile mate or air tag.

Honestly if she can’t lead by example then she shouldn’t be head girl.

All they’re asking her to do is wear a lanyard. It’s really easy not to lose it because you just don’t take it off.

If she’s able to keep track of her phone she’s able to keep track of her lanyard. She needs to not take it off to use or safety pin the fabric lanyard to her jumper. get her a retractable one so it reaches doors etc without taking it off.

Or stick an apple tag to the back of it.

If it’s causing her this much stress and she just wants to do the phone thing then maybe she gives up being Head Girl? I’m not sure how she became HG if she had so much time off last year due to this anyway.

She has sensory issues, it's challenging not to take it off.

OP lots of good ideas, hopefully one sticks, but if not, they are discriminating against her disability by not allowing a reasonable adjustment and taking away her head girl position due to her disability.

You don't need to know how she became head girl. It's not relevant. You're just being asked for suggestions on how not to lose a lanyard.

As someone with ADHD and the unhelpful people asking why she doesn't lose her phone. I literally have to ask someone to phone my phone about 2 or 3 times a day so I can locate it, lanyards don't have the same function....

If you were made to wear a pair of shoes that were 2 sizes too small and told not to take them off at all, all day, not even on your breaks/sitting at your desk/at the loo, could you do that? When they hurt, and it’s all you can think about, they’re distracting you so much you can’t concentrate on your work, you can’t talk to to others properly, because all that’s going through your mind is these bloody shoes and the discomfort/pain they're causing. Can you still get through your day? Every single day?

Can you imagine, oh sorry girl in a wheelchair, if you can't climb the steps to make a speech on the stage you can't be head girl.

At one job my key card was attached to a retractable cord on a belt clip. As long as she mostly wears skirts or trousers this will work, but it did mean that I never wore dresses. I now have to wear a lanyard at all times at work and do find it irritating on my neck, so I mostly wear a collared shirt and wear it under the collar, like a tie.

For the sensory aspect you could try different lanyards, braided cord, a ribbon or even a chain. A lanyard with a scratchy bit would drive me bananas.

You could also try glasses chain to attach the card holder to.

chain lanyard
https://amzn.eu/d/08gSO2YF

Cord one that might not be so scratchy

amzn.eu/d/03hKO6W1

That’s not how ADHD works.

Or, she can be an example in dozens of ways and a piece of nylon cord is meaningless.

I have ADHD, my children have ADHD. I do know about ADHD. It’s actually not impossible to learn when you have a disability and I think using ADHD as a reason for not being able to manage to keep hold of a lanyard every day when the phone is well managed is a cop out. There are literally thousands of adults with ADHD managing life and work every single day. It’s up to the DD to learn to do just that. Sorry but ‘oh it’s ADHD’ just doesn’t fly in the real world, that said, if it wasn’t for the ability to manage her phone every day I would have a different view point.

It can be if we encourage our children to learn rather then say ‘oh it’s ADHD’, as above, she manages her phone every day so it’s not that she cannot do it she is choosing not to because it’s of far less importance to her. She needs to learn and yes she absolutely can learn how to manage her condition more effectively.

But OP didn’t say she lost her phone, in fact she said the opposite. When the pass was in the phone all was well.

I have a work lanyard and pass and wear it on my belt loop as I can't stand it on my neck. This might work?

Can't she wear the lanyard under her collar like a tie so it's not touching her skin. Does it have to be school issue lanyard, or could a knitted lanyard work better for her

Run the lanyard through tje wash half a dozen times - it removes the scratchy edges.

I put my lanyard next to my makeup when I get home and put it back on when I put on my make-up in the morning.

DD does similar and is diagnosed with ADHD and ADHD traits. Her whistle is attached because she's now a teacher.

Reasonable adjustments should extend to head girl. She can lead by example by showing inclusivity. This one rule for all is old school.

So people with disabilities don’t deserve positions of responsibility or leadership? What a disgusting mindset.

Can she leave a pass at Reception to collect in the morning when she arrives so she can’t forget it?

Does it work better tied to a trouser belt loop? Then it never needs to come off and won’t flap
around annoyingly

Because she’s inspirational in a multitude of ways, as her peers and teachers all realise. She’s not perfect, but thankfully that wasn’t the brief.