ADHD

[Goodwitch9]

My son has been diagnosed with adult ADHD. He's taking medication for it, which is helping but he is still very disorganised - always late, missing deadlines, double-booking himself etc. He's off to uni next year so I wondered if anyone has any tips or ideas on how he can manage his life a bit better than he is doing currently?

Hi OP,

My suggestion is that your son register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (whatever it is called) immediately upon arrival at university.

OSD exist to support and advocate for students with disabilities including ADHD. They will have lots of advice; they can arrange for extra time on exams and coursework if necessary, etc.

If your son is working with OSD, making a good sttempt to manage his condition, and needs to submit a Mitigating Circumstances petition based on his ADHD, OSD staff may be able to advocate for him. But if he declines to work with OSD and consistently submits petitions based on an unmanaged medical condition, the Mit Circs panel may come to look unfavourably on this. (These comments are based on my term on the Mit Circs panel in a large School of an RG university.)

Sometimes students wrongly perceive that there is some sort of stigma attached to working with OSD. But they maintain the highest degree of confidentiality. Your son can keep his relationship entirely private. I only ever heard good things about them from students who engaged.

Thank you poetry! My son is actually really open about his ADHD, which is a positive thing.