ADHD Coaching for Kids: The 6 W’s

WHY

Working with students while they are still developing study and work habits allows them to understand how they learn and the most effective strategies for them to attack issues that they face. 

By helping a student improve their study and work skills a coach can help them to increase their self-esteem.  Kids with ADHD are often incredibly intelligent but don’t “measure up” to their teacher’s or their parents’ expectations.  In addition these students often see their classmates, who they perceive as not as bright as they are, whip through assignments that students with ADHD can’t seem to start let alone finish.

Students with ADHD often have organization and time management challenges as well.  By addressing these complex issues while they are still young they can learn the habits that they’ll need to carry them successfully into and through adulthood.

By working with an ADHD coach the student will have an opportunity to learn about themselves and how ADHD affects them.  They learn how they are wired and how to take advantage of the unique skills that they have.

WHO

For many kids the magic age is about 11, although every student is different, there are 8 or 9-year olds who may be coachable and 15-year olds who are not.

There is no minimum or maximum age for a kid to benefit from coaching.  For a kid to be coachable they must exhibit a level of maturity for him or her to:

• Take responsibility for his or her actions
• Have a desire to learn about themselves
• Have a desire to improve themselves
• Be able to understand and respond to rewards and consequences
• Be willing to put in the work to accomplish these things.

Children with ADHD as well as learning disabilities, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant behavior, etc can be coached.  However sometimes these issues need to be dealt with first, or in addition to coaching for the coaching to be effective.

WHAT

Coaching kids is about helping them understand their inner strengths and abilities in order to enable them to succeed at whatever it is they want.  ADHD coaching is not tutoring and does not include spending time actually doing homework assignments. 

At the beginning of the coaching relationship an agreement is created between the coach, the student and the parent(s) as to what will be worked on over the next few months (generally a marking period). 

Most students work on school work and other school related issues during coaching. 

• Getting homework to and from school
• Managing long term assignments
• Tackling more difficult homework
• Classroom behavior
• Advocating for yourself in school

Other issues that often come up include: 

• Organization
• Keeping their room presentable
• Social situations (both at school and at home)
• General behavior
• Getting up and out of the house on time

WHERE 

Working with kids and teens is usually more effective in person.  Although, there are some teens that are mature and dedicated enough to be able to be coached by phone. 

WHEN

Generally a student will meet with the coach four (4) times a month at pre-determined times, for approximately a half-hour.  Between sessions the student will be required to communicate regularly with the coach, generally by email, in order to report on progress of agreed upon commitments. 

HOw:

During the course of each coaching session the coach and student will check on the progress of the specific goals that the student is working on.  They will address issues that may have arisen as well as devise strategies for what they anticipate for the upcoming week. 

Parents will not participate in the coaching sessions other than during the creation of the coaching agreement.  However, it is very important for the parents(s) to be supportive of the goals that the coach, student and parents agreed upon.  This means that it might be necessary for the parent to regularly check an assignment pad or support a reward system.  On the other hand it may mean that the parent agrees that in certain situations that they need to step back and allow their student to handle the situation on their own.