Giving Teens With ADD The Tools For Success In Life

Teens with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) are often given extra attention and help with academics and sports, but how about preparing them for life without daily monitoring by parents and teachers? How will these teens do once they are in the college dorms, have their own apartment or in the work force? As parents, we need to prepare our teens (with ADD and those without) with the tools to make it on their own.

An article at ADDvance, titled Helping Your Teen with ADD (ADHD) Prepare for Independence has a detailed list of the activities and tasks your teen needs to know how to do in order to transition into the real world, starting with skills in middle school. Tasks include:

• Learning to do laundry
• Purchasing clothing
• Managing time
• Organizing their living space
• Keeping track of personal items
• Steps for managing a car
• Managing money (balancing a check book, paying bills)
• Record keeping
• Personal care

So many of these tasks we learned to do by watching our parents. Are you setting good examples and taking the opportunity to teach life skills to your kids as you go through daily life?