This article was first published on August 30, 2023. It was last reviewed, updated, or edited on August 30, 2023.
The term “self-advocacy” refers to the students with disabilities communicating their needs and pursuing the accommodations they need (Pfeifer et al., 2021).
Many college students with ADHD who really do have functional deficits that justify the need for accommodations and/or academic support:
– Don’t know that they could apply for them
– Don’t know about the various options that may be available
– Are reluctant to apply for them
– Don’t follow through on the process for applying for and getting approved
– Don’t utilize them even after they are approved.
There are many possible reasons for this.
1. Thinking wrongly that they don’t need accommodations
2. Reluctance about applying for accommodations
The main reason that students with ADHD may be reluctant to ask for accommodations or use the accommodations that have already been approved is that they think that others —both teachers and classmates — will view them negatively if they do (Lefler et al., 2023).
2. Procrastinating and/or not following through
The irony! The executive functioning impairments that are the main reason why ADHD can be so disabling also make it very difficult for these patients to apply for accommodations, submit the required forms/ paperwork, and so on.
Clinical recommendations
As clinicians, we should:
– Proactively evaluate our patients with ADHD who are students for functional deficits that may be impairing their ability to do well in school /college.
– Consider the full range of possible accommodations/ support that the school/ college could provide them.
– Communicate the need for accommodations as being necessary but (hopefully) temporary.
– Make sure that the student with ADHD is ALSO getting executive function coaching to reduce the ADHD-related impairments that made the accommodations necessary.
Related Pages
Do you consider a full range of accommodations for students with ADHD?
Plan BOTH short and long-term accommodations/ interventions for students with ADHD
What are 504 plans?
References
Lefler EK, Alacha HF, Weed BM, Reeble CJ, Garner AM. Professor and Peer Perceptions of Requests for Academic Accommodations in College: An Examination of ADHD and Specific Learning Disorder. Psychol Rep. 2023 Feb 15:332941231156821. doi: 10.1177/00332941231156821. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36792310.
Pfeifer MA, Reiter EM, Cordero JJ, Stanton JD. Inside and Out: Factors That Support and Hinder the Self-Advocacy of Undergraduates with ADHD and/or Specific Learning Disabilities in STEM. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2021 Jun;20(2):ar17. doi: 10.1187/cbe.20-06-0107. PMID: 33769838; PMCID: PMC8734393.
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