Many bright students with ADHD know the material and still fall behind. The hard part isn’t understanding the lesson. It’s starting the assignment, keeping track of what’s due, estimating how long things will take and staying with a task long enough to finish it. Those are skills, and with the right support they get stronger.
Structure that comes from outside
Students with ADHD often do their best work when some of the structure comes from outside their own heads. That’s what a coach provides. Each week, the student and coach look at what’s coming up, break big assignments into small first steps, put real time on the calendar and review how the last week went. Over time, students take on more of the planning themselves.
What parents say
“My son had a wonderful experience with Cardinal Tutors when he needed help with his High School math and science classes. It turns out my son also needed help staying organized with all his assignments, something that the tutor helped with as well.”
Amy C., Palo Alto
“… knew his subject matter but also knew how to engage and motivate my son which no teacher or his parents have been able to do as successfully. Perfect fit to jumpstart my son’s new habits and attitudes towards math.”
Joyce M., Mill Valley
Sessions also make room for the subject work itself. Our coaches are Stanford students and alumni who can sit down with a student’s math homework or essay draft, so getting started on the hardest assignment of the week can happen right there in the session.
A coach close in age
A lot of teenagers with ADHD are tired of being reminded by parents and teachers. A coach who is only a few years older, and who has handled a heavy workload recently, is often easier to hear. Students tend to be honest with them about what isn’t working, which is where progress starts.
Middle school, high school and college
We work with middle and high school students, and with college students, too. The first year of college can be especially hard for students with ADHD, because the structure of home and high school disappears all at once. Weekly online sessions with a Stanford student who has made the same transition can help a freshman build a system that works on their own.
Alongside your student’s care team
Our coaches are tutors, not clinicians. We don’t diagnose or treat ADHD, and coaching works alongside, never in place of, the care your student gets from doctors, therapists, learning specialists or their school. Many families also use our executive function coaching, which covers the same skills for students without an ADHD diagnosis, and some students fit the picture of twice-exceptional learners.
Coaching runs in person near Stanford or online anywhere in the country, usually at a regular time each week. Click below to tell us about your student.