I am an International student, and I going to start an Intensive programa of English for 9-12 months at Tacoma Community College in Tacoma WA. I just started the Concerta 7 days ago. I found out about my ADD 3 weeks ago.
I need to know, how's the college life for people like us; that have ADD but with the help of the meds, do you guys thing everything is gonna be all ritgh?
Do I have to be honest and talk to my adviser and teathers about my situation before start the class?


Sorry about my English(I KNOW I SUCK)!
It's not my first language!!

Obrigado (Thanks)!

Welcome to the Forums.

I also speak Portuguese, so if you need to vent in other language than english please feel free.

Well, ADHD/ADD is very compatible with school. I work full time and I also take classes and I have yet to have a problem doing it. Many times I actually take about 12 credit hours even though I work full time.
The key and secret to be successful in school is organization. I know ADHD/ADD people are not organized but that's where a strong will comes into play.

I never told anyone at school that I have ADHD; mainly because they probably would not believe since my GPA is very high, and there is some misunderstanding about what ADD really is.

Since your goal right now is to improve your english, focus on that. Evaluate your strenghts and use them. Evaluate your weaknesses and improve them. Use friends that speak english(main language) and ask them to help you.

Take one step at a time.
Good luck
Alexandra

Studying isn't always easy with ADD but many Adders go thru college and university and find ways to succeed. Meds aren't magic pills and it may take some time before you find the one that work for you. Meanwhile, they are essential tools to help to cope with ADD.

Some advices:
-Find a good motivated partner to work with (or many). Be careful to not find your self alone in room, unable to concentrate on your work.
-Try to do your homework as soon as possible. For example, if you have some spare time after the class, convince your self (and your friend) to go to the library to do the work the teacher just gave to do.
-Sit in front of the class, near the teacher.
-Avoid unmotivated people (those who don't care)
-Organisation, organisation, organisation

Muitissimo Obrigado Alessandra,

Minha cabeca ta' tao confusa nesse momento eu tenho tantas perguntas e duvidas, por ser tao novo nesse assunto.
Estava me sentido tao limitado por nao escrever bem em ingles as perguntas que eu estou fazer...

vc esta' on-line agora?

Jackinbox,

Thank you for the helpful words!!!!

Hei jack in the box,

What do you mean organisation, organisation, organisation... can you give exemples?

I am ADDer I don't have any sense of a real organisation...

Obrigado(thanks)!

Organization is a KEY point, it is very important.

Let's say you start a new semester. Print out a calendar right at the beginning of the semester and write down all the important dates. Make copies of it and have them where you can see them. Look at the calendar and mark down what has been done and don't forget to write down what needs to done - update it as many times as you need. Get a PDA if you like gadgets. Use a notepad to write down things you remember you need to do. That will decrease the chances of forgetting things. Ask others to remind you of things to do. If you lack motivation definitely use others to help you.

==>Organizacao e muito importante. Usar outras pessoas e tambem importante porque eles podem ajudar a motivar trabalho. Eu tambem tenho problemas de organizacao mas quando eu uso calendarios e a minha PDA eu consigo nao esquecer exames e datas importantes. ADD nao e tao mau assim.<==

Alexandra

I just graduated with an Honours BA, and was only diagnosed last year (and am still unmedicated; my doctor tried a Wellbutrin-only thing for a bit, that didn't work out, and now I'm off it and we're waiting until I get steady work so the effects of any other drug will be easier to track). Long story short; I've been through what you're about to go through.

A few things really, really pulled it together for me. And don't get me wrong; I learned these the hard way, by failing out my first year, and floundering for the next couple. The first was working in my off-time. This is only possible with something you're interested in outside of school, because otherwise you'll avoid it, English is going to perhaps be the easiest possible subject for it though. Basically, think about your stuff in your off time. Got a paper coming up? Review the things you've read. Muck it around in your head. You won't get anything that looks like work done, but you'd be surprised how much you can do this way. It's how I can write a paper in what looks like 2 days and get an A; I've been mucking around the topic for weeks beforehand in my off time.

Best part about this; organisation isn't necessary. When you're bouncing around, part of your head's working on stuff.

Not that I'm going to claim this is easy. Took me years to get worked out. But if you can pull it off, it's amazing.

Sit at the front of the class, off to one side. I'm dead serious, this will make all the difference. And you need both aspects, ideally. Front of the class, so there's less in front of you to be distracting, and so that the professor's close enough and loud enough to be easy to hear, even if you fade out for a moment. Also, there's the fear of being caught daydreaming to keep you focused. Side of the class, for the same reason; less distractions. If everyone is to the left of you, and the professor is too, then you're looking left. Nothing on your right to attract attention. In the middle of class, there's left, right, and at the professor, and only one of three is going to be good. My grades shot up when I started sitting in the front side, I swear by it.

Read. Everything. Especially learning a language. Even if it's not in the language. At the least, you'll be priming your head with knowledge, gearing it up for absorption. With language studies, you'll be noticing grammatical patterns you were talking about in class; even if it's in your own native language, noticing the pattern helps to recognize what's going on in another language. For other subjects, read related stuff. I was lucky, with history as my major, to have history books and historical fiction to play with. Still, reading expands your base of knowledge, and the bigger the base, the easier everything else becomes.


As for telling teachers; that's up to you. I didn't, because I didn't want any special treatment. If your ADD is a big enough problem, however, you might need some help, like extra time on tests and such. These, at least in the US, are available to ADD students.


As for your English; don't apologize. Your English (written, at least, since we're not hearing you speak) is better than many native English speakers'.

Thank you everyone for the help !

I know Brazil, telling to a Adders to organize sound like telling to a blind person to open his eyes. You have to find the trick that work for you. As an example, PDA don't work well for me since I don't carry them everywhere I go. Instead, I use hotmail to send me reminders on my cell phone. The best tricks are those that require least effort. Some people create a "study schedule" in witch they write when they study math, witch night they study english (with a precise time), when they go to party. etc.

I'd recommend you try sitting in different places and figure out what works best for you!

If I sit too far at the front of the lecture theatre, hence too close to see the presentation projected onto the wall, I have to try very hard not to fall asleep.

After a few trial and error games, I also figured out, that I have to take notes to stay on task. Even so, I won't necessarily remember everything. If the lecturers provide powerpoints of the lectures to download, going over what you wrote down and adding anything that you didn't have time to scribble down is a reasonable way to "force" yourself to do at least a little bit of work.

Studying isn't always easy with ADD but many Adders go thru college and university and find ways to succeed. Meds aren't magic pills and it may take some time before you find the one that work for you. Meanwhile, they are essential tools to help to cope with ADD.

Some advices:
-Find a good motivated partner to work with (or many). Be careful to not find your self alone in room, unable to concentrate on your work.
-Try to do your homework as soon as possible. For example, if you have some spare time after the class, convince your self (and your friend) to go to the library to do the work the teacher just gave to do.
-Sit in front of the class, near the teacher.
-Avoid unmotivated people (those who don't care)
-Organisation, organisation, organisation
From personal experience, those "good motivated partners" are almost nonexistant at my school. If I have spare time after class, I try to do some homework, but I rarely have classes with friends of mine.

Sitting in the front in the classroom is good, plus if it's your regular seat, it helps you get there on time if not early.

Besides unmotivated people, avoid those excessively cheery overachiever types, the kind of people who brag about all their accomplishments constantly. I had a roommate like this and she was one of the contributing factors that caused me to fall to my demise. Hearing her over and over again caused me to just get discouraged and give up. And, while we're on the subject of roommates, have you thought about your living situation? What kind of living environment is good for YOU? It may seem irrelevant, but it really does matter where you live and who you live with. For example, is it on or off campus, and if it's off campus, how far is it from the campus? How often is your roommate there? Is the roommate loud or quiet, clean or messy, etc., etc.

If you find this hard to read, I can break it down. I speak Spanish, not Portuguese, but if someone could translate to make it easier to understand, go ahead if you want.

Mystic Oracle,

If you find this hard to read, I can break it down. I speak Spanish, not Portuguese, but if someone could translate to make it easier to understand, go ahead if you want.

I understood pretty good, thank you very much, thank you all!!!

That's very nice, see that I am not alone in this SPECIAL Boat...

Brazil, welcome to the "special boat"! hee hee hee

I understand exactly what you are going through right now, thinking about what's coming up, and being scared becuase of the ADD....

I was diagnosed with ADD last year, and went to Germany (from the US) about 4 months later. I was signed up for a month long intenisve German course and then worked for another 6 months. i'd learned German for about 6 years before going, but well... you know how little 6 years really is when it comes to languages... ;) basically I was scared to DEATH.

But I did the language course, and started work, and everything was fine - people are nice, and when you're surrounded by the language you absorb stuff REALLY fast. Even with ADD. The key is to stay around native speakers (so for your case, English) - DON"T hang out with international students or other Portugese speakers!!! I know it's hard, but speaking english as much as possible is THE most important thing.

If you can find an english-speaking roommate (instead of living alone or in an international student dorm) that's the best thing. I did that here in Germany, and I can tell you - it's made the BIGGEST difference. I find that learning a language is 10 times easier simply by talking my mouth off than it is by learning the grammer and vocabulary... languages are easiest to learn hands on, and that's even MORE true when you have ADD becuase we are hands-on learners.

(by hands on, i mean speaking and listening to other people, instead of learning the theory)

Oh and one more thing - i tell ALL my teachers about my ADD, but that's up to you. If you want, you can just wait to see how the class is run, and if you think you'll need extra time on tests or anything like that. If you feel like you do, you can always go to the teacher a couple of weeks after starting class, or you can even wait until after the first test if you want.
Most teachers are very understanding about ADD, and will help you with the things you need. And don't forget, ADD is much more accepted in the US than many other countries :D

good luck!!! I'm sure you'll do fine :)

Christiana,
Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Your words was very SPECIAL to me!!!
THANK YOU FROM THE HEART!!! SO SWEET!!!!