If your adolescent is struggling with school, avoiding doing homework, or having school anxiety, you are not alone. Many times, adolescents dislike school and have poor grades when they don’t like doing homework. There might be bullying going on. Also, ADHD, ADD and anxiety impacts the ability to learn and be academically successful. At Wisdom Within Counseling, the team offers holistic, creative ADHD therapy for adolescents in Mystic, Connecticut.
Tips for reinforcing good grades, self-motivation, and building positive homework associations
Below are some tips for you as a parent to help your adolescent who is anxious about homework and struggling in school. Often, emotional challenges, anxiety, ADHD or ADD can lead to low motivation in school. Children just stop trying when things are difficult. Adolescents who develop better grades also have better self-esteem and more self-confidence into high school years. ADHD therapy for adolescents in Mystic, Connecticut supports self-esteem skills, school motivation and emotional expression.
Know your child’s teachers in person and via email.
Attend school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, to meet your child’s teachers. Ask about their homework policies and how you should be involved. Have your child’s teachers email you when school work is complete. Also, ask for emails when homework is incomplete and when progress in school is not made. Have twice a month meetings with teachers and your adolescent’s school psychologist. It can be helpful to set these up in advance. At Wisdom Within Counseling, the team of therapists help adolescents overcome emotional challenges, anxiety, ADHD or ADD and develop self-confidence in school.
Set up a tidy, homework-friendly area in your house.
If the area for homework is messy, it can make motivation more challenging. Make sure your child or adolescent has a well-lit place to complete homework. As well, children learn best in a tidy, organized environment. Keep supplies, paper, pencils, glue, scissors, within reach. Plus, when your adolescent with anxiety or ADHD sits down at the same place, it becomes an easy habit to do homework.
Where can this study space be in your home for academic success?
This can be a desk in your child’d bedroom or a designated school work area at the kitchen table. Make sure to sit next to your child and ensure they are doing their work. And, go line by line together. Make this the same time each day for routine. Having a consistent work space supports self-care and mental organization. Lastly, do not watch tv or use technology until all homework is done.
How can ADHD therapy for adolescents in Mystic, Connecticut support lifelong coping tools?
At Wisdom Within Counseling, the team of creative therapists offer each adolescent a personalized plan. We help adolescents overcome anxiety and overwhelm, to achieve their academic goals. This promotes success in high school years and in college life. As well, building self-care study habits in middle school helps adolescents launch more easily as adults. Learning to overcome fears, anxieties and organizational issues helps adolescents develop independent studying skills for high school and college.
To start, click the button below for your phone consult to start your adolescent in counseling.
Working with a therapist helps adolescents build lifelong, positive coping tools.
Schedule a regular study time.
Some children and adolescents work best in the afternoon, following a snack and play period. On the other hand, others may prefer to wait until after an after school snack. So, do homework at 3:30-5pm daily. Give children some down time after school to have a bite to eat. However, do not use technology to promote down time as this can cause problems when transitioning to homework time.
As well, give warnings such as three or five minutes left of down time before transitioning to homework time. Lastly, right off the bat, don’t ask your adolescent to sit down for three hours at a time. This can be overwhelming, especially if there is no structure around homework right now. Start with 15-20 minute homework study breaks.
Help your adolescent with anxiety or ADHD make a plan.
On heavy homework nights or when there’s an especially hefty assignment to tackle, encourage your child break up the work. Talk to your adolescent about what are doable, manageable chunks to complete. Then, write out a list on an index card or white board and check it off as you go together. Visualizing the to-do list makes it less overwhelming.
Create a work schedule for the night and take time for a 15-minute break every hour, if possible. Then, go right back to the homework and sitting together to do it, if needed. Put it into the backpack the night before.
Offer emotional support when your child is upset.
Sometimes, adolescents with anxiety or ADHD can become frustrated or upset learning something new. At first, set expectations low. Your child is trying to learn a new habit, so make it super positive. They are leanring a new habit and a new subject. So, it is important to reward any effort, even small amounts. You will know you have gone too long if tgey become tearful. Make sure to take baby steps if frustration is evident. If your adolescent starts crying or throws a tantrum, take a break. As a parent, help your child talk about their anxiety and frustration. Talk about taking a deep breath to calm down.
When your child has ADHD, focus on positive rewards
Ensure the study environment is calm so there is no loud music. Also, do not take a phone call while helping your child with their homework as this can be distracting. Occasionally, though, a phone call to a classmate about an assignment can be helpful. Remember, your adolescent with ADD or anxiety is not trying to be difficult, but instead they are having a difficult time learning. After homework is all complete, you can reward by watching TV.
Make sure your adolescent with ADHD or anxiety does their own work.
They won’t learn if they don’t think for themselves. Your adolescent with ADHD or anxiety needs to make their own mistakes. Creating a positive association with homework means creating structure at home. As a parent, you can make suggestions and help with directions. But, it’s a child’s job to do the learning. Don’t complete your child’s worksheet for them, but sit next to them as they do it.
As a parent, stay calm and patient with your child if they become frustrated with their work.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of creative therapists help children learn to calm themselves and self-regulate.
Often, children need a mixture of movement, art, yoga and creative therapies to process big feelings.
Expressive arts in counseling supports better self-esteem in children with ADHD.
Be a motivator and monitor.
Ask regularly about classroom assignments, quizzes, and upcoming tests. Give encouragement and praise to your child about homework. Regularly check to ensure homework is all complete. To add, sit down next your child and make yourself available for your child’s questions and concerns. If you child tells you that they did poorly, do not punish them. Often, children do not know how to reorganize and be resilient. So, positive role modeling and redirection can help academic come more easily. Sometimes, you child may struggle in a certain subject like math or science, but do well in art or PE. Always, focus on positive associations with homework and academic support.
To begin, click the button below to learn more about holistic, creative ADHD therapy for adolescents in Mystic, Connecticut.
Be a good role model and set a positive example as a parent.
Do your kids ever see you diligently balancing your budget your family finances? As well, do your children see you reading a book? Are you and your child watching television shows of children in school doing homework? Reading together normalizes school being fun and important! When your adolescent sees you reading your favorite book, it makes them want to read also. Children with attention disorders are more likely to follow the positive examples of their parents. Instead of giving your child or adolescent advice, focus on modeling the behaviors you want them to develop. Role modeling is so essential for positive parenting and academic success.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, we help children learn positive coping straggles for releasing stress in healthy ways.
Praise their work and efforts.
Post an aced test or art project on the refrigerator! Also, post your child’s good grades on your social media account. Show them all the positive comments from friends and family. When a child ace’s a test, ask your child how they did that. Talk to them about their thought process for success. Do not just praise the grade, as they may develop performance anxiety.
Instead, focus on actions, efforts, and behaviors to get the A verses the end result of the grade.
If your child has a C, and they get a B, that is a huge step. You are teaching your child how to have a good work ethic and how to work for good grades. It is more about the journey of learning study skills than the destination. As well, working hard to get somewhere helps an adolescent be proud of themselves. Mention academic achievements to relatives! Make a sticker chart with playtime together as a reward for once homework done.
To begin, click the pink button below for a phone consult for adolescent counseling for better self-esteem and study skills.
If there are continuing problems with homework, get help from a tutor.
Some children have trouble seeing the board and may need glasses. Talk to your pediatrician if your child complains of eye pain or headaches. As well, other children might need an evaluation from a psychologist or therapist for a learning problem, ADD, ADHD, or attention disorder. Anxiety before school can impact leanring and excitement levels. Your therapist can help you gain clarity about if a 504 or IEP plan ids right for your child.
If your child is getting bullied at school or put down by a teacher, it can be really hard to be excited to goto school. When having anxiety, a child’s body doesn’t see learning as a priority. So, any drama with friends or conflicts at school can lead to school avoidance.
What towns in Connecticut does our team of creative therapists support in person for counseling?
Wisdom Within Counseling serves the following towns in Southeastern Connecticut. Bozrah, East Lyme, Franklin, Griswold, Groton (town and separate central city), Ledyard, Lyme, Lisbon, Montville, New London (central city), North Stonington, Norwich, Preston, Salem, Sprague, Stonington, and Waterford.
As well, in middlesex county, our creative therapists help the following towns. Centerbrook, Chester, Clinton, Cobalt, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Higganum, Ivoryton, Killingworth, Middle Haddam, Middlefield, Middletown, Moodus, Old Saybrook, Portland, Rockfall, and Westbrook, Connecticut.
In New Haven county, our team of marriage and family therapists support families in the following towns. We offer video and phone counseling to New Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Old Greenwich, Redding, Redding Center, Redding Ridge, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Georgetown, Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Cos Cob, Danbury, Monroe, New Canaan, Greenwich, Hawleyville, Ridgefield, Riverside, Sandy Hook, Shelton, Sherman, Southport, Stamford, Stratford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport, and Wilton, Connecticut. As well, we offer phone and video counseling in Florida. We also help Connecticut families in Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Meriden, Middlebury, Milford, Naugatuck, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Northford, Orange, Oxford, Prospect, Rye, Seymour, Southbury, Wallingford, Waterbury, West Haven, Wolcott, and Woodbridge.
Creative therapies at Wisdom Within Counseling for ADHD therapy for adolescents in Mystic, Connecticut
At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of therapists love supporting anxious adolescents and teens in getting better grades and build better self-esteem. We offer art, yoga music and creative therapies to provide lifelong coping tools.
