Launching into Young Adulthood With ADHD: Ready or Not!

Product Description
The quantum leap from high school into young adulthood and the work world can be especially challenging for teens with ADHD. Scientific evidence indicates that ADHD can result in up to a three- to five-year delay in brain maturation and executive functioning skills, which means that many young people with ADHD may not be developmentally ready to meet the demands of this transition. Without continued support, young people can become overwhelmed and risk failure.
Authors Chris Dendy and Ruth Hughes are ADHD experts and parents of adult sons who are now successfully established in their careers. They offer parents guidance and strategies to help their preteens and teens develop the key life skills necessary for the adult world and identify potential vocational interests and career paths before graduation. An important theme is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to life planning for young people with ADHD. The authors therefore caution against assuming attending a four-year college right after high school―or at all―is the best path to a successful, fulfilling adulthood. Instead, they advocate for nurturing natural talents, exploring careers that “work” with ADHD (sales, business owner, chef), using available services (transition planning, vocational testing and counseling), trying out work experiences (volunteer work, internships, summer jobs), and perhaps taking a gap year before getting additional education (college, community college, technical training).
The book offers plentiful advice on building a strong, positive parent-child relationship and recognizing and addressing anxiety and depression and low self-esteem. With a hopeful and personable message, the authors share their own and other parents’ insights about avoiding common missteps and mitigating the impacts of ADHD. Don’t miss this top-notch guide to helping young people define and prep for the future with its very specific ADHD strategies and collaborative approach to launching teens into their life’s journey.
Review
This superb guidebook deals with the largely unaddressed topic of helping parents assist their emerging adults into independence. All the issues a parent and their teen/young adult will confront in this transition are here, are well-covered, and loaded with sound advice on how to address them. The authors have decades of experience in helping families, teens, and young adults with ADHD through this phase of life and, fortunately, they have chosen to share all their wisdom with you here. There is no better book on this topic.
―Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School, Richmond, VA Finally, a book for parents who need help determining what comes after childhood for their kids with ADHD! Chris Dendy and Ruth Hughes provide solid information on next-step options, challenges, solutions, and resources as we navigate the transition into adulthood and independence. Along with advice based on their own clinical work and their personal experiences as mothers of young adults with ADHD, the authors give us hope for the futures of our kids, and assurances that we can survive the struggles and our kids can become independent and successful adults. I highly recommend this book to any parent of an adolescent or young adult with ADHD.
―Belynda Gauthier, Immediate Past President CHADD National Board of Directors, Louisiana Capital Area CHADD Coordinator, and the parent of two young adults with ADHD and other challenges The topics presented are so on target for teens and adults as they enter the real world, which may not always be understanding of their needs. With excellent guidance and practical strategies to help parents support their adolescents as they navigate the transition, this book describes a multitude of postsecondary options and an accurate assessment of the tools a student needs to be successful. I found the honest experience of two parents